Monday, February 23, 2009
Art Break because reality is annoying
Tribute to Van Gogh
Posted some art & music as an escape from it all for a while.
Waiting to see if revision #4 of the layoff return to work for Mr. Ramblings, sticks or revision #5 kicks in. We will know this week.
Taxes are done... Our final year to claim our very own tax deduction, there is a college tuition break that is saving our hides. What kind of economist comes to the financial conclusion that Expenses to feed & house a college student for an entire year, college books, plus over $4000 tuition equals a pittance of a tax credit? That is some fancy math! Not even fricking close to a fraction of the real costs~ still we will take whatever break we can get. But in the end there is no break~ it all has to go to the State. We live in a no sales tax state, so we are one of the heaviest taxed states in the union.
Even with that hefty tax, the State has an $850 million budget deficit this year.
"The perfect storm is here and Oregon is feeling the recession stronger than many other states,"
The classic cuts- schools, social services & public safety. Bah! I'm calling it a day.
Thankfully, we have music & art to get our minds off all these annoying realities.
I love the French Impressionist paintings/style. Van Gogh~ take me away!
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6 comments:
My daughter and her hubby moved from Oregon about 2 years ago and they have been fighting them on taxes ever since.. so I can feel your pain. After paying on them for all this time, and getting it down to less than $500 after OR screwed up the payment coupons they sent them twice, but my kids kept paying, and SIL finally got a job, OR wants to NOW put a grab on his wages... they have never missed a payment, and like I said have it down to next to nothing... It is all based on his 401K he took out from the company he worked for up there and is the state tax penalty, now the state of MO is saying he owes them too.. we haven't figured that out yet... but working on it..
My sympathies to them re the ongoing tax battle. If you take 401k money out early, they do nail you for about 1/2 of the total value. If they add fines, fees & penalties, they go crazy with dishing those out.
Anyway they take a big chunk of taxes out of each paycheck, but apparently I need to allocate a bigger chunk. I do not want to get hit with a huge sum they think we owe every year. We can't just cough up a thousand bucks for the tax man- above the thousands they have already taken.
No wonder the wealthy are so fierce about their tax breaks!
Love the vid! I saw Don McLean perform this song live a few yrs ago. Unlike many older singers, his voice is EXACTLY the same as it was. There was an OH screen that flashed images of VanGogh paintings while he sang it. But at the very end, when he says "they're not listening still", they flashed a photo of GWB! This was at the time when many artists were being booed if they disagreed w/jumping into iraq. No one booed, but there was a sharp group intake of breath ... mainly because it was pretty horrible to see GWB's clueless idiot face after all those fine paintings!
I've seen a couple movies about VanGogh's rough life, an old one with Kirk Douglas and a newer one with Tim Roth. Both captured his frustrations well. I also saw a one-man live performance of Leonard Nimoy reading VanGogh's letters to his brother, Theo. Nimoy was playing Theo. Had to drive into L.A. to see that, but it was so excellent, I forgot all about the gridlock & endless city.
ps, Fran since you don't pay sales tax in OR, maybe a good idea would be to put aside about 6% of your purchases during the year, knowing you'll have to cough them up to OR in the end? They get you one way or another, it seems. And oh yeah, of course the rich hate paying taxes, but please don't compare their hatred of parting with money. With all their loopholes & tax dodge set-ups, they still have plenty left!
Good luck later this week Fran. We're keeping our fingers X-ed. (And thanks for the welcome interlude!)
Love "Vincent" and this video. Thanks for posting it!
Wow DK~ That concert w the slideshow & surprise photo/commentary sounds great. Always nice when a concert sounds as good or better live. A double treat to have the art & music.
In other news, I may have work just take out more tax for the State so we don't get hit up.
Dada: Leave it up to the corporation to say "Call on Monday" then fail to return the call, now going on the 3rd day. It is nerve wracking, to say the least.
Maui~ Nice relief from all the rest. Triyng to calm my own nerves!
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