No Good Deed Goes Untaxed
[guest post by JVW]
At his regular news conference yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York addressed the issue of taxing those health workers from out of state who have come to New York to provide badly-needed aid at the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States:
[transcript with embedded video]
Reporter: Governor, this President specifically said the Democrat led states, “Have been mismanaged over a long period of time.” What’s your reaction to that? What role do you want the President to try to get to to tango? And have you considered waiving the state tax on emergency workers who volunteered to come here from out of state?
Gov. Cuomo: Yeah. We’re not in a position to provide any more subsidies right now because we have a $13 billion deficit. So there’s a lot of good things I would like to do, and if we get federal funding, we can do. But it would be irresponsible for me to sit here looking at a $13 billion deficit and say I’m going to spend more money when I can’t even pay the essential services. If we don’t get money from Washington, we can’t fund schools at the rate we want to fund them. So, we are in dire financial need.
For the life of me I don’t understand why Andrew Cuomo was almost immediately hailed as a hero in the early days of this pandemic. True, the far-far left continues to voice skepticism of a man who they believe (justifiably) is at heart a crony capitalist, but the last remaining Democrats who don’t worship at the altar of Bernie Sanders somehow have managed to turn a compromised fixer from a wretched machine into a Tiger Beat heartthrob and a viable replacement for the befuddled old codger that they are on the verge of nominating.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the hard part for blue state governors (and, frankly, red state governors too) might not be managing the pandemic and health aspects of the crisis, it could well be managing the budgetary fallouts from the business closures that they have staunchly — even if reluctantly — supported. Already school districts across the country trying to plan for the 2020-21 academic year are facing budget cuts which will likely lead to teacher layoffs, so Ms. Soccer Mom and Mr. PTA Dad will quickly be made aware of the impact that the “if it saves just one life” mindset has on their communities and, inevitably, their own pocketbooks.
– JVW
In the old movies, the hero would respond to the taxing of out of state workers with “Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do!” I hope at least that those volunteers can deduct the full cost of their travel, lodging, and dining while in New York from whatever sum they owe Albany, but I kind of doubt it.
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:06 pmThe democrats are desperate for a good leader to contrast against Trump.
Obama is the best they’ve got but they are trying Cuomo. It seems to be working to some extent. Very unfortunately, neither party really has a lot of glory in recent years.
I hate this phrasing. The money of the Texan nurse I know who went to NYC to help is not Cuomo’s to spend just because it exists. This is such a short sighted plan because there will be more of this virus in the fall.
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:13 pmReally? You “don’t understand why Andrew Cuomo was almost immediately hailed as a hero in the early days of this pandemic”? Maybe because his brother has a major gig on CNN to push the Governor’s heroism, and, of course, because he isn’t Donald Trump.
The left have come to believe that state Governors can exercise authoritarian power, for our own good, don’t you know, because the left have pretty much abandoned the notions of individual liberty.
And while I do sometimes flog my own blog, this one isn’t from me. I omitted the internal links, to keep this comment from going into moderation.
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:17 pmNYC is horrible for taxes. If you’re there more then 14 days on business they want you to pay a portion of your income to them.
Time123 (441f53) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:19 pmThanks Bluegrass State Dana. I almost blogged about the Harvard Law Prof’s cover story in The Atlantic suggesting that we should abridge the First Amendment in the name of public good, but I’m starting to think that some of this nonsense from leftist academics (viz. the Harvard Education Professor who is conducting jihad against homeschooling) is no more than basic trolling for media attention. It’s another reason why I think so much of academia has beclowned itself in search of instant fame (even notoriety).
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:23 pmNYC is horrible for taxes.
It is indeed, but this is a state issue too in this case with Albany wanting to get their cut of the out-of-state workers’ pay. I didn’t even stop to think if NYC would also try to ding them, but I imagine they will.
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:25 pmOf course, those out-of-state workers who went to New York City to help out were being paid higher wages, but they were also facing very high costs of living, and they’ll be paying very high New York state income taxes (4% to 8.82%) along with New York City wage taxes of 3.078% to 3.876%. Factor those in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these people aren’t making less money than they were from wherever they came.
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:26 pmWho wants to bet that Prof Vermeule would go Level 10 Apoplectic if Government attempted to limit his 1st Amendment Right to free speech and take his property away?
