Anime Dad wrote:I had my second Japanese class last night. Because it is only 8 weeks, our teacher Yuki-san has to move things along fairly quickly. I didn't really learn very much new again, but it was still fun. I've realised that the Australian accent isn't good for speaking Japanese - some of the people there really struggle. One lady, who is of Italian background, seemed to have much better pronunciation than the rest.
I spoke to Yuki-san after the class and told her I was watching Atsu-hime... but she wasn't really interested. Maybe she's not a drama fan :(
Tell her you like YamaPi and Matsumoto Jun...if that does isn't work, I suggest you mention some Adult Video titles that might ring a bell for her.
Anime Dad wrote:I spoke to Yuki-san after the class and told her I was watching Atsu-hime... but she wasn't really interested. Maybe she's not a drama fan :(
Maybe she thought you were trying to get too friendly. :sweat:
By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 12, 6:31 AM ET
Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.
The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.
Collectively, the companies reported trillions of dollars in sales, according to GAO's estimate.
"It's shameful that so many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who asked for the GAO study with Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.
An outside tax expert, Chris Edwards of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, said increasing numbers of limited liability corporations and so-called "S" corporations pay taxes under individual tax codes.
"Half of all business income in the United States now ends up going through the individual tax code," Edwards said.
The GAO study did not investigate why corporations weren't paying federal income taxes or corporate taxes and it did not identify any corporations by name. It said companies may escape paying such taxes due to operating losses or because of tax credits.
More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of the U.S. corporations not paying corporate taxes were considered large corporations, meaning they had at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts.
The GAO said it analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service, examining samples of corporate returns for the years 1998 through 2005. For 2005, for example, it reviewed 110,003 tax returns from among more than 1.2 million corporations doing business in the U.S.
Dorgan and Levin have complained about companies abusing transfer prices \ amounts charged on transactions between companies in a group, such as a parent and subsidiary. In some cases, multinational companies can manipulate transfer prices to shift income from higher to lower tax jurisdictions, cutting their tax liabilities. The GAO did not suggest which companies might be doing this.
"It's time for the big corporations to pay their fair share," Dorgan said.
bmwracer wrote:Most companies in US avoid federal income taxes
By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 12, 6:31 AM ET
Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.
The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.
Collectively, the companies reported trillions of dollars in sales, according to GAO's estimate.
"It's shameful that so many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who asked for the GAO study with Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.
An outside tax expert, Chris Edwards of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, said increasing numbers of limited liability corporations and so-called "S" corporations pay taxes under individual tax codes.
"Half of all business income in the United States now ends up going through the individual tax code," Edwards said.
The GAO study did not investigate why corporations weren't paying federal income taxes or corporate taxes and it did not identify any corporations by name. It said companies may escape paying such taxes due to operating losses or because of tax credits.
More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of the U.S. corporations not paying corporate taxes were considered large corporations, meaning they had at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts.
The GAO said it analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service, examining samples of corporate returns for the years 1998 through 2005. For 2005, for example, it reviewed 110,003 tax returns from among more than 1.2 million corporations doing business in the U.S.
Dorgan and Levin have complained about companies abusing transfer prices \ amounts charged on transactions between companies in a group, such as a parent and subsidiary. In some cases, multinational companies can manipulate transfer prices to shift income from higher to lower tax jurisdictions, cutting their tax liabilities. The GAO did not suggest which companies might be doing this.
"It's time for the big corporations to pay their fair share," Dorgan said.
When I played Guild Wars with my friends last year, I made a warrior named Byron Dorgan. A big black guy, no less (the real one is as white as they come). It's such a great name.
They used it on Robot Chicken when they were promoing the new Cspan for teens :)
phlargo wrote:Ouch.. that's rough. Yeah, hope you get off cheap. No fun if it's a bundle.
Just got back: all my suspension bushings need replacing and the mounts for my rear shock towers... I'll have to take it back next week, since they need to get all the parts together.
bmwracer wrote:
Just got back: all my suspension bushings need replacing and the mounts for my rear shock towers... I'll have to take it back next week, since they need to get all the parts together.
An Ohio man who says he doesn't trust paper money has delivered enough coins to cover half the price of a brand new pickup truck.
Employees at a dealership in the Cincinnati suburb of Springdale say 70-year-old James Jones plunked down 16 coffee cans full of coins Tuesday for a new Chevrolet Silverado.
Salesman David Crisswell says employees spent 90 minutes counting the collection of dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollar coins, which covered half the $16,000 price of the pickup.
Jones and his wife, Betty, wrote a check for the other half of the cost.
Jones' son says his dad has always preferred to pay with coins. Dennis Jones says he's most amazed that his penny-pinching father decided to replace his 1981 pickup, which struck his father when its parking brake failed last year, putting him in a hospital.
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