~Swedish Proverb
"Supreme Court Notebook: Sotomayor rapped for surfing the web.” Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko of The Associated Press have this report.
Biodiversity Scientist Warns: “We’re Sleepwalking Into a Mass Extinction” Inverse "Into”? It’s already well underway
Pensioners exempt from Labor's tax change
MICHAEL WALSH: Manhunt on in Rome for Tunisian Terrorist.Pensioners exempt from Labor's tax change
National Law Journal, Gorsuch and Kennedy Click in Online Sales Tax Case:
Besides their Western backgrounds and their justice-former clerk connection, Anthony Kennedy and Neil Gorsuch seem to have little in common in style and views. But in April, the two justices likely will align in the multibillion-dollar battle over state taxation of online retail sales.
New York Times, Think Cryptocurrency Is Confusing? Try Paying Taxes on It:
The room was full of stressed-out cryptocurrency traders. And for once, they weren’t nervous about the price of Bitcoin, or the roller coaster swings of the virtual currency markets.
No, the subject of this gloomy affair was taxes. Specifically, how — and whether — to pay them.
Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney on creating believable digital humans Venture Beat. 'Holy ****! Watch the demo video!”
Cambridge Analytica scandal: Social media outlets know more about you than your friends do, Alastair MacGibbon says
“The Long March of the Corporate Rights Movement”: At the Los Angeles Review of Books, Ryan Azad has this review of law professor Adam Winkler‘s new book, “We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights.”
When the US Gallup organisation published the results of its 2017 ‘State of the Global Workplace’ research, it focussed a laser-sharp light on the reality of an appalling lack of staff disinterest and work apathy around the world. Peter Mills reports.
The headline finding in the 142 country study, is that only 15 per cent of workers globally, or roughly one in eight “are psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making a positive contribution to their organisations” or “showing up with the enthusiasm and motivation to be highly productive”. The remainder, are either ‘disengaged or actively disengaged”. A staggering 76 per cent of the workforce here in Australia, self-nominates as disengaged and lacking almost anything resembling commitment. World class.
But is anyone really surprised? The never ending “restructuring “ and retrenchments over the past three decades – the senior management go-to solution for hitting short term financial goals and hence their own personal bonus targets, has left those still standing, feeling both apathetic and cynical.
Gallup’s 2013 State of the Global Workplace report. What about Saudi? ?
Read more at http://t.co/VbjURt4ZZk pic.twitter.com/3gx1HKf2jR— م. ثامر العبادي (@Thamer_Alabbadi) September 23, 2014
Gallup Survey: worker apathy now a global epidemic
Plutus Payroll accused fraudsters sue Lloyds insurer for defence costs
Gaudy groom and ex-deputy mayor Salim Mehajer ...
Court of Appeals Affirms Exclusion of Amended Returns and Payments after Start of Criminal Investigation
In United States v. Evdokimow, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 6564 (3rd Cir. 2018), here, the Evdokimow was convicted of 8 tax crimes counts "relating to his failure to report and pay taxes on his personal and business income." The issues he raised on appeal arose from his attempt after learning of the criminal tax investigation to file amended return and pay the indicated tax and interest. (The opinion refers to payment of tax, penalties and interest, but penalties are not usually paid with amended returns; I suppose he may have paid penalties with the amended returns or upon assessment by the IRS; in any event, that is not relevant and I will just refer to his payments as payments of tax.) The underlying gambit to evade his tax liability was contorted, but not particularly interesting to the point of this blog. After obfuscating in a civil audit, the IRS opened a criminal investigation in 2009 but, for some reason, he was not aware of that investigation until 2012. (The under the radar screen investigation for so long is not relevant to this blog, but I suspect there is a story there.) Then:
After he became aware of the investigation, Evdokimow took steps to repay his tax deficiencies. n1 He retained lawyers and accountants to assist him to identify his taxable income for the years 2005 through 2013 * * * * Evdokimow filed an amended tax return for 2006 in June 2013, and filed amended returns for the remaining years in September 2013. Evdokimow accordingly paid all of his tax liability, including penalties and interest, totaling $3,395,394.00.
n1 Because the District Court precluded Evdokimow from testifying regarding the remedial steps he took after receiving the subpoena in 2012, our recitation of these facts relies on counsels' proffers of what the evidence would show, were it to be admitted.
In a 2017 interview, Microsoft founder Bill Gates recommended taxing robots to slow the pace of automation. Funds raised could be used to retrain and financially support displaced workers. Up to 47 per cent of US jobs are at risk by advancements in artificial intelligence. Low-wage workers currently hold a majority of those at-risk jobs. Increased automation is likely to exacerbate income inequality.
While employment changes due to automation are not new, advances in artificial intelligence threaten many more jobs much more quickly than historic automation did. When considering how to tax job replacing robots, we should think about the broader purpose of a tax system. Taxes raise revenue, but for whom?
The head of the Australian National University has expressed his disappointment that a highly-awarded law student was stopped from speaking out on Australia's refugee policy by a member of the school's marketing team.