Right. The answer to all these dumbbells is
(1) Yeah, free speech is overrated. Next time you say something subversive, you will be sentenced to ten years in jail. The one with hundreds of Covid patients. (What’s subversive, you ask? I’ll let you know later. Due Process is another right we have done away because it has outlived its utility. All for the greater good, don’t you know.)
(2) Yeah, property rights are overrated. All of YOUR property is now confiscated. For the greater good. Which I get to define. (We already ditched due process. See # 1, above.)
Bored Lawyer (56c962) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:32 pmAlready school districts across the country trying to plan for the 2020-21 academic year are facing budget cuts which will likely lead to teacher layoffs, so Ms. Soccer Mom and Mr. PTA Dad will quickly be made aware of the impact that the “if it saves just one life” mindset has on their communities and, inevitably, their own pocketbooks.
Yes, the problem with the whole lockdown is that much of the downside will be felt later. People will be cursing those who overreacted for years to come.
(And, as I said, that includes our president. Who went along with it almost 100%, except for a few stupid tweets that went nowhere. This fish stinks, and as the old saying goes, it stinks from the head.)
Bored Lawyer (56c962) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:34 pmI think it’s a minor miracle that San Francisco doesn’t have a city income tax.
norcal (a5428a) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:37 pmLet’s say you are a single person, and you go to work as a nurse in NYC for this, your salary working out tom $90,000. Your New York state income taxes would be $4,809, while your city wage taxes would be $3,363.57. The City Sales Tax rate is 4.5%, NY State Sales and Use Tax is 4% and the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge of 0.375% for a total Sales and Use Tax of 8.875 percent.
So, who wants to leave, say, Pennsylvania, 3.07% state income tax rate and, for most localities, a 1.0% wage tax rate — Philadelphia’s is higher — and a 6% sales tax rate, to pay more in taxes to New York?
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:40 pmBecause he talked more reasonably, and gave explanations, some t least partially specious, that took other points of view into consideration.
Actually he has “blood” on his hands, if any official does, and gave legalistic explanations as to why.
His Health commissioner sent recovering Covid-19 patients from hospitals into nursing homes.
The legalistic explanation is that those places are licensed and they are supposed to know what the are doing and if they can’t handle something they should ask for a patient to be transferred. Some did, and there was no one to take them,. One place asked for Covid positive patients to be put on the Comfort or the Javits Center, which were mostly empty. Cuomo later said they couldn’t do that because that was not their agreement with the federal government. They could only take patients from hospitals.
Some asked for PPE supplies. Not his job Cuomo later told reporters.
Now he’s investigating the long term care facilities.
Oh, and h;s revising the truth. He’s going around saying they (or he) learned from the CDC last week that the virus came to New York from Italy. We knew this already before. It was published in the New York Times Science section on April 14 (online on April 8 ) Cuomo himself numerous times referred in his press briefings to the virus coming from Italy while they were guarding against it coming from China, e.g. saying the front door was closed while it went in through the back door. Or that the virus hopped on a plane. He said that well before last Friday. On Sunday he pretends he learned that last week Friday.
Sammy Finkelman (375edc) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:45 pmWhat is not clear to me is if they have to pay NYS (and NYC) taxes on ALL their income, or just the income they made during their time in NY. The latter would be much more limited in terms of financial impact, although it is still a pain to file.
Bored Lawyer (56c962) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:46 pmMr lawyer wrote:
The numbers I used assumed a single person earned $90,000 in New York; it doesn’t include any money earned out of state. I’ve had to file a couple of partial year tax returns, and yeah, it’s a pain.
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:57 pmJVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:06 pm
New York State uses mostly federal income, and if you didn’t itemize federal income you can’t do it for the state.
And the 2017 tax bill made it make a lot less sense not to take the standard deduction and I don’t know what they did with unreimbursed business expenses. And travel to get a new job has never been considered deductible.
f you tried to characterize your job as a business, then the hospital would not have to pay the employer’s portion of Social Security tax.
They’ll also have to pay an accountant to do their 2020 taxes
Sammy Finkelman (375edc) — 5/6/2020 @ 4:58 pmIf the truck drivers and meat packers and grocery clerks and police and janitors have to pay income tax, why not medical professionals who are probably in a lot more secure financial position?
Did anybody tell them they would be working tax-free? Actual volunteers (working gratis) are obviously not subject to taxation.
I mean, it’s great to wave one’s hand and say “this is free, have $1200 check” but we all know real life doesn’t work like that.
