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There was a very important day last week a day even more significant than when your taxes were due. In California, Tax Freedom Day arrived Friday.

Calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is the day on which the average Californian has finished earning enough money to pay all of his or her federal, state and local taxes this year.

So, congratulations! Just a mere 110 days into the year (not counting Feb. 29), you finally started working for yourself instead of the government.

But before you break out the champagne, note the following:

n Tax Freedom Day was four days later than last year. It would have been even later had the governor and Legislature succeeded in their efforts to raise car taxes, income taxes and sales taxes.

n Californians must work longer for the government than residents of other states. The average American achieves tax freedom three days earlier than the average Californian. That's one reason many workers leave our state as soon as they retire.

n If taxes were raised high enough to pay for all government spending, California's Tax Freedom Day wouldn't come until May 17.

Tax Freedom Day used to arrive much earlier in the year. According to the Tax Foundation, in the year 1900 Americans paid only 5.9 percent of their income in taxes and Tax Freedom Day was Jan. 22.

Over the years, the sheer number of taxes and their overall cost has grown tremendously. In fact, it's jarring to compare our current taxes to what Californians paid a century ago.

In the early 20th century, Californians paid no sales tax the sales tax was first imposed in 1933 at a rate of 2.5 percent. Today, Californians pay sales tax rates as high as 9.75 percent.

Read the rest here:
Runner: Little to celebrate on Tax Freedom Day

22-04-2012 09:14 The latest tip in our Expat Guidebook Tip of the Day series is simply this throw away your watch. You won't need it while you are living in other countries as an expat/digital nomad. This is especially true in Eastern Europe and Latin America, because while people work hard they don't always adhere to the 8-hour-a-day grind of the American existence. Mexico in particularly is known as the land of tomorrow because people sort of shrug their shoulders and go on about their business rather than stress about what time it is...and one of the biggest challenges for first-time digital nomads/expats is adjusting to the difference. The relaxed, slow-paced lifestyle is one of my favorite parts about traveling and living in other countries.

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The Expat Guidebook Tip of the Day - Throw Away Your Watch - Video

SIDON, Lebanon: Tens of French expatriates arrived Sunday at a polling station in the southern coastal city of Sidon to cast their vote in the first round of Frances presidential elections.

The entrance to Frances Cultural Center in Sidon, converted to hold to casting of ballots, was heavily guarded by the Internal Security Forces and the premises were off limits to non-French nationals.

Voters were thoroughly searched upon entering the facility amid tight security outside the center and surrounding area.

Over 44 million French are registered to vote in this years presidential election.

Ali Shams, 89, said that he has been participating in the voting process since 1955 but declined to give details about his preference saying: I have the right not to say who I voted for.

Others laughed when asked whether the French voting process resembled the Lebanese one.

There are 10 candidates running for Frances top post but incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande are expected to go against each other in the next round of voting in a two-week scramble for the line.

An average of the last eight polls released ahead of the end of first round campaign at midnight on Friday showed Hollande winning the first round with an average of 28 percent support, against 26.4 percent for Sarkozy, Agence France Presse reported.

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French expats cast ballots in south Lebanon

APRIL 23 A contact for a story said: We need to talk this week. The reason, as it turned out, was that he had to leave Singapore because his employment pass had not been renewed. And he is not the only one. Other employment pass holders have also been forced to leave and even some permanent residents (PR) re-entry permits have not been renewed.

While there is plenty of discussion in Singapore about having too many foreigners here, the buzz in the expat community is about how uncertain it is whether they can continue to live here.

Whether the number of rejected applications is actually large or small isnt clear. Regardless of reality, word has gotten around about passes not being renewed and rumours about the reasons are flowing fast. As one blogger wrote: Its pot luck Doesnt seem to be any rhyme nor reason.

The issue affects talented people who are considering whether to move to Singapore too. While people who want to come here for more mundane jobs may have few options, talented individuals have a multitude of choices.

When they hear about employment pass renewal rejections and when they can have greater certainty about a long-term job if they move somewhere else, they may well decide to bypass the island and take their skills elsewhere.

Employers, too, are facing difficulties.

One well-placed industry observer told me that many major companies are concerned about their ability to maintain their skilled expat staff especially when they have not been able to hire and retain local staff with similar skills. Companies in industries like hospitality, for example, have found that staff who have been here for many years are suddenly not being allowed to stay.

The buzz about rejections is compounded by a lack of clarity about which employment passes or PR permits will be renewed.

While salary requirements are online and the Ministry of Manpower even has an online Self-Assessment Tool, some people who seem to meet the criteria have still been turned down. Some people have successfully appealed against rejections, though many of them are not sure why their appeal succeeded.

Lacking clear information, the rumour mill has gone into higher gear.

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The uneasy expats — Richard Hartung

GWEN MOORE | Democratic member of Congress from Milwaukee madison.com | | Posted: Monday, April 23, 2012 5:00 am

Ugland House is a modest five-story office building in the Cayman Islands, yet it is the registered address for 18,857 companies. The Cayman Islands, like many other offshore tax havens, levies no income taxes on companies incorporated there. Simply by registering themselves in the Cayman Islands, companies can legally shift much of their U.S.-earned profit to the Caymans and pay no tax on it.

The vast majority of these companies have no physical presence in the Caymans other than a post office box at Ugland House. About half of these companies have their billing address in the U.S. This transparently false corporate presence is one of the hallmarks of a tax haven.

Abuse of tax havens by multinational companies and wealthy individuals is one of the most outrageous loopholes in the American tax system. These complex tax avoidance schemes allow many of Americas largest corporations to drastically shrink their tax bill. For example:

Google uses techniques nicknamed the double Irish and the Dutch sandwich, involving two Irish subsidiaries and one in Bermuda a tax haven that helped shrink its tax bill by $3.1 billion between 2008 and 2010.

Wells Fargo paid no federal income taxes for 2008, 2009 and 2010 despite being profitable all three years in part due to its use of 58 offshore tax haven subsidiaries.

G.E. received $3.3 billion in tax refunds in 2010 despite reporting over $5 billion in U.S. profits to shareholders. The company has $94 billion parked offshore and uses 14 tax haven subsidiaries.

These same corporations take advantage of and benefit from the many services and public structures provided by our tax dollars an education system that prepares their workforce, government-funded research which helps them remain competitive globally, a publicly funded infrastructure system to transport their products, and the protection that our military and court system provide. They are in effect parasites.

While this practice is not illegal, it could easily be stopped by Congress, except that these tax dodgers take their tax rebates and spend heavily on lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions. A recent report by WISPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 unusually aggressive tax dodging corporations have made campaign contributions to 524 (98 percent) sitting members of Congress, and disproportionately to the leadership of both parties and to key committee members, including the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Among Wisconsins delegation, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican from Janesville who also sits on the Ways and Means Committee, received $144,750 and Ways and Means Committee member Ron Kind, a Democrat from La Crosse, received $109,500 from these 30 companies.

The pervasiveness of campaign money across party lines speaks volumes about why major proposals to close corporate tax loopholes have not even come up for a vote.

Excerpt from:
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore: Ditch Cayman Islands tax loophole