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I really don’t understand this argument either because it’s technically not more taxes. From the article:

Technically, citizens are supposed to estimate and pay internet sales tax on their annual returns, but this is rarely done…

You’re supposed to pay use tax on these items and report that to the state. A tiny number of people actually do this, so the government is requiring the sellers to collect the tax that the buyer should be paying to the state.

There is a huge difference between “extra tax” and “a tax that I can get away with not paying because it’ll take more effort than it’s worth for the IRS to audit me and collect it.”

14 days ago on Senate passes nationwide online sales tax bill 1 reply 3 recommends

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Also:

…states will either need to either have SSUTA membership … or pass legislation that creates a central authority for tax collection, provides free tax software to online sellers, and limits the liability businesses would face if they make mistakes based on bad information from a software provider or state official.

It seems the states will take on a large portion of the administrative burden.

14 days ago on Senate passes nationwide online sales tax bill

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If you’d like to see how your taxes get spent, there’s a calculator for it on the White House site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/2012-taxreceipt

14 days ago on Senate passes nationwide online sales tax bill 2 recommends

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Trent Wolbe went to Mexico and actually wrote about this on The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/15/3231438/4dx-movies-wind-water-fog-never-coming-theater-near-you

18 days ago on The sights, smells, and sprays of 'Iron Man 3' in 4DX 1 recommend

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I saw The Hobbit in 4DX a while ago, and I didn’t mind the 169 minutes of chair tilting and water spraying. Then again, the movie was mostly dwarfs singing, so it wasn’t too much of a barrage on the senses. One of the coolest things was that your chair tracked the sweeping shots. As the camera swept over New Zealand, you felt like you were kind of flying along with it. That didn’t get old.

Sam is totally right about the scent. There’s only one smell. You can get the exact same experience by bringing a can of Glade with you and spraying it in the air every time you see foliage. I’m looking at you, Rivendell.

18 days ago on The sights, smells, and sprays of 'Iron Man 3' in 4DX 4 recommends

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Schmitty338 said this above, but it’s very important: no one was injected with HIV. The people who became infected with HIV contracted the virus from their own behavior outside of the trial. The vaccine they received did not give them HIV, nor were they infected with HIV by the scientists running the trial. The vaccine was just ineffective.

24 days ago on Another setback in the search for an HIV vaccine as major clinical trial is shut down

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The CDC states that at the end of 2009, there were an estimated 1,148,200 people living with HIV in the United States. According to the 2010 Census, the number of people in the U.S. 16 and over was 243,275,505. (You could probably find better statistics that match the age range the CDC uses, but this was readily available.) This means about 0.47% of the adults in the United States are living with HIV.

You could then predict that if you took a random sample of 2500 people, about 12 people would have HIV. Considering that men who have sex with men are “the group most profoundly affected by HIV,” 71 out of 2500 seems in line with expectations.

(Sources: CDC and US Census)

24 days ago on Another setback in the search for an HIV vaccine as major clinical trial is shut down 1 recommend