Dave (1bb933) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:04 pmNY kept subway open, spreading the virus, pushed Wuhancoronavirus sufferers into nursing homes where nearly 2000 of them died and now insists on taxing those that volunteered to help.
Great job, NY!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:24 pm“TigerBeat heartthrob”… that’s funny stuff!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:28 pmIt’s the benevolent government’s money. They just let you keep some of it.
NJRob (139fb2) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:42 pmYes, the problem with the whole lockdown is that much of the downside will be felt later. People will be cursing those who overreacted for years to come.
I was almost going to write a full post about this, but I just mentioned it in passing instead. I have a friend who lives in a deep blue state and she is smart and successful, though her politics are quite different from mine. In any case, she had a Facebook post reacting with alarm that her kids’ school district, in a very wealthy community, has to cut $3 million from their budget and the superintendent and school board can only find about $750k of that sum before teacher layoffs become necessary. Anyway, based upon the comments on her post, her twee urban neighbors are just aghast that the schools might not be fully funded — why, they think that the schools ought to receive even more money in light of new social distancing requirements and other hardships. Left unsaid, naturally, is where exactly this funding is going to come from.
This would be aggravating enough if I thought my friend lived in a community where the adults are all morons and complete economic ignoramuses, but as I wrote, this is a very twee wealthy blue state community where presumably everyone has fine educational credentials and is a productive member of society. It’s stuff like this that contributes so greatly to my misanthropy.
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:45 pmWho has hailed Cuomo as a Hero? The Press. Which is almost entirely liberal Democrat and the aveage Democrat. Who are mostly (a) immigrants – including many who vote and don’t speak English (b) minorities – who voted based on racial and ethnic identity (c) people who feed at the Government trough and (d) Morons who don’t care about anything except making sure those damn Religious types get it in the neck.
So course Cuomo is hailed as “Hero”. BTW, the publisher of “The Hill” and the man who helped start “Politico” has written a letter to the NYT, stating he doesn’t care how many women Biden may/or may not have raped or harassed. The only thing that matters – according to this Gentleman -is defeating Trump. So, anything goes. That’s the sort of person who runs the American Media, and thinks Cuomo is a “Hero”
rcocean (1a839e) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:47 pm21… that 91 year old gentleman wants the “coronation of Biden”.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:51 pmDid anybody tell them they would be working tax-free? Actual volunteers (working gratis) are obviously not subject to taxation.
Well, I guess a huge question here is whether New York state or private New York entities are paying these out-of-town workers for their labor and if so, whether they are paying prevailing New York wages as well as covering their living expenses. If both of those criteria are met, then I can understand that New York might demand its cut. But if the money for out-of-state workers is coming from sources from outside of New York State, then demanding a tax tribute is very petty stuff. And if Utah health care workers are being paid their Utah salary (presuming it is less than what NY health care workers are paid) then they shouldn’t be paying NY taxes.
Also, these health care workers are presumably going to have to file a tax return in New York for 2020, so thanks for your valiant efforts, now here is some paperwork for you to fill out.
And I don’t want to hear progressive New Yorkers shouting “We need to pay health care workers more for their valiant efforts!” and then in the next breath justifying forcing them to pay income tax to Albany.
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:53 pmI don’t want to hear progressive New Yorkers shout anything… except “we have been wrong about everything”.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/6/2020 @ 5:56 pmMr W wrote:
I am assuming here that layoffs of non-teaching administrative professionals won’t be laid off.
How about the superintendent himself? Supers in wealthy school districts tend to make in excess of $200,000. Get rid of him, and hire someone to replace him for less money.
Or, instead of laying off teachers, reduce their compensation by 10%. Yeah, we know how well that’ll go over!
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:00 pmThey thought that they’d save New York state
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:03 pmBut the Guv seems to be second-rate
They want to linger
But he gave them the finger
Alas! they have sealed their own fate!
And they don’t want to hear from Trump fans except for them to admit they were wrong too.
And both sets of fanatics will proudly refuse to listen to anything inconvenient forever.
Hence, Trump v Biden.
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:05 pmIf you love New York
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:06 pmYou need to vote Andrew out
And get rid of Chris
Wow is this a demented view of your fellow Americans.
