• admiralteal@kbin.social
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      4 months ago

      It’s critical to the conspiracy theory, though. By making it so incredibly arcane and difficult to follow, it makes it possible to point out a mistake the person made that stopped the incantation from working. Lets you avoid the more obvious conclusion of magic isn’t real.

      • Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        See, when he mentioned BLUE and BLACK ink, he was referring to the natural color. But for the thumbprint, you need red ink (the incorporation, not the natural color).

        It’s all very big brain.

    • DrSleepless@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Yep, use the wrong color and the government will screw you over and not give you all the free stuff you rightfully deserve.

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      4 months ago

      There’s remarkable similarities to some of the witchy business stuff my wife is into with the asinine focus on the particulars, so that one can always deny that the ritual was performed correctly. It shields the actual principle from critical review.

      However, there’s a difference between brewing tea and trying to falsify financial records!

    • Oh, you almost got us, but Bill 2023-287A changed it from BLUE ink to INDIGO ink! Due to Section 994.8! having filed once and failed to abide by the rules, you have now forfeited your entire social security to the State Fund for Fancy Dinners.

      Sincerely,

      Billy-Bob Warthog, RPG

  • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I know this is crazy. I know this is insane.

    But I also know this is basically the same exact tactic that billionaires use to claim that they have no money to tax and still make millions of dollars per year. They just use corporations as a shell instead of some fake company named after a person.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      That’s not true. They pay taxes, just less taxes because their income is qualified dividends, tax-free bond interest, and long term capital gains. You don’t pay FICO taxes on any of that. And the actual tax rate is low or zero.

      Blame mostly Republicans for lowering those rates. They usually say it benefits retirees, which is true, but not poor retirees. There needs to be a minimum tax when your income is above $1 million. At least 20%, if not more.

      • Railing5132@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        The top marginal tax rate before the end of ww2 was (iirc) around 80% on the highest income. THAT should be the norm.

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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          No. Tax rates that high encourage wealthy people to spend money on accountants because the benefits are so great. Each dollar that is untaxed is like $5 taxed. It’s like multiplying their income by 5x. They will literally spend billions on it and avoid it.

          The better way to do it is through enforcing corporate taxes and setting minimums. Say a corporation has a $100 million in taxable income and a tax rate of 20%. Increasing the tax rate by 5% yields $5 million dollars relatively easily. All you have to do is monitor the business expenses and make sure no one is using private jets, cars, credit cards, or real estate for personal reasons. You can tax the money at the source and corporate workers have little reason to hide their boss’s illegality.

          Now let’s say you didn’t increase the corporate taxes, so the tax rate is 20% and $80 million is available to shareholders. To get that $5 million from shareholders you have to increase taxes on all forms of investment income by 6.25% (5/80). Plus you have to audit everyone to guarantee that you get all the money. It costs more because there’s more people involved.

          An 80% income tax would not affect investors unless they received unqualified dividends (look up “qualified dividends”). Not only that, they could delay the income taxes entirely by not paying out the money. Now you get no extra taxes and the company uses the money to lobby for Republicans to lower income taxes (then pay out later).

          Corporate taxes are easier.

      • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It’s very much not that simple. Look at Amazon. They don’t pay dividends. Elon keeps his money completely tied up in that company and others. If he needs money he takes loans against the stock he owns. That’s not income. So you can capitalize on the increase in the stock price without ever actually selling stock or generating any income. He never pays off the principal on the loan, just the interest. What happens to the interest? If it’s a business loan, that can be used offset income taxes. So when he does sell stock to pay interest, it’s offset by the loan interest.

        Zero taxes and the ability to spend money.

        At least, that’s what I would do with my very basic understanding of the financial system. He has experts who probably teach him to do much better.

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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          Loans against stock are not income because the gains haven’t been realized yet. There’s still a risk the stock can drop so he hasn’t actually earned anything. This is exactly what happened with Tesla and Twitter.

