Friday was the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision “Citizens United v Federal Election Commission.” This was the case that let you know that the Supreme Court had now fully aligned with the corporate masters that control the rest of our government. Most of you know the issues involved in this landmark case, for those of you who do not, shame on you. What sparked me to write again about this matter was an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal (you know them, the intellectual branch of Fox News – or to put is another way, Fox News for folks that still have some functioning gray matter) this past Friday. Author Joel Gora stated:
Although the decision has been vilified, the court's evenhanded principle protects the free-speech rights of business corporations, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, media outlets and the myriad groups that people form and use to press their views and amplify their voices, especially on public issues.
I would remind Mr. Cora that business corporations are state mandated animals (not federal) whose primary function as a separate legal entity (NOT a person), is to limit personal liability for the owners and whose primary business goal is profit. A corporation’s objective is not to “press their views and amplify their voices, especially on public issues” – their goal as businesses is to make money. As such these “myriad groups that people form” are not just random organizations but organizations with very specific goals and desires that would generally not fit with the more broad based concerns of an average citizen.
Citizens United Corporation is a 501c4 non-profit (donations are not tax deductible) funded by (mostly) wealthy individuals whose sole intent in this matter was to harpoon the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton. The folks who fund Citizens United have every right to do this, and should have every right, they are in fact a “group that people form and use to press their views and amplify their voices, especially on public issues” – clearly business entities are not. The problem is that the Supreme Court expanded the scope of this case and brought in all legal entities into consideration. It is hard not to see the hand of the corporate influence in the unnecessary expansion of this decision (Justice Stevens' referred to the court having an "agenda" in his dissenting opinion).
In this case the Supreme Court argued:
In the free society ordained by our Constitution, it is not the government but the people—individually as citizens and candidates and collectively as associations and political committees—who must retain control over the quantity and range of debate on public issues in a political campaign.
Most of us would agree with this statement, the problem is that a private, limited liability business entity such as corporations, whose primary goal is profit, in no way, shape, manner or form can be considered under the heading neutral rubric “collectively as associations.”
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
We got Golden Voices and Hearts of Steel
My little one asked me other day if I had any “Hip-Hop” music. This caused me to dust off my Sugar Hill Records anthology from Rhino Records. I had forgotten what a total blast this “old-school” rap music is. With bands like the The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Funky 4 +1, The West Street Mob, etc. Sylvia Robinson’s Sugar Hill Records, out of Englewood, New Jersey, had the pulse of the powerful sounds emanating from the streets of the South Bronx in the late 1970’s.
Sylvia Robinson had a long career in music prior to starting Sugar Hill Records with husband Joe. She was the “Sylvia” half of “Mickey and Silvia” who had the 1957 smash hit of Bo Diddley’s “Love is Strange” with guitar slinger Mickey Baker. In the 1970’s she recorded one of the great semi-pornographic R&B/Soul/proto-disco records with the song “Pillow Talk.” She wanted Al Green to record “Pillow Talk” but it proved to be too suggestive for him so she recorded it herself. In her song “Didn’t I” (from the same era) she sang “at last you know I'm not margarine - but I am a high-priced spread!" – gotta love that!
Ms. Robinson was instrumental in putting together The Sugarhill Gang and recording what is considered the first rap record with the song “Rappers Delight” in 1979. It is important to note that a tradition of rap singing had existed in African American music since (probably) the late 1800’s but it had not been formalized into a style of music as it was on the streets of New York City in the late 1970’s. In the way Elvis Presley’s first record catalyzed rockabilly music in the south in the mid-1950’s the release of “Rappers Delight” opened the floodgates on groups performing rap.
Rap began around the same time as the punk/new wave movement in Rock, and like punk, Rap was a voice of the street and of the disenfranchised. Also like punk, with its rudimentary musical skills and DIY approach, rap groups played records as backup music to their raps. The DJ’s put together the backing tracks by sampling directly from records on duel turntables. The Bronx DJ’s also invented a variety of percussive techniques by manipulating the records as they played called scratching. I remember seeing Grandmaster Flash live one time, it was amazing how he played 2 turntables at once, changing records at exactly the right moment and moving disks backwards creating great rhythmic patterns. He was able; live, to create instant montages of sound, music, rhythm and percussion.
I think what is appealing about the so-called “Old School” rap of labels like Sugar Hill Records is that they used real bands (the funky Sugar Hill house band was included drummer Keith Leblanc, along with guitarist Skip Macdonald and bassist Doug Wimbish). At Sugar Hill Sylvia Robinson would take the raps performed by the groups with their DJ’s and put them in the studio with an actual band. Later groups like Public Enemy or N.W.A. made heavy use of sequencers, drum machines and other electronics that took some of the soul out of the music (for me).
Sugar Hill records, under the creative hand of the Robinson’s, was responsible for 26 gold records and such revolutionary recordings as the Grandmaster Flash classic “The Message” & “White Lines.”
Now of course my 6 year old does not care about any of this shit but just danced like crazy when The Sugar Hill Gang rapped (in “8th Wonder”);
Once upon a time not long ago everybody had on their radio
And then a fella came on with a groovy noise
To put the wiggle in the women and girls and boys
Or when the Funky 4 + 1 rapped (in “That’s the Joint”);
These words we say we want ya’ll to hear
We Gonna
Make a lot of sense
We Gonna
Make it clear
We Gonna
Rock this place
We Gonna
Use some class
We Gonna
Do our best
We Gonna
Make it last
We Got
Rhymes in our minds
We Got
Rockin’ in our hearts, and now the things we do you can call it arts
We’re bad, We’re slick, We’re doin’ it hip
We’re gonna rock this record and don’t you forget
That’s the Joint!