Time123 (66d88c) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:09 pmNew York wanted really good nurses
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:09 pmBut Andy stuck his hand in their purses
He thought they’d be kind
But soon he will find
They’ve nothing for him but their curses
Chris celebrates Andy his brother
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:16 pmThey had the same father and mother
New York soon will find
That they’re in a bind
If Mario had yet another
29. Consider the source. It’s coming from someone who does think that Trump is a hero.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:22 pmMichael likes to lay down the law
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:34 pmWhile Fredo, he likes to flout it
Their daddy was called a star by some
But these two buffone?
Fuhgeddaboutit
1) If they are volunteering, are they being paid at all?
2) Coumo is the hero, because his press conferences are the reverse of Trump’s. Sober, focused on conveying information (even if the info is bogus), and able to turn on the empathy when needed without seeming fake. Jared and Ivanka should sit DJT down in hus favorite chair, start up the DVD player, and make him watch Coumo’s briefings to see how it could be done if he tried.
Kishnevi (a6653c) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:35 pmGov Cuomo could have simply said that. He could have paused, thought about it, and said it’s a good issue he needs to think about to address. Whatever. He answers this one stupidly because all these headlines will prevent more volunteers.
He definitely ‘gets it’. If Trump could speak like that he would be enjoying very high approval and not having to do all this chickens*** stuff to the (pathetic) Biden campaign to have a fighting chance. I can see why the Trump fans are mortified that someone with basic leadership experience and the ability to speak might run against Trump. But this only works because of the comparison.
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:51 pmAnd both sets of fanatics will proudly refuse to listen to anything inconvenient forever.
Hence, Trump v Biden.
And you’ll sit on that bank of sand, scratching your backside as you watch the river flow…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/6/2020 @ 6:56 pmBasically
It’s nice not giving a flip about the GOP, not having to figure out a way to explain it to myself.
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 5/6/2020 @ 7:12 pmWhen you’re faced with the least bad choice you pick the least bad. Trump is worse then Biden in so so many ways.
Time123 (441f53) — 5/6/2020 @ 7:21 pmOr, instead of laying off teachers, reduce their compensation by 10%. Yeah, we know how well that’ll go over!
Oh, by the way, the Los Angeles Unified School District had to draw down their reserves even before the COVID-19 problem because their attempt to extort more tax money from district residents in order to pay for the irresponsible contract they agreed to failed so miserably. So now they are totally at the mercy of the state and feds for a bailout. It had better not come without serious reform first.
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 7:28 pmWhen you’re faced with the least bad choice you pick the least bad. Trump is worse then Biden in so so many ways.
Yes I would agree, and Biden is worse than Trump in so many other ways. It’s a true Hobson’s Choice for the voter.
JVW (54fd0b) — 5/6/2020 @ 7:31 pmTax breaks are for Amazon.
nk (1d9030) — 5/6/2020 @ 7:51 pmI would enjoy seeing the DOJ complete an unencumbered investigation of Putin and Trump’s campaign. I would enjoy seeing the GOP realize that if it keeps disregarding all these conservatives they will lose a solid ten percent of the vote to third party candidates (hell, in Utah, it was 27% last election). Scare them straight.
On the other hand, RBG, student loan forgiveness, the cusp of all kinds of socialist policies, radical ideas about closing prisons. The crisis we live in and the extremes in our politics mean that swinging the pendulum left will have a lot of negative consequences.
So for me, if Trump wins, meh. It’s a shame because it shows his corruption works, but it’s also good that Biden lost. If Biden wins, meh. Some good and some bad come of that too.
I just don’t care that much. Both parties are so bad that no one sane should really care that much. It is the perfect time for a third party vote because it doesn’t really matter which crappy team wins.
I said this last time too. I don’t really think Hillary was much better or much worse than Trump. Basically they are the same value to me.
Note: this is not apathy. Apathy is deciding to root for a political party like a sports team, demonizing all the good people on the other team as crazy.
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 5/6/2020 @ 7:54 pmGov. coumo is shocked that 66% of new covid 19 patients come from people sheltering at home and 18% from nursing homes that he ordered to take in covid 19 patients. Body bags were sent along with them what else do you want? By the way the virus doesn’t like outside fresh air or sun light so we are orderd to stay inside!
asset (8c9586) — 5/6/2020 @ 9:57 pmThe police enforce that order only against ugly people, Perry. Same thing for the masks. You haven’t caught on?
nk (1d9030) — 5/6/2020 @ 10:09 pmvote joe so babies organs can be sold to the chicoms
mg (8cbc69) — 5/7/2020 @ 2:47 amOr we could just let Commie-fornia crash-and-burn like that socialist s**thole so richly deserves.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/7/2020 @ 5:41 amMr 123 wrote:
Really? How so?
Yes, Donald Trump is an absolute [insert slang term for the rectum here] personally, while Mr Biden is just a doddering old fool who gets a little bit handsy at times, but the vast majority of Americans will never have any personal dealings with either of them. For the vast majority of Americans, it is the President’s policies which matter. Just where do you find Mr Biden’s policies less bad for our country than Mr Trump’s?
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/7/2020 @ 7:18 ammr. president donald trump, who may not be a totally corrupt criminal traitor if he is selling out America to vladimir putin for love and not for money, is only living out his karma like it was this post’s karma to go from taxing emergency workers’ wages in nyc to being about trump
what he does is what he needs to do in order to learn the lesson he is supposed to learn in this lifetime
he cannot fight it
it is part of the eternal
nk (1d9030) — 5/7/2020 @ 7:40 amHere’s what I see. I’m interested in how you see it.
Small Government: Neither Trump nor Biden will make the federal government smaller. There is a good chance that Biden will do less to expand the power of the executive branch because his long history as a senator makes him more of an institutionalist. This has to be offset somewhat by his desire to expand the welfare state.
Fiscal Discipline: Neither Trump nor Biden will drive fiscal discipline. It’s possible that a Biden presidency with a GOP congress might result in some push for that. But it’s not the likely outcome.
National Defense: I think Trump’s foreign policy has significantly weakened us by damaging relationships with allies.
Free Trade: Biden has a slight edge here.
Rule of Law: Biden has a clear win here. He’s far less corrupt than Trump.
Regulation Reform: Trump has a clear win here.
Competent Government: Biden has a clear win here.
Not being a nutter: Biden has a slight edge here.
Time123 (89dfb2) — 5/7/2020 @ 7:59 amMr 123 wrote:
This assumes that, as President, he won’t be much more interested in his own power. Remember, he was Vice President under President Obama, who used executive orders when he didn’t get hiw way in Congress.
More, President Trump has a documented history of cutting back on President Obama’s executive orders, which (slightly) reduced executive powers.
There will be no fiscal discipline under either party; this blithely borrowing of $3 trillion (or more) due to COVID-19 shows that.
National Defense: I think Trump’s foreign policy has significantly weakened us by damaging relationships with allies.
As the COVID crisis expended, we kept hearing people crying, “Why doesn’t the US make this stuff?” Perhaps we need less free trade.
Hunter Biden was unavailable for comment.
No argument.
Does he? He has never been an executive, never run anything in his life. The key to a competent government is in who he hires to run things below him, and I don’t know that the Democrats would do better.
Of course, having a competent government is not necessarily a desirable thing. If competence means that the government is more efficient on stepping on people’s constitutional rights, then we don’t want it!
And this is where policy matters: the policies of the left are the policies of the nutters. I can handle President Trump and his outbursts as long as he isn’t trying to enact insane policies, which, for the most part, he hasn’t.
And you neglected to mention the longest-lasting problem of all: judicial appointments. Do you want President Trump or Joe Biden replacing Ruth Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas?
Donald Trump is no great deal, but he’s better for the United States in the long run than having the left in power.
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/7/2020 @ 8:38 amI think it will probably come down to this for a lot of people: which of the two is the least mentally deranged. And the least overtly self-serving.
It really isn’t difficult to look more serious and credible and responsible than Trump. So it isn’t hard either to make someone look good by comparison with Trump.
Radegunda (354236) — 5/7/2020 @ 8:41 amIf the GOP hadn’t been so fiercely devoted to defending the person of Donald Trump, we might now have a GOP president on the 2020 ballot who isn’t so appalling in so many ways that many people who aren’t on the left and don’t much like Biden will nevertheless either vote D or vote 3rd party or leave the presidential line blank.
Radegunda (354236) — 5/7/2020 @ 8:49 ame e cummingsnk wrote:I’ve said it many times before: if it was Russian interference which tipped the scales enough that it kept Hillary Clinton a private citizen, we owe Vladimir Vladimirovich a debt of gratitude which can never be wholly repaid.
Selling out to Comrade Putin? President Trump doesn’t like wars, and in that regard he has pulled out some — certainly not all — of our troops from places in which we should arguably not be, places in which Americans have been getting killed, for little or no measurable good. He has, in effect, ended the influence of the neo-conservatives, and that seems to be a good thing.
