0.00, 47%, effective?

Yesterday after work I took Hoyt’s advice and took the Tacoma to a local Auto Zone to have them see what the code was for the CHECK ENGINE light that had been on for a week. The guy came out, hooked up the reader and saw a 171 error which translated into a lean fuel mixture.

He said typically that means there could be some sort of small vacuum leak.  He gave me a good tip on tracking a leak down by spraying starter fluid in various areas (on a cool engine) to see if the engine surges.  After he read the code he also cleared it.  That is the annoying thing with check engine lights, once they trip they don’t reset.  Well after he cleared the code the light didn’t come back.  There is the possibility it was just a temporary condition that threw the code.  Bottom line is the light is out with my wallet being no lighter.

There was story splashed all over the internet yesterday that something like 47% of American households wind up paying ZERO federal income tax due to exemptions/credits.  Yes, that is pretty ridiculous.  Our system rewards families that pop out kids like rabbits the most.  In the example I saw a family of four with 50k of income could actually get paid by the government, on top of getting any taxes they paid refunded.  Regardless of your political persuasion, I would hope you could see the flaws in a system where half of the people are paying for the other half. 

Now some would be quick to point out that the new health care plan furthers that agenda.  I disagree, especially when you consider the stipulation that people are required to have health insurance which broadens the pool of people in the system, thus spreading the financial burden among more individuals.

Regardless of the health care comparison, I think the income tax system is ridiculous.  It’s ridiculously complicated and encourages cheating while unequally distributing the tax burden.  I would be all for the fair tax initiative where the federal income tax is abolished and it is replaced with a simple, fair, national sales tax.  Instituting such a plan would ensure that EVERYONE is contributing to the system. 

Now of course there are major obstacles to getting this done.  Much like what we witnessed with the health care fiasco, any move to a fair tax would be met by tremendous lobbyist dollars.  Imagine abolishing something as huge as the IRS?  There also is a huge industry built around the complexity of the current tax system.  You would no longer need an accountant to guide you through needlessly complex and ever changing tax laws. Corporate tax attorneys? Bye bye.

I think this would be a fantastic change for the country.  I also think it has a snowballs chance in hell of ever happening.   Real, ground breaking change seems nearly impossible to accomplish in 2010.

So did you see the new Nike Tiger Woods commercial? It features a pathetic looking Tiger staring into the camera with a voice over by his deceased father.  It’s evidently a clip from the past, I’m not sure what Earl was originally referring to.  Ironically, it sounds relevant when applied to Tiger’s adultering circus.  However the first thing I thought was, this is hypocritical.  From what I have read, Earl Woods was a well known adulterer as well. I guess if people haven’t heard about that it might be more meaningful.  To me, it’s just more paper morals.