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Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,

If you are like most Americans, paying taxes is one of your pet peeves.  The deadline to file your federal taxes is coming up, and this year Americans will spend more than 7 billion hours preparing their taxes and will hand over more than four trillion dollars to federal, state and local governments.  Americans will fork over nearly 30 percent of what they earn to pay their income taxes, but that is only a small part of the story.

As you will see below, there are dozens of other taxes that Americans pay every year.  Of course not everyone pays all of these taxes, but without a doubt we are all being taxed into oblivion.  It is like death by a thousand paper cuts.  Our politicians have become extremely creative in finding ways to extract money from all of us, and most Americans don't even realize what is being done to them.  By the time it is all said and done, a significant portion of the population ends up paying more than half of what they earn to the government.  That is fundamentally wrong, but nothing will be done about it until people start demanding change.  The following is a list of 97 taxes Americans pay every year…

#1 Air Transportation Taxes (just look at how much you were charged the last time you flew)

#2 Biodiesel Fuel Taxes

#3 Building Permit Taxes

#4 Business Registration Fees

#5 Capital Gains Taxes

#6 Cigarette Taxes

#7 Court Fines (indirect taxes)

#8 Disposal Fees

#9 Dog License Taxes

#10 Drivers License Fees (another form of taxation)

#11 Employer Health Insurance Mandate Tax

#12 Employer Medicare Taxes

#13 Employer Social Security Taxes

#14 Environmental Fees

#15 Estate Taxes

#16 Excise Taxes On Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans

#17 Federal Corporate Taxes

#18 Federal Income Taxes

#19 Federal Unemployment Taxes

#20 Fishing License Taxes

#21 Flush Taxes (yes, this actually exists in some areas)

#22 Food And Beverage License Fees

#23 Franchise Business Taxes

#24 Garbage Taxes

#25 Gasoline Taxes

#26 Gift Taxes

#27 Gun Ownership Permits

#28 Hazardous Material Disposal Fees

#29 Highway Access Fees

#30 Hotel Taxes (these are becoming quite large in some areas)

#31 Hunting License Taxes

#32 Import Taxes

#33 Individual Health Insurance Mandate Taxes

#34 Inheritance Taxes

#35 Insect Control Hazardous Materials Licenses

#36 Inspection Fees

#37 Insurance Premium Taxes

#38 Interstate User Diesel Fuel Taxes

#39 Inventory Taxes

#40 IRA Early Withdrawal Taxes

#41 IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

#42 IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

#43 Library Taxes

#44 License Plate Fees

#45 Liquor Taxes

#46 Local Corporate Taxes

#47 Local Income Taxes

#48 Local School Taxes

#49 Local Unemployment Taxes

#50 Luxury Taxes

#51 Marriage License Taxes

#52 Medicare Taxes

#53 Medicare Tax Surcharge On High Earning Americans Under Obamacare

#54 Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (if you don't buy "qualifying" health insurance under Obamacare you will have to pay an additional tax)

#55 Obamacare Surtax On Investment Income (a new 3.8% surtax on investment income)

#56 Parking Meters

#57 Passport Fees

#58 Professional Licenses And Fees (another form of taxation)

#59 Property Taxes

#60 Real Estate Taxes

#61 Recreational Vehicle Taxes

#62 Registration Fees For New Businesses

#63 Toll Booth Taxes

#64 Sales Taxes

#65 Self-Employment Taxes

#66 Sewer & Water Taxes

#67 School Taxes

#68 Septic Permit Taxes

#69 Service Charge Taxes

#70 Social Security Taxes

#71 Special Assessments For Road Repairs Or Construction

#72 Sports Stadium Taxes

#73 State Corporate Taxes

#74 State Income Taxes

#75 State Park Entrance Fees

#76 State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)

#77 Tanning Taxes (a new Obamacare tax on tanning services)

#78 Telephone 911 Service Taxes

#79 Telephone Federal Excise Taxes

#80 Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Taxes

#81 Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Taxes

#82 Telephone State And Local Taxes

#83 Telephone Universal Access Taxes

#84 The Alternative Minimum Tax

#85 Tire Recycling Fees

#86 Tire Taxes

#87 Tolls (another form of taxation)

#88 Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)

#89 Use Taxes (Out of state purchases, etc.)

