As busy as I am working on tax returns for the October 15 deadline, I have no idea when I will be able to write up my analysis of the recently passed tax law that extends many of the soon to expire provisions of the 2001 tax cut law. In the meantime, CCH has a nice summary in pdf format.

Intuit Unveils Simplified Software for Small Businesses – I have ordered a demo CD of this new program and will write an article on my feelings about its practicality as soon as I receive it and have a chance to test it out. It sounds like a midpoint between Quicken and QuickBooks. The Basic QuickBooks program is cheap enough and easy to work with, so I’m skeptical as to whether another version is really necessary; but I will take it for a spin and post my report.

Not Again! Congress Evades Its Budget Caps

How Much Would John Kerry Raise Taxes? A whole lot.

Student Loan Swindle

Federal Court Stops Ohio Tax Scam Promotions

The usual suspects are screaming bloody murder about the possibility of changing the current Ponzi Scheme system to allow people more control over their own retirement funds rather than trusting in the bozos in DC.

Some good articles.

Raising the Stakes on Social Security Reform – From the Cato Institute

Manipulating Numbers: The Mythical $940 Billion Fee for Social Security Personal Retirement Accounts – From the Heritage Foundation

Privatizing Social Security – From Thomas Sowell

Privatizing Social Security: Part II – More From Thomas Sowell

A Trillion Lies – From James T. Miller

One Cheer for the Tax Extender Package

More firms flee Big Four accountants

The Escalation of Income

Banks Want Credit Unions to Pay Taxes, Sherman Says

Foreign Tax Havens Costly to U.S., Study Says – The capitalist response to this situation is to lower US tax rates so that there is less incentive shift profits to other countries; and not to further harass companies, as is the natural reaction of many of our rulers.

Taxpayer Bill of Rights Proposed For Maine – Thanks to The Club For Growth’s Andrew Roth for keeping an eye on the tax battles in the smaller states.

Citizen Group Calls Tax Cut Extension a Good Start, Not the Finish of Relief Effort for Taxpayers

SEATTLE MAN ORDERED TO STOP PREPARING TAX RETURNS – Cleaning out another bad apple from our profession.

Revised Data Show Some Candidates’ States Profit from Federal Taxing and Spending, Others Foot Bill

WHY DON’T YOU STUDY THE PLAN BEFORE YOU COMMENT ON IT? – Neal Boortz nails a stupid CPA who has spouted off against the Fair Tax plan without having the foggiest idea of what it entails. I’m no longer surprised, but I am still disappointed, in how many CPAs and other tax pros are high tax loving Marxists. I feel very sorry for their clients who are paying them to keep their tax bills high.

A perfect illustration of how bad all so-called experts, including top scientists, are at predicting the future, this is a funny picture of what a scientist in 1954 thought a home computer would look like in 2004.

Update 1: This picture may be a hoax, showing a nuclear ship’s controls and not an actual imagined “home computer.”

Update 2: Snopes.com has debunked this as a fake picture; but acknowledges that it does represent what many people back in 1954 did envision a home computer would look like.