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Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
I go in pretty much every two weeks and donate blood - typically a double platelet and plasma. I hit 20 gallons with my donation today - that's 160 donations! I used to donate only whole blood until a couple of years ago, and that meant I could only donate 6 times a year, so this achievement has been a LONG time coming.

Give blood and save a life!!!
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
Well there's a few reasons, some public schools selectively take kids from out of their neighborhood, and some schools are private and you have to apply.
....

There's nothing I want to say in response to this that is within bounds for this message board. So, I'll just say congrats to your son, again, and keep it moving.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
....

There's nothing I want to say in response to this that is within bounds for this message board. So, I'll just say congrats to your son, again, and keep it moving.
This is all I will say: Fewer things in my life were more transformational than the summer I spent at Easter Seals for my high school community service project. Which is a big part of why I'm steering my son in this direction. He needs to learn that privilege comes with responsibility.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
This has not been a banner day for people I thought were cool when I woke up this morning.
Based on my walk with TJ this afternoon I think I know one of these people and had to have a frank talk with him about it because he seemed to be getting a very manospheric POV. But I'm very out of the loop how many you may be speaking about.

Either way, I'm sorry to read this.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Really struggling to figure out if Eric Roberts was ever truly famous enough to qualify as a famous brother.

What is the statute of limitation on fame because the dude's Oscar nom was like 40 years ago at this point.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
TurboTax is a god damned scam.
For disclosure, I use TT.

If you mean that there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to just use government-provided forms and software to do our mandated taxes (due to lobbying efforts of the tax preparers), then yes, I whole-heartedly agree.

Or is there something else that is setting you off?
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Really struggling to figure out if Eric Roberts was ever truly famous enough to qualify as a famous brother.

What is the statute of limitation on fame because the dude's Oscar nom was like 40 years ago at this point.
Please. He's the best of the best Roberts.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
For disclosure, I use TT.

If you mean that there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to just use government-provided forms and software to do our mandated taxes (due to lobbying efforts of the tax preparers), then yes, I whole-heartedly agree.

Or is there something else that is setting you off?
Also I do have some investments that require the higher levels of tax prep software or a person just to understand (mostly the whole foreign tax credit stuff on my VTIAX holding) but for the most part, the government knows what we owe or get back, why can't this just be automated and we only file if we disagree?

Probably because it might lead to the ultra-wealthy paying their fair share.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
For disclosure, I use TT.

If you mean that there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to just use government-provided forms and software to do our mandated taxes (due to lobbying efforts of the tax preparers), then yes, I whole-heartedly agree.

Or is there something else that is setting you off?
What set me off is the fact that you have to buy a new version of the software every year. I missed the second half of Clippers/Suns and the first half of Wolves/Nuggets last night, because I had to go help my mom upgrade her TurboTax software. I am annoyed by the fact that they can't won't just push through an update to your already purchased software, containing any pertinent changes to tax law, or whatever else might be needed, rather than make you go and get TurboTax 2KXX+Y every year.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
What set me off is the fact that you have to buy a new version of the software every year. I missed the second half of Clippers/Suns and the first half of Wolves/Nuggets last night, because I had to go help my mom upgrade her TurboTax software. I am annoyed by the fact that they can't won't just push through an update to your already purchased software, containing any pertinent changes to tax law, or whatever else might be needed, rather than make you go and get TurboTax 2KXX+Y every year.
Yeah, I get that. It is stupid, especially for something like taxes that are generally the same every year (same forms, same user inputs, etc.) with a few tweaks and updated formulas (for determining the taxes you owe based on current tax law).

They screwed up the software a few years back (user input interface changed, etc., that I thought was pretty bad), but I think they switched back the next year.

Also I do have some investments that require the higher levels of tax prep software or a person just to understand (mostly the whole foreign tax credit stuff on my VTIAX holding) but for the most part, the government knows what we owe or get back, why can't this just be automated and we only file if we disagree?

Probably because it might lead to the ultra-wealthy paying their fair share.
Also agreed.
 
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pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
What set me off is the fact that you have to buy a new version of the software every year. I missed the second half of Clippers/Suns and the first half of Wolves/Nuggets last night, because I had to go help my mom upgrade her TurboTax software. I am annoyed by the fact that they can't won't just push through an update to your already purchased software, containing any pertinent changes to tax law, or whatever else might be needed, rather than make you go and get TurboTax 2KXX+Y every year.
I find this annoying but I started buying the disc/download version from Costco which is a lot cheaper than doing it online or buying the software straight from Intuit. A loooong time ago, I used to get is severely discounted or almost free from my bank, but sadly that stopped long ago. I'm so looped into their system having used it since I first filed my own taxes that I'd rather not change at this point.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
Also I do have some investments that require the higher levels of tax prep software or a person just to understand (mostly the whole foreign tax credit stuff on my VTIAX holding) but for the most part, the government knows what we owe or get back, why can't this just be automated and we only file if we disagree?

Probably because it might lead to the ultra-wealthy paying their fair share.
Since two moderators have already chimed in on this, I feel I should point out that the latter doesn't seem to follow from the former. The self-filing method seems silly to me too. But if the government knows how much you should pay, it should also know how much the ultra-wealthy should pay, so I don't see how they get away paying less under the self-filing method.

I suppose you could argue that the wealthy may have "hidden" income that the government doesn't know about - but if that's the case, the self-filing method would result in MORE revenue to the government. Why? Because in the government-bill method, if the government doesn't bill you for your income, then you know they don't know about it and you can get away with not paying taxes on it. In the self-file method at least you have to wonder if the government might know about your "hidden" income and you might declare it just to be safe.

Now, if the self-file method were a true "honor system" then you'd be right, but since by your former assertion it's really more a "trap system" the idea that it's designed to let rich people get off seems...unlikely.