#90 Utility Taxes

#91 Vehicle Registration Taxes

#92 Waste Management Taxes

#93 Water Rights Fees

#94 Watercraft Registration & Licensing Fees

#95 Well Permit Fees

#96 Workers Compensation Taxes

#97 Zoning Permit Fees

Yet despite all of this oppressive taxation, our local governments, our state governments and our federal government are all absolutely drowning in debt.

When the federal income tax was originally introduced a little more than 100 years ago, most Americans were taxed at a rate of only 1 percent.

But once they get their feet in the door, the social planners always want more.

Since that time, tax rates have gone much higher and the tax code has exploded in size.

Why do we have to have the most convoluted tax system in the history of the planet?

Why can't things be simpler?

In a previous article entitled "24 Outrageous Facts About Taxes In The United States That Will Blow Your Mind", I listed a number of reasons why our federal income tax system has become a complete and utter abomination that is entirely out of control…

1 – The U.S. tax code is now 3.8 million words long.  If you took all of William Shakespeare's works and collected them together, the entire collection would only be about 900,000 words long.

2 – According to the National Taxpayers Union, U.S. taxpayers spend more than 7.6 billion hours complying with federal tax requirements.  Imagine what our society would look like if all that time was spent on more economically profitable activities.

3 – 75 years ago, the instructions for Form 1040 were two pages long.  Today, they are 189 pages long.

4 – There have been 4,428 changes to the tax code over the last decade.  It is incredibly costly to change tax software, tax manuals and tax instruction booklets for all of those changes.

5 – According to the National Taxpayers Union, the IRS currently has 1,999 different publications, forms, and instruction sheets that you can download from the IRS website.

6 – Our tax system has become so complicated that it is almost impossible to file your taxes correctly.  For example, back in 1998 Money Magazine had 46 different tax professionals complete a tax return for a hypothetical household.  All 46 of them came up with a different result.

7 – In 2009, PC World had five of the most popular tax preparation software websites prepare a tax return for a hypothetical household.  All five of them came up with a different result.

8 – The IRS spends $2.45 for every $100 that it collects in taxes.

9 – According to The Tax Foundation, the average American has to work until April 17th just to pay federal, state, and local taxes.  Back in 1900, "Tax Freedom Day" came on January 22nd.

10 – When the U.S. government first implemented a personal income tax back in 1913, the vast majority of the population paid a rate of just 1 percent, and the highest marginal tax rate was just 7 percent.

If it was up to me, I would abolish the income tax and shut the IRS down.

But neither major political party in the United States is even willing to consider such a thing.

So the monstrous system that we have created will continue to get even bigger and even more complicated.

We are literally being taxed into oblivion, and most Americans don't even seem to care.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1iyea4m Tyler Durden

Thirsty Californians are pinning their hopes that worried farmers in Australia are right. After months of the Polar Vortex dumping snow on the US east coast and drought on the west coast (and crushing the American Dream of an 'escape velocity' economy), The US Climate Prediction Center issued an El Nino watch bring hope of a big rain year for California, floods in South America, and dismal droughts in Southeast Asia. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said an El Nino could occur during the southern hemisphere winter from May-July. Increased sea surface temperatures suggest an increasing chance of the global weather phenomenon and the great rotation from a Polar Vortex to a Solar Vortex.

 

Aussie Farmers are already struggling and this could be a major problem:

Climate models show an increased chance of a 2014 El Nino weather event, said Australia's bureau of meteorology, leading to possible droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America, which could hit key rice, wheat and sugar crops.

 

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said an El Nino could occur during the southern hemisphere winter, May-July, with Australian cattle and grain farmers already struggling with drought which has cut production.

 

The last El Nino in 2009/10 was categorised weak to moderate. The most severe El Nino was in 1998 when freak weather killed more than 2,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and other parts of Asia.

