Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Don't Take the 'Bate

We don't want your blood money
  (+14, -6)(+14, -6)
(+14, -6)
  [vote for,
against]

To protest the 1.35 trillion dollar tax cut, do not cash your tax rebate check if you get one. Instead, select a worthy charity or public program that will suffer from the tax cut, and endorse the rebate check directly to them.
jimfl, Jun 03 2001

Taxrebatepledge.org http://www.taxrebatepledge.org/
Web site devoted to this concept. Off to a slow start, it seems. [Uncle Nutsy, Jun 03 2001]

DonateRebate.org http://www.donaterebate.org/
One-page topical gateway to charity directory helping.org. [jutta, Jun 03 2001]

ReverseTheRebate.org http://www.reversetherebate.org/
Gateway to vote-again.org, collecting pledges. [jutta, Jun 03 2001]

The Hunger Site http://www.thehungersite.com/
and others, like the 'kids with AIDS' 'breast cancer', etc. etc. parts to the pages. Literally takes one click. [lewisgirl, Jun 03 2001]

Give for Change http://www.giveforchange.com
This group will distribute your chech over a number of charitable groups, and even match your donation [jimfl, Jun 03 2001]

"Arabian Oil Monopoly"? http://www.eia.doe....u/cabs/nonopec.html
Not quite. [calum, Mar 03 2002]

[link]






       You could endorse it to the US Treasury with the words,
"For reduction of the United States' Debt
endorsed to the US Treasury"
followed by your signature...
  

       And all the people said, "What, are you nuts?"   

       No, just ignorant of some worthy charities \\that will suffer from the tax cut\\. Help!
reensure, Jun 03 2001
  

       It's a fabulous idea. Since private charities are about ten times more effective than public, if a tenth of the tax cut goes to private charity we will actually be better off than we were before the cut!   

       And since the monies will be distributed in a more democratic way, this is a perfect win-win situation.   

       Then the idea can further spread, which could lead to even more tax cuts. The only problem then is what to do with the unemployed bureaucrats.
Wondertoad, Jun 03 2001
  

       Where do you get your statistics, Wondertoad?
bookworm, Jun 03 2001
  

       Did I ever mention how wonderful, kind and good looking everyone is in here?
thumbwax, Jun 04 2001
  

       I understand that Americans have a long tradition of not wanting to pay taxes, and that for an industrialized nation, we pay very little tax compared to our peers (unless we live in New York City), but, c'mon. The current administration is so completely transparent in its pandering to special interests, that the idea of getting a check for up to $600 isn't going to distract me. Programs are already feeling the heat; NASA's plans for pluto being a visible example.
jimfl, Jun 04 2001
  

       </sequitur>In point of fact, waugsqueke, Pluto is going someplace - around the sun. At the same time, the other planets are moving into new positions and out of a configuration they won't adopt for another few hundred years. Since NASA uses the outer planets to provide boosts to their spacecraft (as well as secondary mission objectives - interplanetary space is bo-ring), certain planetary alignments are necessary to make the trip cheaper and, indeed, possible. When NASA misses this current opportunity to see Pluto by probe, there won't be another for the better part of a century, assuming a lack of launch system innovation due to more budget cuts. Yes, it can wait, but some of us would like to be around for the results.<sequitur>
centauri, Jun 04 2001, last modified Jun 05 2001
  

       Your all assuming your all going to get a large share of the tax cuts - you won't. A large chunk of that money will go to a few individuals.   

       As with much else in Bush's plans, many of the benefits will go to him and his close friends.   

       Did you notice how bush and friends (heavily involved in the oil industry) immediatly dumped kyoto (which would have hurt the oil industry) and opened up alaska for oil drilling? How about how he is DEMANDING permission to drill in antarcita. Odds on he'll do that regardless of what everyone else in the world thinks.   

       Come on you guys in the US. If this was happening in African Republic you would be demanding their presidents removal from office and immpeachment. Wake up and smell the coffee. Regan tried what Bush is trying and it DIDN'T WORK!!!   

       (PS. I live in UK and am relatively unbiased.)
CasaLoco, Jun 04 2001
  

       I wish I could join your cause, but due to the fact that I've been wearing the same shoes for the last 2 and a half years (for a skateboarder, that's a really, really long time), I think I'll take the money.
AfroAssault, Jun 04 2001
  

       It's really not that much money though. People applaud the tax cut, but what they get back is chump change relative to their total income. By the same token, people bitch about tax increases that will cost them a few dollars per year. In my town, a necessary school improvement was shot down because people didn't want to pay for it, though it would have cost each person about ten dollars a year.   