When it comes to NATO, President Trump has exposed the inherent weakness of that organization. NATO’s ‘attack against one is an attack against all’ concept was exposed for the sham that it is when Russia invaded part of Ukraine, and you could see the signs of relief from all of the European governments that Ukraine had rejected NATO membership; the European governments were not ready to go to war with Russia over half of Ukraine, and if we told the truth here, they wouldn’t be willing to go to war over a Russian invasion of Byelorussia or the Baltic States.
And it isn’t just the Europeans. Would the US really be willing to declare war on nuclear-armed Russia if it invaded the Baltic states or even Poland? It’s not difficult to imagine the cries that, hey, they were traditionally part of the USSR anyway, so . . . .
Who’s going to want to increase the chances of Los Angeles burning in nuclear fire over Estonia? Even discounting the nuclear problem, who’s going to want to send American troops to Poland or Lithuania, where they almost certainly wouldn’t have German or French troops beside them, to fight the Red Army?
NATO sounds good in theory, but I wouldn’t place much confidence in it in practice.
The Dana in Kentucky (408392) — 5/7/2020 @ 8:51 amWhether you disagree with Trump’s method, it’s indisputable that he’s strengthened the NATO by getting member states to increase defense spending.
whembly (c30c83) — 5/7/2020 @ 8:56 amAnother thing: When the Trump base so enthusiastically approves of Trump’s worst behavior, and the high-profile defenders insist that his ignorance and nuttiness are actually a higher form of wisdom and more reliable than the experts, it makes a lot of conservative-leaning people wonder “Is that the party I really want to belong to?”
Radegunda (354236) — 5/7/2020 @ 9:00 amHe likes showing off military hardware, and posing as the biggest friend of the military and boasting about how much stronger he has supposedly made it, and saying publicly that he could easily nuke a country and wipe it out if he so chooses.
I doubt that he has any moral objection to war, as long as he doesn’t have to serve in it. He approved of the Iraq war when it was advantageous, and did an about-face as soon as it wasn’t.
Radegunda (354236) — 5/7/2020 @ 9:24 amWhat he doesn’t like is risking anything for the sake of anyone else, and that includes risking the loss of popularity with his base.
25. Or, instead of laying off teachers, reduce their compensation by 10%.
It would go against the union contract, and unions, as an almost ironclad rule, will not agree to wage reductions.
Yeah, we know how well that’ll go over!
Leaders pf unions will almost never consider it. (the exception is maybe when the alternative is liquidation or xlose)
Laid off workers don’t vote in union elections; workers who had their wages cut by 10% do.
During the Depression they tended to furlough civil service workers, say, one day a week, but public employees weren’t unionized then, or at least, did not sign contracts ad didn’t strike.
Sammy Finkelman (375edc) — 5/7/2020 @ 9:51 am“t would go against the union contract, and unions, as an almost ironclad rule, will not agree to wage reductions” are my words.
Sammy Finkelman (375edc) — 5/7/2020 @ 9:52 amI think the issue with taxation is people who “volunteered” but were paid by their organization in their home state. They did not have New York State income taxes withheld.
If they were paid by hospitals or other institutions in New York state, and they did have New York State income tax withheld, they’d probably get a refund when they filed a New York State tax return for 2020, as their wages wold have been higher than what they normally make and withholding defaults to an assumption that the employee will make the same amount all year..
Sammy Finkelman (375edc) — 5/7/2020 @ 9:59 am“And this is where policy matters: the policies of the left are the policies of the nutters. ”
Same, except it’s the policies of the right.
Davethulhu (a122fb) — 5/7/2020 @ 10:26 amBreaking-
AP Exclusive: Justice Dept dropping Flynn’s criminal case
The Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for Trump and his supporters in attacking the FBI’s Russia investigation.
The move is a stunning reversal for one of the signature cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. It comes even though prosecutors for the last three years had maintained that Flynn had lied to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in a January 2017 interview. Flynn himself admitted as much, and became a key cooperator for Mueller as he investigated ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
RipMurdock (d2a2a8) — 5/7/2020 @ 11:35 am……
https://nypost.com/2020/05/10/cuomos-nursing-home-reversal-is-too-little-too-late-goodwin
Sammy Finkelman (375edc) — 5/11/2020 @ 6:34 pm