Sylvia Robinson had a long career in music prior to starting Sugar Hill Records with husband Joe. She was the “Sylvia” half of “Mickey and Silvia” who had the 1957 smash hit of Bo Diddley’s “Love is Strange” with guitar slinger Mickey Baker. In the 1970’s she recorded one of the great semi-pornographic R&B/Soul/proto-disco records with the song “Pillow Talk.” She wanted Al Green to record “Pillow Talk” but it proved to be too suggestive for him so she recorded it herself. In her song “Didn’t I” (from the same era) she sang “at last you know I'm not margarine - but I am a high-priced spread!" – gotta love that!
Ms. Robinson was instrumental in putting together The Sugarhill Gang and recording what is considered the first rap record with the song “Rappers Delight” in 1979. It is important to note that a tradition of rap singing had existed in African American music since (probably) the late 1800’s but it had not been formalized into a style of music as it was on the streets of New York City in the late 1970’s. In the way Elvis Presley’s first record catalyzed rockabilly music in the south in the mid-1950’s the release of “Rappers Delight” opened the floodgates on groups performing rap.
Rap began around the same time as the punk/new wave movement in Rock, and like punk, Rap was a voice of the street and of the disenfranchised. Also like punk, with its rudimentary musical skills and DIY approach, rap groups played records as backup music to their raps. The DJ’s put together the backing tracks by sampling directly from records on duel turntables. The Bronx DJ’s also invented a variety of percussive techniques by manipulating the records as they played called scratching. I remember seeing Grandmaster Flash live one time, it was amazing how he played 2 turntables at once, changing records at exactly the right moment and moving disks backwards creating great rhythmic patterns. He was able; live, to create instant montages of sound, music, rhythm and percussion.
I think what is appealing about the so-called “Old School” rap of labels like Sugar Hill Records is that they used real bands (the funky Sugar Hill house band was included drummer Keith Leblanc, along with guitarist Skip Macdonald and bassist Doug Wimbish). At Sugar Hill Sylvia Robinson would take the raps performed by the groups with their DJ’s and put them in the studio with an actual band. Later groups like Public Enemy or N.W.A. made heavy use of sequencers, drum machines and other electronics that took some of the soul out of the music (for me).
Sugar Hill records, under the creative hand of the Robinson’s, was responsible for 26 gold records and such revolutionary recordings as the Grandmaster Flash classic “The Message” & “White Lines.”
Now of course my 6 year old does not care about any of this shit but just danced like crazy when The Sugar Hill Gang rapped (in “8th Wonder”);
Once upon a time not long ago everybody had on their radio
And then a fella came on with a groovy noise
To put the wiggle in the women and girls and boys
Or when the Funky 4 + 1 rapped (in “That’s the Joint”);
These words we say we want ya’ll to hear
We Gonna
Make a lot of sense
We Gonna
Make it clear
We Gonna
Rock this place
We Gonna
Use some class
We Gonna
Do our best
We Gonna
Make it last
We Got
Rhymes in our minds
We Got
Rockin’ in our hearts, and now the things we do you can call it arts
We’re bad, We’re slick, We’re doin’ it hip
We’re gonna rock this record and don’t you forget
That’s the Joint!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Internal Revenue Service 2010 Audit Rates
The Services audited 1.11% of personal income tax returns in 2010, the highest audit rate since 1997 when 1.28% of returns were examined. Taxpayers with income over $1 million or more saw the largest jump in audits, 8.36% in 2010 (1 in 12 returns!), up from 6.42% in the previous year. In the $200K to $1 million income range the audit rate was 2.65%, up from 2.55% in 2009. For filers with income below $200K the rate was 1.04% in 2010, just a bit above the 2009 rate of .96%.
Keep in mind that the majority of audits are what we call “correspondence audits” done via mail, generally on a single issue. These are far less intrusive then “in person” audits done by agents.
The overall rate of business return audits (corporations and partnerships) held steady at .58% in 2010. Audits of partnerships slipped a bit to .36%, compared with .38% in 2009. The examination rate for small corporations increased to .94%, up from .85%, S corporations audit rate was just .37%, down from .40% in 2009.
Issues to keep in mind – in all audits we are seeing the Internal Revenue Service is expecting the taxpayer to have both the original receipt AND the proof of payment as to how that expenditure was paid (cancelled check, credit card statement, etc.). Of course the overarching issue is always the purpose of the expense and why it is deductible in the first place.
Keep in mind that the majority of audits are what we call “correspondence audits” done via mail, generally on a single issue. These are far less intrusive then “in person” audits done by agents.
The overall rate of business return audits (corporations and partnerships) held steady at .58% in 2010. Audits of partnerships slipped a bit to .36%, compared with .38% in 2009. The examination rate for small corporations increased to .94%, up from .85%, S corporations audit rate was just .37%, down from .40% in 2009.
Issues to keep in mind – in all audits we are seeing the Internal Revenue Service is expecting the taxpayer to have both the original receipt AND the proof of payment as to how that expenditure was paid (cancelled check, credit card statement, etc.). Of course the overarching issue is always the purpose of the expense and why it is deductible in the first place.
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