 

"The latest climate model survey by the shows that the tropical Pacific is very likely to warm in the coming months, with most models showing sea surface temperatures reaching El Nino thresholds during the southern hemisphere winter," the BOM said in an emailed statement.

But Californians are exuberant at the possibility…

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center issued an El Niño watch this month, citing a 52 percent chance of Pacific Ocean waters warming and creating – possibly – a wetter-than-average winter.

 

 

Historically, El Niño conditions have been associated with the state's biggest rain years, including the winters of 1997-98 and 1982-83, which brought fatal mudslides to the Santa Cruz Mountains and devastating surf to the Southern California coast. In 1997-98, San Francisco was pounded by a record 47.2 inches of rain.

But while El Niño boosts the odds of rain, it provides no guarantees, especially if the ocean warming isn't extreme.

Typically, El Niño brings drier weather to the western Pacific, in places such as Australia and Indonesia, and wetter weather to the Americas, he said.

 

The effects vary considerably with the strength of El Niño – and can differ from place to place.

 

For example, weak to moderate El Niño conditions have brought more rain to Southern California, while doing little for the northern part of the state. But a strong El Niño historically has increased rainfall across the entire state.

 

"If that gets locked in place, it can lead to storm after storm after storm," said John Monteverdi, a meteorology professor at San Francisco State University.

Meanwhile not everyone is exuberant as The India Times reports:

India's weather office is snarling at these forecasters and accusing them of conspiring to rattle the country's commodities and stock markets.

We are sure this will provide global meteorolgists and economists plenty of ammo for their hockey-stick recoveries to miss expectations…

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1eMDdQs Tyler Durden

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What exactly is happening in this globalized world? What’s happening in the world that one day somebody constructed in which everybody had access to everybody’s private life via social networks and even some had access to it through special programs that they gave fancy names to like Prism and the President’s Surveillance Program? What’s the result that they have brought about by handing the money to the banksters and then letting the rest of the world wallow in the mud of the cesspit that was once the economy? The people have had enough. That’s the result.

Around the world, governments are seeing ‘go-it-alone’ breaks being made, referendums being held and repressed areas giving the proverbial finger to centralized governments. This is the result of globalization. The world in which we travel at the flick of a click is a place in which we are absent from everywhere but virtually present anywhere and everywhere, and all that from the comfort of the armchair of my own home (made inChina, or India, or Bangladesh…).

Scotland wants to get out of the hell-hole that Westminster has turned into. The Mexicans won’t be trying to jump the wall anymore in years to come. The US will be getting its comeuppance too as people will be showing that they have had enough. Is the revolution starting or is it just around the corner? This is the West’s Spring Revolution.

Scotland goes to the polls on September 18th 2014 and already the gap between the ‘yes’ and the ‘no’ vote is narrowing. Scotland is only 5% in reach of gaining its independence. Despite the fact that Westminster has told them they can’t have the Pound Sterling and despite the fact that the Spanish will veto their entry in the European Union (for fear of losing Catalonia and the Basque Country). Soon, there will only be the central governments in the EU (and Ukraine, after it will have milked the EU poor-stricken cash-hungry dry). In the latest poll by ICM research in Scotland, 39% would vote for independence. That’s an increase of 2% since last month. The ‘No’ vote is down from 49% to 46%. Those who still haven’t made their minds up stands at 15%. Discounting the ‘don’t know’ers’ means that support for is at 45% for independence and those who want to stay in the Union stands at 55%.

Now we learn that Venice has held its own independence referendum without the say-so of the Italian government. You see Europe and America: when you fail to stand up to the annexation of an entire region and an unconstitutional referendum is held, then you have to pay the consequences. If the Russians can do it, and Europe says nothing, then we all have the right to do so. Follow by example. The poll for the Venetians was done on-line and received a ‘yes’ vote of 89% to break-away from the Italian government and become an independent state. Two million people took part in the vote. Long Live the V**enetian Republic**! Growing tensions have occurred since 2007 and despite the fact that Venice lost its Independence when Napoleon annexed it into Italy in 1797, they are looking to get it back.

