Discussion:Politics - 'tis the season

In the past, we've had discussions about how to handle non-tax questions (that's how the chat forum started in the first place) and DIY posts (that's why the advanced tax questions were started). So now I think it's time to ask what others think about political discussions.

Should political discussions be posted under "chat"? If so, how does one determine when a particular discussion crosses the boundary?

Should possible political discussions include "Political?" in the topic?

Do you have other thoughts or suggestions? Inquiring minds want to know.

Or, second choice, putting "Political" in the topic.

I think we've all gotten in situations where political discussions have inadvertently gotten heated with family and friends, and we wish we just hadn't gotten into it in the first place. There are other forums for this.

Thanks for bringing up the subject.

As much as political discussions go nowadays, I feel it's probably better left off the forum. Seems that we're all so divided on most political areas and the least little mention about this or that...next thing you know, a gigantic, nasty, name-calling fight. It's so unfortunate and I believe our politicians have thoughtfully and purposely divided us along party lines (I know, I just did it!!).

Too bad, as we have more in common than most of us would like to admit.

It might lead to some discussions, that while entertaining, could lead to some testy exchanges and bad will. I think it best to stay away from that.

Besides, let's get Fred back in the game with Natalie as VP! They would be a formidable pair for McCain/Palin!

Tom

My first choice would be to move discussions out of the Tax Forum and over to the Chat Forum once they become political, and my second choice would be renaming them, to add “(Political?)” in the title. Either would make it a lot easier to avoid them altogether.

As to how to determine when a discussion crosses the line from “tax” to “political” – well, if one user feels strongly enough about it to post a statement in the discussion that they think it’s become political, and another user seconds that, that would be enough for me; the second person could move/retitle the discussion. Or maybe it should require a third user to agree before it’s moved/retitled. As long as we’re not deleting anybody’s posts (which I would not support), that seems like it’d be community-oriented enough.

every election - all Candidates promise Tax Simplification - and sure enough - soon as another President gets in - a new Tax Bill comes out with the word "Simplification" in its title. And another 10,000 pages of Statute, Regulation, Rev Rulings, Rev Procs, General Counsel Opinions, etc. are added to the Tax Law.

All in the name of "Simplification" - Politicians regulate our economy via the tax code - like it or not.

So, in 36-years I've never seen any "Simplification".

So what would make any of us think otherwise.

While we are on this discussion, how about threads which turn into jokefests?

The purpose of this board is to exchange TAX AND PROFESSIONAL information among ourselves. Let's keep it that way. Keep political issues in CHAT. The same for ANY controversial subject that is not related to the direct performance of our work dealing with clients. There's one board I go on, where open discussion on a myriad of issues (usually political, but not always) is categorized under "Recreation" as the discussion title.

The other day I was looking at statistics on newspapers. A lot of people thought the large metropolitans could hang on for another 50 years. People go to the internet now and expect it to be free. News for free, worthless, but "free".

The IRS was ordered to outsource some collection matters. A certain Party seems to support this. It has nothing to do with making money, it's good for America. Like Blackwater, the privatized Army. Now, I have noticed some talk up there about free tax services. This is possible under a system called "rationalization". You move in and "rationalize" an industry. Ray Kroc did this, and cows hate it.

I am terrified of being rationalized, but I intuit that it's a coming phenom. What if somehow they figured out how to make prep free and make their money off the sideline stuff, RAL's or something? That could leave one or two providers, like McDonald's and Burger King (no charge for burgers, but drinks are $5.00). Why indeed, the IRS could be ordered to allow access to this through their website.

We can then all do business returns, fiduciary returns, and take care of the rich, there's a lot of money in that. Especially when everybody piles in. Rich folks don't haggle over fees. Cough. I don't know why we fiddled around with the middle class anyway. Massive cough.

Ok, back to work. I get the message. If I'm asked, I'm just following orders. [P.S. I actually agree, and will only bring such issues up in Chat, and then only very infrequently in the future]. PPS: Oh, and newspapers? They're dropping like flies.

JAD,

Being a new visitor to TA, is the board like this all the time or just because it's off-season and members are a little more relaxed and playful right now? I've seen other forums where the questions are great and before you know it, threads become unrecognizable. I'm not bashing any forum. More of an observation that relates to your post.

the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses" Juvenal

I guess today, you would say bread, circuses, grizzly bear hunters, and comfort. Herbert Marcuse, you were a genius.

John: you can go back to the first two weeks of April and see that at that time of year, rants are common.

That way, we as practitioners can make OUR OWN interpretations of them to discuss with any of our clients should they come to ask us during the election. I think that would be more productive than the opening screen about the HEROES act passed this summer. That's old news by now.

As for jokefests, I'm guilty of participating in those. I think it's good to have a little humor in the posts now and then. Perhaps there were one or two that got a little out of hand, so I'll try to control myself in the future.

McCain on Bush Tax Cuts

Against - when they were going thru the Senate. For - when running for President. . Obama on Bush Tax Cuts Against - when running for Democrat nominations For - these tax cuts on every below $250K MFJ AGI This weekend, defering any change until the economy improves because to let them expire will hurt the economy

Seems to me that both Candidates are definately for and against the Bush Tax Cuts currently in use.

We should also keep in mind how quickly and efficiently TaxAlmanac posts get included into the outside search engines. The last thing we want (I’d think) is to have a bunch of political wonks doing a google search, hitting on one of our discussions just ‘cause it happened to include the political hot button key words they typed in, and getting all their friends involved (and their opponents will follow) in “correcting our misunderstandings.” We’d be overrun!

The fact that these discussions go zipping off into the WWW, subject to googling, is often missed.

I had to cut a client off, rather emphatically, this a.m. because she wanted to discuss politics and I have too many corporate returns and estimated tax payments to do before Monday's deadline. If TA were to be subject to such rhetoric, the usefulness of this forum would be greatly compromised.

When I sometimes do Google searches, TaxAlmanac jumps up in the top 5 usually of Google for searches. I usually look here first anyway, but then to bolster my research, I go to my research source and then some other sources. Invariably, we pop up in Google.

I probably know more DC policy wonks than I care to admit, maybe some of you know as many if not more yourselves, but that's not my point. They live, eat and breathe this stuff. We will get deluged, as Trillium and Belle note.

Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Tom