       Wow! I'm going to take my tax cut and... buy a rake??   

       Washington would be making better use of the money than I am, especially on a large scale. [Centauri] has a point about NASA - chances missed now are not coming back any time soon. The same holds true for other programs.   

       I'm going to make a big leap and connect it to our society in general. We as a nation, and even as a species, are rarely pro-active. IF we nipped our problems in the bud, they would never become problems. But then, this could never happen because something must be a pressing need to recieve funding.
Deity, Jun 04 2001
  

       Which is better/worse?   

       a) a government forcing the governed to make payments and the governed resenting the programs for which the money is used; or   

       b) a government trying to avoid spending money and the governed saying,"well actually, I think we really *should* be spending some money here and there."   

       (No, neither is ideal, and neither accurately represents reality, and I'm not advocating one side or the other. I just haven't heard the question asked this way and wonder if it might generate some fresh thoughts.)
beauxeault, Jun 05 2001
  

       You may get some control over who spends your money, but you still have no say on how they spend it. The UK Health Service wouldn't need so much of our tax if it wasted less of what it gets.
[centauri]: *Love* the '<sequitur>' usage.
angel, Jun 05 2001
  

       You're right, waugsqueke. Upon further research, it sounds like the only planet that really needs the right position is Jupiter, which comes around every 12 years, so if NASA missed a launch window in 2006, they can't launch again until 2018. However, Pluto is moving further from the sun right now, and this will significantly alter conditions there. Most notably, the planet's thin atmosphere is likely to freeze out by about 2020 and we'll miss our chance to study that. Is it worth a whole mission to study? I guess we won't find out for a while.   

       And that's all I have to say about that.
centauri, Jun 05 2001
  

       The only planet that really needs the right position is Earth. Screw the rest of the planets. Let them come here and show us their pictures. And let it be a surprise visit. There are minds and bodies and computers and serious amounts of currency being poured into the space toilet which could better be applied to the Earth - lessening impact on global resources which are wasting away.
thumbwax, Jun 05 2001
  

       It does seem to me that the only reasonable thing to do with any tax surplus is to use it to pay off the national debt. Everything else is frivolous, regardless of what frivolities got us into debt in the first place. Right?
globaltourniquet, Jun 05 2001
  

       blah, blah, space is a waste of resources, blah, blah. Is that the best anyone can do?
centauri, Jun 05 2001
  

       Thanks to many of you for admitting your sole source of witheld tax was not from your paychecks. My current belief is that only those who had income from other than W-4 packing corporations will be getting the 'Bate. <spy>Could United General Megacorp be paying the government for publicizing those figures?</spy>
reensure, Jun 05 2001
  

       @ 35 years ago, when MAD Magazine was funny, there was a story of how the people rallied to obliterate the National Debt by wheeling in wheelbarrows of cash. The drawings of each character down to the crook of the finger and the speech patterns contained within were the best political satire that magazine ever did.
thumbwax, Jun 06 2001
  

       I hear the Hedonist Party is looking for contributions. Maybe use the tax cut to redistribute happiness?
braineddy, Jun 06 2001
  

       Or you could get off your arse and do something useful. For the same amount of energy it takes to vote for/against this idea, see link.
lewisgirl, Jul 05 2001
  

       In the UK we recently managed to keep from government the party that said they would cut taxes. This policy was simply not appealing to the voting public, who wanted more money spent on public services, not less.
Aristotle, Jul 05 2001
  

       There's an obvious joke about the condition of AfroAssault's feet to be made here. Am I the only person to have noticed? Surely not.
DrBob, Jul 05 2001
  

       How can people be so automatically prejudiced against someone purely because he's a Republican? GWB is doing a fantastic job, if you pull off the negative filters of the media. I wish they could have passed a tax cut/rebate only for the people who voted for Bush. That would satisfy all you folks who don't want the "blood money".
miles, Jul 05 2001
  

       Define: Fantastic. Wait, please don't.
thumbwax, Jul 05 2001
  

       Erm... I live in the UK and don't realy know much about american politics but everything I have heard about bush is bad. Have I missed something?
RobertKidney, Jul 15 2001
  