          Elon took out loans against Tesla stock to buy Twitter. Tesla stock fell. Then he mismanaged Twitter (X, lol) and its value fell (theoretically because it’s private). Elon is not a smart man. Not only is he bad at running a business, he’s also bad at managing his money. He’s spending (actually wasting) money that he hasn’t even earned yet.

          It’s like someone taking out a home equity loan. They wouldn’t get taxed on it because it’s a loan. They haven’t sold the house yet.

          Although there is a good argument for higher corporate taxes. That would tax the money before it became dividends or buybacks or capital gains or a margin loan (what you’re talking about). Corporate taxes are simple and hard to avoid, if created properly. Just make treaties with other countries to avoid the dumb “Ireland” tax scenario where Apple designs phones in California, builds them in China, sells them around the world, and pretends the company actually exists in Ireland.

  • Jay@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    Her thinking cap is on so tight it’s cutting off the circulation.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I don’t think I should be governed by the laws of the country, especially the paying of any sort of taxes, but I’d still like to get paid by the government for not working.

    • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@reddthat.com
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      4 months ago

      Sounds like they want that even if they are working and have plenty of income (see the part about their “corporate fiction” working). Which they should be, just like everyone else, but curious how sovcits feel about certain others getting those benefits…

      • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I don’t know any personally, and they may not all feel the same way, but after watching a number of them in court appearance my guess is they just feel jealous. They don’t seem like the right wing anti immigration types.

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    4 months ago

    Oh come on, you can’t post that without the updates in the comments! We need to see the rest.

      • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I put $0 under income. I have earnings and they don’t ask about earnings.

        This thinking is so outlandish to me. Consider the whole life of this person who finally then spouted the above quote.

        What went so wrong with her development and growth through life?

        • BadlyDrawnRhino
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          I assume they’ve seen companies talk about revenue vs profit, and think they can claim there’s a difference between earnings and income.

        • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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          What went so wrong with her development and growth through life?

          I feel like the thing that really sets the SovCit breed of crazy apart, the truly pernicious twist that makes it so appealing to some while so obviously ridiculous to everyone else is the idea that buying into it all means you’re smart.

          That you’ve figured out the game and have the system by the tail.

          And much like any cult, part of the deal is that anyone who doesn’t agree with you is either: too stupid to understand and worthy only of your smugness and patronizing disdain…or if not stupid, most likely in on the very system you’re fighting. Either way, anyone who isn’t already onboard is someone you don’t want to communicate with.

      • Drusas@kbin.social
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        4 months ago

        I could almost believe that, actually. It’s easy to get initially approved for SNAP, but they’ll follow up to get proof of your being low-income pretty soon and then cancel if you can’t/don’t do so.

        Except that the program hasn’t been called “food stamps” in ages, so she clearly is making it up.

        • dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world
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          Everyone I have ever known to receive SNAP has still called it “food stamps” even though they physical mechanism these days is a debit card. It’s just ingrained into American culture at this point. The name is probably not going anywhere any time soon.

  • De_Narm@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Let’s assume that would work for a moment. Nobody would do shitty jobs anymore and the same people would bitch about that first.

  • kromem@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Just think - if they put this much effort into actual work…they could be fired for incompetence.

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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    4 months ago

    Despite not being poor, they want to make a fraudulent application for welfare and threaten to arrest low level office workers for rejecting their goofy form.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Sovcits are what morons use as a last resort hail mary when they run out of legal options.

    Got your license revoked for your 12th DUI? Cant register your shitbox of a car because it can’t pass inspection? Just claim youre a sovcit and were never subject to laws in the first place!

    Cant find a job because you show up an hour late and drunk and keep getting fired? Just claim youre a Sovcit and refuse to work for “the corporate government” or whatever they call it!

    Same with everything else. Ask even the most basic questions to one of them and youll figure out that 99% of them aren’t even true believers and are just using the sovcits bit because they ran out of other options.