The first central Iowa town to install revenue cameras has turned them off. The Des Moines Register reports:
The Clive City Council on Thursday night voted to discontinue the use of red-light cameras to enforce traffic violations.
The council voted 3-2 to reject a contract with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., which has provided the city red-light camera service since the program began in 2006. The nine cameras positioned along Hickman Road now will no longer be in service.
So carnage on Hickman Road, now, right? Yeah, right. But it’s not over yet:
Mayor Scott Cirksena said after the meeting that city staff would work to reach an agreement with the camera provider that could gather a majority vote.
Council members Ted Weaver and Michael McCoy said they would like to see the city wean itself away from using red-light revenue for general fund expenditures. City Manager Dennis Henderson said the city expects the red-light camera program to bring in approximately $700,000 during the current fiscal year, which began July 1
It’s obviously about the money, though you find the pro-forma claims that ticketing people who don’t quite stop when making a right turn on red at an empty intersection makes us all safer, if you read down to paragraph nine. Let’s hope Des Moines and Polk County follow suit, but don’t hold your breath.
Of course they do. Four Cedar Rapids-Metro Area Mayors Support Local Option Sales Tax Extension (KCRG.com). And RAGBRAI riders support free beer extension.
I bet the IRS heard about this guy through the grapevine. From Star-Telegram.com:
Larry Lake, part owner of Grapevine Drug Mart, and his son, Travis Lake, who managed the drug store, each failed to report income on their federal tax returns, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Larry Lake was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay a $550,000 fine as well as taxes, interest and penalties, which equal about $25 million, the release said.
From August 2006 to November 2009, Larry Lake and his spouse, Kathy Lake, agreed to structure hundreds of currency deposits into at least 13 bank accounts, according to a federal indictment. The couple created at least two shell companies that were used to open up the accounts involved in the structuring scheme, which amounted to $9.3 million, federal officials said.
Robert W. Wood, IRS Inspector Shellacs Oversight Committee About Tea Party Scandal
Kay Bell, Tax reform’s chances are better than 50 percent:
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), head of the Houses Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), leader of the Senate Finance Committee, each put the possibility of tax reform passage at greater than 50 percent.
The gung-ho comments were made during an appearance today at the Economic Club of Washington.
I’d agree, if you are talking about in the time before the sun curls into a cold cinder. If you are talking about this Congress, I’ll bet the other way.
Kyle Pomerleau, Japan to Lower its Corporate Rate Further? (Tax Policy Blog)
David Cay Johnston, More Tax Dollars There, Not Here (Tax Analysts Blog)
Jason Dinesen, Patient-Centered Outcomes Trust Fund Fee – An Exercise in Bureaucratic Futility $100 of cost to compute a $3 tax.
Peter Reilly, Real Estate Pro Status Does Not Mix With Full Time Day Job. Back from the Civil War, Peter has been busy with new tax posts. This one explains the difficulty of being a “real estate professional” when you have other work.
Sean Raisch, Medicare Taxes on High Earners (Davis Brown Tax Law Blog)
William Perez, IRS Update for July 19, 2013. Sort of a web weekly bulletin of IRS releases.
Greg Mankiw, The Changing Distribution of Income:
Mark Perry points out: “Yes, the middle class has been disappearing, but they haven’t fallen into the lower class, they’ve risen into the upper class.”
It’s Friday, so it’s Buzz Day at Robert D. Flach’s place!
The Critical Question: Do Low-Income Taxpayers Cheat? (TaxVox) He has a lot more faith in the good nature of humankind than I do.
TaxGrrrl, How To Stay Out Of Jail: Lessons Learned From The ‘Queen Of IRS Tax Fraud’:
If you do steal, and you talk about it, don’t do it on Facebook. I don’t care what you think you know about privacy settings, when you put something out there on Twitter or on Facebook, it’s not protected. As a taxpayer, that means you should avoid posting personally identifying information like tax ID numbers and your address (the IRS Facebook page won’t allow you to post comments for that reason). And you should certainly avoid posting photos of yourself surrounded by stacks of cash with such gems as:
Hard to argue with that advice. Russ Fox has more.
Nude drunk guy saves the republic. Police: Drunk naked man broke out car tail lights (press-citizen.com, via The Beanwalker):
According to the complaint, Flaherty broke out the tail lights to three cars and told officers that he was breaking the red in the tail lights because red means danger to the republic.
I’ll have what he’s having.
