Take a hot issue like Health Care, then slip in all kinds of sneaky taxes and various forms of pork totally unrelated. Do any other countries do this?

Gold Coin Sellers Angered by New Tax Law

Amendment Slipped Into Health Care Legislation Would Track, Tax Coin and Bullion Transactions

Those already outraged by the president's health care legislation now have a new bone of contention -- a scarcely noticed tack-on provision to the law that puts gold coin buyers and sellers under closer government scrutiny.

Starting Jan. 1, 2012, Form 1099s will become a means of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service the purchases of all goods and services by small businesses and self-employed people that exceed $600 during a calendar year. Precious metals such as coins and bullion fall into this category and coin dealers have been among those most rankled by the change.

This provision, intended to mine what the IRS deems a vast reservoir of uncollected income tax, was included in the health care legislation ostensibly as a way to pay for it. The tax code tweak is expected to raise $17 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

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Normally I wouldn't care about gold, but I've had a friend this week trying hard to get me to buy the stuff.

Is it true you're liable for tax even if non resident US citizen? Wow if its true the irs is a killer......can you play football koheesti cos we got plenty of opportunities from left back to striker....new passport supplied.

Is it true you're liable for tax even if non resident US citizen? Wow if its true the irs is a killer......can you play football koheesti cos we got plenty of opportunities from left back to striker....new passport supplied.

Even if he doesn't "play", he'd still make the current team

Is it true you're liable for tax even if non resident US citizen? Wow if its true the irs is a killer......can you play football koheesti cos we got plenty of opportunities from left back to striker....new passport supplied.

Oh yes they make you pay & more....

That new passport you want to furnish? Well yes he could do that & hopefully he has not too much $$ as yet because he will also have to pay an exit tax if he goes that route I believe.

I have always asserted the best government is when one party holds the Legislative Branch and the other party holds the Executive Branch.

They counter-balance each other and no legislation gets enacted.

Gridlock is not bad when it comes to the US government.

US or Thai government, what is the difference.

Both are full of fraudsters collecting payola.

Lobbyists in US are simply people who pay off the members who do as required, no questions asked.

Personally I have no problem paying for actual services.

I do have a problem paying for non services & lack of representation.

We supposedly pay our reps to represent us. When we overwhelmingly told our reps no to the bail outs they voted No.

Then when the former president & the new president elect scolded them along with Hank Paulson telling them America was starring into an abyss if they did not vote for the bailout & pay off the toxic derivatives they went rogue on us & change their votes without consulting their constituents...Virtually placing us in a state of taxation with out representation & signing our names to a 700 billion dollar future tax.

We now know that there was a bait & switch for that 700 billion. We will see how many will agree to pay these taxes without representation.

While I agree with chuck on gridlock to some degree I also like to see common sense in our elected govt. Also there are many things that appear to stand outside of any gridlock & questions our Constitution as to their legality. Yet ever since the patriot act it seems many things can now be side stepped one such thing is our constitution itself.

It seems America has forgotten what it was built on & the very reason for its existence & future promise.

When our lawmakers write the laws, why do they always have to add non-related items to it? Taxing gold purchases hidden inside a health care bill? Just another reason not to trust them.

Then there is pork/earmarks - or bribery for votes which is a waste of taxpayer money. That's why gridlock is good, if they don't pass anything, it saves us a lot of money.

I agree with flying, I don't mind paying for actual services that the country needs. I'll never see a dime of social security but I don't mind paying into it for other people. I think McCain is one of the few Senators who has never added pork to a bill. That's the kind of integrity we need more of.

As for representation, if I'm elected to represent the people of District 10 in Florida, I would go out of my way to vote the way my constituents wanted. NOT just to get re-elected, but that's the point of the job. Representatives and Senators aren't supposed to be leaders (like the President) and vote for what they think is "best for the people". They are supposed to represent what the people who voted for them think. For every issue it isn't clear how the people think, but with this recent health care bill, it was clear.

Oh yes they make you pay & more....

That new passport you want to furnish? Well yes he could do that & hopefully he has not too much $$ as yet because he will also have to pay an exit tax if he goes that route I believe.

Once they have their claws in they sure don't want to let you escape....how ironic then seeing so many chasing the green card......I bet this stuff isn't in bold writing on the application.

When our lawmakers write the laws, why do they always have to add non-related items to it? Taxing gold purchases hidden inside a health care bill? Just another reason not to trust them.

Well on the one hand it is surly as you say ....To hide/slip things through.

Another is to make the bills so exhausting as to be un-readable by most.

Not unlike the 700 billion bail out that was 1071 pages long I believe & included such stupidity as a credit for makers kids of wooden arrows !! <deleted> !!!

Here they are supposedly passing bill because the US stands on the precipice of the abyss ...Yet they have time for that? Wooden Arrow makers?

These are a few...

* Manufacturers of kids' wooden arrows - $6 million.

* Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum producers - $192 million.

* Auto-racing tracks - $128 million.

* Corporations operating in American Samoa - $33 million.

* Small- to medium-budget film and television productions - $10 million.

I have said before, I have enjoyed all of Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas.

Imagine if they were still around today.

The fodder for their genius is abundant in the US Congress, let alone Westminster Palace.

Imagine the lawsuits too.

The accusations of " stonewalling " being made now against the UK government in the Lockerbie affair have to make you laugh when you take into context on the same day first hand evidence is given by Hans Blix, that the war on Iraq was illegal.

Perhaps the UK parliament should demand the Bush's and other members of Congress give evidence to them about why so many UK soldiers ( never mind tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians ) had to die..............

The accusations of " stonewalling " being made now against the UK government in the Lockerbie affair have to make you laugh when you take into context on the same day first hand evidence is given by Hans Blix, that the war on Iraq was illegal.

Perhaps the UK parliament should demand the Bush's and other members of Congress give evidence to them about why so many UK soldiers ( never mind tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians ) had to die..............

Hans Blix said the war was illegal? He's a weapons inspector. I'd like to hear Lady Gaga's opinion on the matter first before jumping to any conclusions.

Maybe you don't get this news where you're from, but it has come out that the Obama Admin supported releasing that Libyan terrorist. Whoopsie!

Maybe a relative ?