
In 2001 John McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts, part of which Barack Obama now wants to
let expire (while keeping some in place). In 2000, McCain shared a take on the progressive tax system, which deviates from the one he has now. He confronted a question from the daughter of "Joe the Doctor" who asked McCain at a 2000 townhall: "Why is it that someone like my father, who goes to school for 13 years, gets penalized in a huge tax bracket because he's a doctor?"

When you're stopping in to your neighborhood coffee shop for a little pick-me-up, the cashier might ask whether you'll be enjoying your beverage "for here or to go." She's not asking out of curiosity, and she's not just trying to find out if your coffee should be presented in a paper or ceramic cup — she's asking to find out whether or not your purchase should be taxed.
This policy is going to vary depending on your state's tax laws, but here in California we are taxed when the answer is "for here."

Apparently there's a lot of cash to go around at insurance company AIG, which makes a lot of sense considering the US government cut the failing giant an $85 billion bailout check. In fact, since Sept. 16, AIG has received $123 billion in loans from the Federal Reserve.

California is home to 674 roadside message boards allocated for Amber Alert messages, giving information to drivers on missing or abducted children, and since they're not always in use for actual emergencies, so what's the logical step? Selling the space to businesses for advertisements. The cash-poor state just got their
new budget after an 85-day delay, and state officials see this idea as a way to
supplement the highway fund with big ad bucks.

Almost 60 percent of you said that
you used Turbotax's tax prep software to file your taxes, so I know the most recent announcement regarding the product will come as good news. Intuit, the company that owns Turbotax, has changed their policy and will
no longer charge separate fees for filing individual federal tax returns.
This does not mean that the tax prep software is free, just the e-filing part of the equation.

Stretching the truth isn't always a terrible thing, but five Oklahoma University students and alumni
are facing expensive consequences from doing just that. The group headed up Kegheadz and created a MySpace video with the intent of promoting their party services, and after the video was viewed by the Oklahoma Tax Commission the guys got hit with a heavy tax bill.
In their video, the Kegheadz founders bragged about serving over one billion partygoers as a way to generate buzz.

Who needs countries with laws and taxes, when you can house crucial parts of your company on ships at sea outside of any country's jurisdiction? Google answered "not us" to that question, as the Internet giant has
plans to relocate the machines that run its search engine on ships located seven miles offshore.
The company says that wave energy would power and cool the eco-friendly "water-based" data centers.

Those living in an especially poor section of Freetown, Sierra Leone are proud to pay taxes because they want to improve their troubled country. Even the unemployed happily dish out the local council tax of 5,000 leones ($1.50). BBC reports that the youth
have traded dog tags for plastic holders showing tax receipts.

WIth the only things certain being death and the T-word — and Liberty's incredible
breakdown of the candidate's tax plans as inspiration — I wanted to see exactly how the two candidates' tax-onomies translated, graph-style.
Three out of four voters now see
taxes and the budget deficit as "extremely" or "very" important issues this campaign — right behind health care and the war in Iraq — and since both of those projects require big infusions of taxpayer dollars, knowing exactly how much you will or won't be paying says a lot about the tale of two wallets — yours, and the governments.
To see the real numbers in dollars saved, .