[geeks] KVM for Sun Sparc Servers with USB keyboards

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Fri, May 08, 2009 at 07:10:40AM -0400, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> A high national sales tax would be hard to enforce, and would be labeled 
> as unfair to those that spend all their income (or even more than their 
> income) on an annual basis. A flat income tax, applied to every dollar 
> earned with refunds for the first 'n' dollars would likely be viewed as 
> fairer.

The European method of a Value Added Tax makes a lot of sense. It's 
administered my retailers and everyone charges it. The thing that makes
it practical is that you can claim on your return the VAT you already
paid. 

So a store buys ten iPods at $100 a piece and pays 16% VAT on them.
Then when they sell them for $150 they charge 16% VAT on them. At the end
of the month they subtract the $160 dollars they paid in VAT from the VAT 
they collected. If they did not sell enough goods to collect the VAT they paid,
they get a rebate.

Companies that never sell anything, e.g. startups, always get refunds. In either
case, they make a site visit to see what you are doing.

>
> What I mean is, rather than tax consumption at, say, 25%, tax income at 
> 15% and refund 100% of all taxes charged on the first $50k, then 50% of 
> all taxes paid on the next $50K - the refunds would be automatic, as soon 
> as you either crossed the $50K or $100K threshold, or at the end of the 
> tax year.

Here the average wage earner does not have to file a tax return. Their
employer takes out the taxes and if they have no extra income or deductions,
they don't bother to file. In many cases it's not necessary anyway. 

If someone makes 2000 NIS ($500 or less a month), they don't even have to
declare their income and they can go to the tax office and request a 
paper offically telling their employer. 

There are so few deuctions here that taking the "standard" is the best way.

If you have extenuating circumstances, such as a disability or disabled children
or a spouse, you can go to tax office and get a form which tells your employer
to reduce the taxes you pay and not need to file a return.


Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM