How does an effectively bankrupt state pay the bills? By printing its own currency! California is issuing IOUs instead of paying bills in cash. In other words, instead of borrowing from people who want to lend money, and using that money to pay its bills, the state is borrowing from people who it already owes money to, and promising to pay the bills a little later (with a little interest).
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National Taxpayer Advocate’s Report to Congress: Once a Year, Taxpayers Talk Back — and Congress Listens
It may feel like taxpayers always complain and Congress never listens, and perhaps most of the time that’s true. But once a year, Congress asks the National Taxpayers advocate to report on taxpayer concerns. And the latest report just came out. So what’s coming up next? Ten highlights:
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Amazon.com And North Carolina Split Over Sales Tax
One of the keys to Amazon.com’s remarkable growth has been their “affiliate” program. They allow anyone to link to Amazon products and get a cut of every purchase. It’s a great program for Amazon, because it gives them a sales force with hundreds of thousands of members, none of whom need a salary. And it’s good for customers, too, since it gives people an incentive to write about the products they like, that others might like, too. In fact, some bloggers have been able to make a decent income off of Amazon affiliate payments. But all is not well for Amazon or Amazon’s affiliates.
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