As Russia expands and builds its Federation back up to Soviet proportions, the rest of the world may just have to deal with a splintering of the West into smaller countries that are more independent and that still continue inter-acting on the global scene.

In today’s world of globalization, we are looking in on ourselves and we have had enough of centralized governments, the corruption that has become nothing more than by-word for elections and the spin-doctoring that has been spun to us for years now. We are slowly but surely coming to the realization that the masses are more powerful than the few that are at the top. They are richer, for sure. But, the people are stronger and fake referendums are at least a message that is being sent to the leaders that believe they have been voted in because we like them. No, they are there either because it was rigged, or because they were the least worst of the bad bunch that strutted around the television studios.

Do people actually vote these days anyhow?

Originally posted: It’s the Result of the Globalized World

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1jspliL Pivotfarm

Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,

By the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had become a has-been power whose glory days as the world’s superpower were well behind them.

They had been supplanted the French, the British, and the Russian empires in all matters of economic, military, and diplomatic strength. Much of this was due to the Ottoman Empire’s massive debt burden.

In 1868, the Ottoman government spent 17% of its entire tax revenue just to pay interest on the debt.

And they were well past the point of no return where they had to borrow money just to pay interest on the money they had already borrowed.

The increased debt meant the interest payments also increased. And three years later in 1871, the government was spending 32% of its tax revenue just to pay interest.

By 1877, the Ottoman government was spending 52% of its tax revenue just to pay interest. And at that point they were finished. They defaulted that year.

This is a common story throughout history.

The French government saw a meteoric rise in their debt throughout the late 1700s. By 1788, on the eve of the French Revolution, they spent 62% of their tax revenue to pay interest on the debt.

Charles I of Spain had so much debt that by 1559, interest payments exceeded ordinary revenue of the Habsburg monarchy. Spain defaulted four times on its debt before the end of the century.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that an unsustainable debt burden soundly tolls the death knell of a nation’s economy, and its government.

Unfortunately, it can sometimes take a rocket scientist to figure out what the real numbers are; governments have a vested interest in not being transparent about their debts and interest payments.

In the Land of the Free, for example, the government routinely doesn’t count interest payments that they make to the Social Security Trust Fund.

They’ve managed to convince people that those debts don’t matter ‘because we owe it to ourselves.’

Apparently in their minds, solemn promises made to retirees simply don’t count.

It’s like a person who is in debt up to his eyeballs with both credit card companies and family members has no compunction about stiffing Grandpa.

Obligations are obligations, no matter who they’re owed to.

Taking this into account, total US interest payments in Fiscal Year 2013 were a whopping $415 billion, roughly 17% of total tax revenue. Just like the Ottoman Empire was at in 1868.

Here’s the thing, though– it’s inappropriate to look at total tax revenue when we’re talking about making interest payments.

The IRS collected $2.49 trillion in taxes last year (net of refunds). But of this amount, $891 billion was from payroll tax.

According to FICA and the Social Security Act of 1935, however, this amount is tied directly to funding Social Security and Medicare. It is not to be used for interest payments.

Based on this data, the amount of tax revenue that the US government had available to pay for its operations was $1.599 trillion in FY2013.

This means they actually spent approximately 26% of their available tax revenue just to pay interest last year… a much higher number than 17%.

This is an unbelievable figure. The only thing more unbelievable is how masterfully they understate reality… and the level of deception they employ to conceal the truth.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1jspjHn Tyler Durden

Presented with little comment aside to ask… if 'weather' can do this much damage to the US economy and 'faith' in the wealth effect-building benefits of the US equity market are this weak, then there are a few uncomfortable truths about to punch some talking heads in the mouth…

Q1 GDP estimates are down 30% in the last 2 months… that is a 30% plunge in the US economy due to "weather" in Winter… (and even hopes for the full year are starting to be curtailed)

 

And the wealth-building benefits of a Fed-promoted US equity market appear to be falling on deafer and deafer ears since the mid-Feb EM crisis lows… as money flow – comparable to breadth – collapses…

 

So people have lost faith in the economic recovery and are losing faith in the financial recovery… what next? The blasphemy of dobting the Fed's omnipotence?

And for those that miss it…

 

Charts: Bloomberg

h/t @Not_Jim_Cramer

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/Qdi75m Tyler Durden

Submitted via Markov Processes blog,

In the WSJ’s February 24th exposé of the turmoil at the helm of Pimco, we saw a curious bit about tension at “the Beach” increasing in the summer of 2013. During this period, according to the Journal, conflict between then co-CIOs Bill Gross and Mohamed E-Erian became apparent to staff, and Gross restricted trading at the firm.

We wanted to see what insights a quantitative analysis of Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTRX) could offer about the summer and Total Return’s recent performance, a topic of increasing scrutiny amongst the investment community.

To conduct our analysis on Pimco Total Return, MPI analysts ran the fund’s daily net asset values (NAVs) through our proprietary quantitative model to identify the set of factor exposures that best mimic the fund’s return with the highest predictability^[1]. The factors used in this analysis were selected based on their ability to produce the most predictive results. For a fund with over ten thousand positions, this returns-based approach is categorically different than a holdings-based assessment of such a massive portfolio. Our quantitative method is top-down, allowing an investor (armed with sophisticated tools and methods) to see how the fund behaves as a whole on a daily basis, rather than by painstakingly constructing the exact replica portfolio as reported with a lag, a task that few, if any, investors would have resources for if it is possible at all.

Our analysis indicates that the fund’s returns behaved as though it was short cash and long bonds in 2013, and that the short cash exposure increased during May, peaking in June. Negative cash exposure in the model often represents implicit leverage, which could be the result of either using derivatives or more risky securities than the ones chosen for this analysis. The model also shows the fund to have long bond exposure, around 130%. In a historical context, however, this should not be a surprise, either to those looking at public statements and reported holdings or using returns-based models. Indeed, PTTRX has behaved as if it were levered at greater levels in recent years.

The portfolio’s exposure had negative consequences on performance in the summer of 2013, and beyond (more later, and in below charts). On May 22nd, in testimony to Congress, then Fed Chairman Bernanke suggested the central bank could begin to taper purchases of mortgage securities and U.S. Treasuries in coming months under its Quantitative Easing program. Through the summer months following this announcement, volatility and a market sell-off in many fixed income classes resulted in increased yields, and, conversely, decreased prices. Long factor exposures that the analysis detects, including TIPS and mortgages, suffered during this period. The fund behaves as if it curtails the short cash/leveraged bonds position by the end of September.

When looking at performance attribution from the beginning of May 2013 through March 14th 2014, mortgages as an asset class recovered, more or less, but not TIPS. TIPS appear to be the factor that had the biggest drag on performance, though the model shows the exposure level to remain largely unchanged through the period. Additionally, while high yield bonds have performed comparatively well, the portfolio behaves as if exposure to this asset class was pared, thus limiting Total Return’s upside. While the short cash/interest rate risk exposure looks to be reined in after the June peak (a month when the WSJ reported $9.6B in outflows from Total Return), the portfolio’s composition to date has not turned out to be optimally positioned for performance improvement. (see charts below)

To put this in perspective over this short term, Gross’ Southern California neighbor Jeffrey Gundlach’s DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund behaves like it had significant exposure to cash going into the turmoil following the first “taper talk”. While the model shows their mortgage strategy to be more elaborate than what we see with PTTRX, with a number of asset classes picked up, including PO/Inverse Floaters and CMOs, their cash exposure trends down and perceived exposures to mortgages and distressed debt increase through the back half of the year. Performance-wise, this turned out to be to their advantage; they’re up 1.9% over the past 12 months through March 14th. PTTRX remains down .20% over the period, lagging behind it’s intermediate term index, Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, up .56%, and its average peer in the intermediate term bond fund category, up .72%, according to Morningstar and as reported by the WSJ’s Daisy Maxey.

This analysis is performed in hindsight over a short time horizon that has been under a magnifying glass. While leverage in such a large fund, and whatever its origin, could be reason for some concern (and a challenge for the industry to address), it was not a significant loss and should not detract from the manager’s longer term track record, which is one of the best in the industry.