       Nope...The president, in an effort to make people swallow the big tax breaks and other things that his big business partners are getting, is giving everyone in the US a small bit of tax rebate. Some people might get as much as 300$.
StarChaser, Jul 15 2001
  

       wow... aren't you people so lucky... <please note the sarcasm>
RobertKidney, Jul 15 2001
  

       I'm sure Bush is not perfect, and maybe not even all that great, but I'm almost equally certain that he's probably not as bad as the media have led people to believe. Republicans (and I am not one of them... I agree on some things and disagree on others) seem to be highly villianized in the press. A prime example: An article in Newsweek magazine a few months back talked about differences between Republican and Democratic voters in the U.S. ...along with the article were two photos next to each other: the congenial Democrats in one photo, volunteering their time for some worthy cause, working with seniors or the poor or something like that. Photo number two, showing us what Republican voters are like, showed some total bubba-looking guy standing on his ranch with (I am not exagerating) his shotgun slung over his shoulder. Democrats: Good! Helpful! Kind! Republicans: "Git off mah land, boy, afore I shootcha!" The whole article (in fact, that entire issue) was like that, and even my wife, who is even less fond of the Republican point of view thought the whole thing was a bit over-the-top.
PotatoStew, Jul 16 2001
  

       I especially love it when Republican's get panned by these Psuedo Marxist Democrats. The tax cut doesn't cut funding to programs, it's cuts the rate at which the funds increase each year to the programs. They'll still receive more and more money each year, they just won't get as big of a boost after each year. If they need any more money than that, they can go find somebody who cares to give it to them, I certainly don't like the idea of being forced through taxes to give to charity.   

       And as for if Bush is a good president or not. I'd rather have somebody who knows what it's like to start a business and knows how to make it in todays society than some career politician who's only money has come from campaign supporters and tax payer dollars. I think it's time we gave a little more credence to those that are the backbone of America, and by that I mean business owners in general, big and small. Without entrepeneurs, our country is little more than a flock of helpless sheep.   

       The whole Pluto mission can wait as well. I haven't noticed any announcements of any astounding breakthroughs in space travel that are going to take us beyond our solar system in reasonable time so I think it's safe to say that we are being premature in our endeavor to send a probe to pluto.   

       And in response to Casa Loco, I don't know how the UK has fared over the past few years in the price of gas, but in California, especially in the central valley, we've taken it in the rear so to speak and have seen as much as a dollar or more in price increases per gallon in some areas. Bush is trying to do something so that our economy doesn't get thrown off by the whims of some greedy Arabian oil monopoly(OPEC).
talamunda, Jul 16 2001
  

       if youre looking for the guy that gave republicans a bad name i know a guy - Richard N...something   

       talamunda - //somebody who knows what it's like to start a business and knows how to make it in todays society than some _*career politician*_ who's only money has come from _*campaign supporters*_ // um didnt dubyas dad have some kind of an important job (carrying on the family business?)   

       //I haven't noticed any announcements of any astounding breakthroughs// there wont be any without research   

       //Arabian oil monopoly// did the whole of texas just dry up instantly or something?   

       though what you say about rate of increase is fair enough apart from inflation
chud, Mar 03 2002
  

       //Did you notice how bush and friends (heavily involved in the oil industry) immediatly dumped kyoto (which would have hurt the oil industry) and opened up alaska for oil drilling?//   

       Kyoto would have benefited two major entities: (1) China, which--being exempt from Kyoto's requirements--would see a surge in manufacturing; and (2) Enron, whose natural gas assets would be made much more competitive in the energy marketplace by the increased taxes on oil mandated by the Kyoto Accords.   

       Also, FYI, there was a vote in the Senate for whether to bring the Kyoto Accords up for ratification. You know the outcome of that vote? 95 against; ZERO for. Ratification of a treaty requires 2/3 of the Senate, but it couldn't get a single vote. Tell me again exactly who killed Kyoto?
supercat, Mar 04 2002
  

       Americans?
dare99, Mar 04 2002
  

       America is not the whole world. If they wanted it, they could have had it anyway. The purpose of it was to punish the US, in essence, and without the US, it was pointless.
StarChaser, Mar 04 2002
  
      
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