How to File Your Federal AND Arizona Taxes for FREE

Come tax time we are inundated with claims from tax filing providers that you can file your taxes for free.

However, most find that it's only the federal form that is free. To file your Arizona state income tax, charges can range from $15-$40 or more.

Additionally, if one does not qualify for free filing, choosing the least expensive vendor could save you $100 or more!

In fact, most Arizonans DO qualify to file their state taxes free as well as their federal, if they only knew an under-publicized, necessary first step.

Balanced Budget Amendment Would Nuke National Security

A number of campaign mailers received this season indicate support for a Constitutional amendment for a federal balanced budget. One can understand the frustration when the federal government seems unable to accomplish this.

A balanced budget is an excellent goal and many point out that several states have balanced budget amendments and they have operated under them just fine.

However, if we pass a balanced budget amendment for the federal government, we might as well surrender to the Chinese immediately!

Center for Arizona Policy Isn't Quite Pro-Life Enough!

The Center for Arizona Policy, (CAP,) the state's foremost lobbyist for conservative christians, seems so focused on trying to outlaw abortions that they have lost sight of what it truly means to be "pro-life."

Currently, Arizona is the only state in the union that refuses to participate in a federal children's healthcare program. As a result, 30,000-50,000 Arizona kids will be without health insurance.

Yet CAP stands mute.

I thought that they considered themselves "pro-life from conception to grave."

Should we outlaw abortions just to deny those children healthcare later? As far as CAP is concerned, heaven and earth should be moved to try to save one single fetus and yet, they won't fight for the healthcare of breathing children?

The shocking thing is, this problem could be solved by one, single letter from the lobby's president, Cathi Herrod...

Marijuana Haters Say the Darnedest Things

E.J. Montana, opinion columnist for the Arizona Republic, noted:

   "Opponents (of Marijuana legalization in Arizona) already have demonstrated a strategy of scare tactics based on questionable information, something they should know better than to do, since several of the bigwigs in the campaign are prosecuting attorneys.
   "That will be the irony of this campaign.
   "While the people promoting legalization deal with facts, opponents will try to alter voters’ sense of reality." (*1)

Indeed, with many of their anti-marijuana quotes, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Some of their taradiddles are farcical on their surface; others require a rhetorical question to clear the haze.

The REAL "Job Creators" Are Not the Wealthy--They're YOU!

Don't be deceived by the verbal gymnastics that refer to the rich as "Job Creators." The fact is, there is only one true creator of jobs and that is: CONSUMER DEMAND!

One writer defined "Job Creators" this way:

"In Republican/Tea Party political theory, 'Job Creators' are wealthy because they are industrious, virtuous, hard working people and can use their vast wealth to create jobs by hiring people to work for them. The idea that this euphemism is trying to convey is that taxing these people would hurt the economy because then their money would be going to the government...which will only waste tax money on things like social services." (*1)

Of course, only the rich have the money to build factories, but the only time they ever would build one is when they anticipate consumer demand for the product!

Repealing the Death Tax Will Create a Koch Monarchy Forever

There's a great deal of fear-mongering going on when it comes to the estate tax. ALEC-led Republicans claim that the children of farmers and small businesses are losing their farms and businesses because of the estate tax.  Therefore, they argue, it should be abolished completely.

In fact, "just 0.19 percent of all deaths in 2013 resulted in (the payment of estate) tax. When 99.81 percent of all deaths don't create a taxable event, calling it a death tax is mathematically nonsensical." (*1)

The real reason for abolishing the estate tax is for the very rich to not only pass on their fortunes to their children, but to pass on their political power as well.  They want to create an America, led by a oligarchy, that's been crowned by the almighty dollar.

Arizona Refuses Federal Money for the Disabled

What if there was a program that equipped disabled individuals to leave the welfare rolls and enter into gainful, tax-paying employment?

In fact, there is one and it's very popular.  Many disabled people come to Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) wanting to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, get off the welfare rolls and become tax-paying citizens instead.

So successful is the program that the federal government offers to pay three-quarters of the cost.  Yet die-hard tea-partiers in the Arizona Legislature have refused this "dirty Obama money" for several years.  As a result, people who are genuinely motivated to get off of welfare have been sitting on waiting lists, still collecting government checks, for years.

Scarce AZ Education Funding Spent on Anti-Abortion Message

Educational funding is currently scarce in Arizona and even as the state ranks near the bottom in both spending and performance, money is being spent to place anti-abortion stickers on the back covers of biology textbooks.

To stress the point, the students were instructed to place these stickers on the textbooks themselves.

The Immigration Solution: A Market Based Approach

One of the main problems with America's immigration policy is that it tries to set numbers regardless of the country's current economic condition.  There are times when our economy is soaring and we need immigrant workers.  There are also times when our economy slows down and we don't need as much immigrant help.

If the US could devise a market-based policy for immigration that would naturally ride with these ebbs and flows, it would be fair, adaptable, and could last for generations.

Following is one such plan:

ALEC FACT CHECK: Can Churches Take the Government's Place in Supporting the Poor?

Proponents of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) are trying to convince the Christian Right that it should be the church and not the federal government that should provide for the needy and the disabled, but consider this fact check:

We Need a 21st Century Currency

If you were a business, would you spend ten cents to produce something that was worth only five?  Would you spend two cents to produce something worth only a penny?

Who on earth would make such poor decisions?  The U.S. Government, that's who!  Indeed, the government does spend two cents to produce a single penny and ten cents to produce a single nickel. (*1)  Talk about "wasteful government spending"!

Due to inflation over the many decades, we need to update our currency for the 21st century.

Should Marijuana Money Go To Tax Revenues or Drug Cartels?

Those are the only two choices.

Perhaps one of the reasons the issue of marijuana is so contentious is because there is no perfect solution to the question.

For many, however, the bottom line of the issue is the bottom line of the finances.  Here, we have only two choices:  Either marijuana revenue will go to law-abiding companies and tax receipts; or, THE MONEY WILL GO TO THE DRUG CARTELS!

Some anti-pot pundits will quickly point out that it is nonsense to think that the drug cartels will disappear if MJ is legalized.  This is probably true.  However, after four decades, it's clear that the Drug War won't stop the drug cartels either!

How ironic!  Those who espouse that the drug cartels would certainly survive marijuana legalization are half-way to realizing and admitting that the Drug War itself is a continuing failure.