For investors keen to take greater oversight of their fixed income portfolios, however, especially in light of Fed action and resultant market impact, this instance can serve as a call to action to institute quantitative monitoring on a regular basis to better understand their manager’s thinking, short term bets and potential risks incurred in a portfolio. We have seen an uptick in interest from clients looking to conduct reviews and analysis of fixed income portfolios, particularly alternative bond funds, and we look forward to continuing the discussion here.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1jEw9oY Tyler Durden

Many commentators witnessed the first Q&A session with Janet Yellen as a disaster.

 

We don’t see it that way at all.

 

Yellen is widely believed to be a super dove at the Fed. This is largely due to her being a firm advocate for QE in the past few years.

 

However, Yellen is at least intelligent enough to know when the markets are out of control (something neither Bernanke nor Greenspan could do). To whit, Yellen publicly stated that housing was in a bubble in 2005. At the time she suggested deflating it (but was concerned about the deflation being too intense).

 

So, regardless of her various flaws as a forecaster and economist, Yellen has shown herself capable of: 

 

1)   Identify bubbles.

2)   Calling for action for rein them in.

 

With that in mind, Yellen’s decision to continue tapering QE indicates that she is aware of the fact the markets are getting out of control again or are approaching a bubble.

 

This is further confirmed this by her decision to drop the 6.5% unemployment threshold as well as her suggestion that interest rate hikes could come as soon as six months after QE ends this coming December.

 

In simple terms, Yellen is alerting Wall Street that she will not be the second coming of Bernanke (at least for now) and that she is going to be removing the punchbowl.

 

The markets typically take a while to register this. The fact that last week was a quadruple witching options expiration helped hold things together. But now that options expiration is over, we’re running out of reasons for the markets to hold up.

 

Moreover, we’ve recently seen a number of high profile investors (Icahn, Grantham) warn that the markets are overvalued and primed for a sharp drop.

 

Thus we find the following:

 

1)   Yellen is moving to rein in the markets.

2)   Investment legends are warning of a potential drop in asset prices.

3)   Corporate profits falling.

 

This environment is ripe for a market pullback. Smart investors should take this opportunity to prepare for it.

 

For a FREE Special Report on how to protect your portfolio from a sharp downturn, swing by:

 

http://ift.tt/RQfggo

 

Best Regards

Phoenix Capital Research

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1jEwbNH Phoenix Capital Research

The last few days has seen a sudden jump in the news headlines about one of the deadliest viruses known to man. Ebola haemorrhagic fever has prung up in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone but now, as BBC reports, a man is in hospital in Canada with symptoms of a haemorrhagic fever resembling the Ebola virus, a health official has said.

“Ebola” is in the news again…

• *GUINEA CONFIRMS EBOLA AS SOURCE OF EPIDEMIC, AFP REPORTS
• *LIBERIA SAYS FIVE DIE OF EBOLA IN NORTH OF COUNTRY
• *TWO SUSPECTED CASES OF EBOLA IN SIERRA LEONE, AFP SAYS

 

 

And that is definitley not a good thing…

 

As The BBC reports, Canada is now the latest nation to have a potential case…

The man had recently returned from Liberia in the west African region, currently suffering a deadly outbreak of an unidentified haemorrhagic fever.

 

He is in isolation in critical condition in Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan province.

 

…

 

Dr Denise Werker, the province’s deputy chief medical officer, declined to say how long the man had been in Africa but said he only fell ill after returning to Canada.

 

She said that was in line with the profile of common deadly haemorrhagic fever viruses Lassa fever and Ebola, which have an incubation period of up to 21 days.

 

She said the people most at risk were healthcare workers who do not protect themselves from contact with the patient’s bodily secretions.

 

“There is no risk to the general public,” she said. “We recognise that there is going to be a fair amount of concern and that is why we wanted to go public with this as soon as possible.”

 

A virus resembling Ebola has struck in Guinea, with cases also reported in Liberia.

 

As many as 61 people have died of the disease in the remote forests of southern Guinea.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1jEoas4 Tyler Durden