JoeyRamone

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Posts posted by JoeyRamone

  7. XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN AUG 01, 2004 21:01:25 ET XXXXX

    REPUBLICANS PLAN PUSH FOR ELIMINATION OF IRS

    **Exclusive**

    A domestic centerpiece of the Bush/GOP agenda for a second Bush term is getting rid of the Internal Revenue Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

    The Speaker of the House will push for replacing the nation's current tax system with a national sales tax or a value added tax, Hill sources tell DRUDGE.

    "People ask me if I’m really calling for the elimination of the IRS, and I say I think that’s a great thing to do for future generations of Americans," Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert explains in his new book, to be released on Wednesday.

    "Pushing reform legislation will be difficult. Change of any sort seldom comes easy. But these changes are critical to our economic vitality and our economic security abroad," Hastert declares in SPEAKER: LESSONS FROM FORTY YEARS IN COACHING AND POLITICS.

    "“If you own property, stock, or, say, one hundred acres of farmland and tax time is approaching, you don’t want to make a mistake, so you’re almost obliged to go to a certified public accountant, tax preparer, or tax attorney to help you file a correct return. That costs a lot of money. Now multiply the amount you have to pay by the total number of people who are in the same boat. You can’t. No one can because precise numbers don’t exist. But we can stipulate that we’re talking about a huge amount. Now consider that a flat tax, national sales tax, or VAT would not only eliminate the need to do this, it could also eliminate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) itself and make the process of paying taxes much easier."

    "By adopting a VAT, sales tax, or some other alternative, we could begin to change productivity. If you can do that, you can change gross national product and start growing the economy. You could double the economy over the next fifteen years. All of a sudden, the problem of what future generations owe in Social Security and Medicare won’t be so daunting anymore. The answer is to grow the economy, and the key to doing that is making sure we have a tax system that attracts capital and builds incentives to keep it here instead of forcing it out to other nations."

    Developing...

  14. BOSTON -- State police are still investigating reports that parachutists landed near the FleetCenter Sunday night, but there is little information about what may have been only a security drill.



    The FleetCenter is the site of the Democratic National Convention, which begins Monday night.

    NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that military police called in reports just after midnight that two parachutists had landed in the yard of the Charles River Park condominium complex. Additional reports indicated there were also parachutists on the top of the Tip O'Neill Federal Building located next door to the FleetCenter.

    Before police helicopters arrived, officers on the ground covered the area, sending officers to the roofs of the buildings. SWAT teams went to the top of the federal building. All available state and local officers responded, some with K9 units. Nothing was found and state police said no one was arrested.


    Sunday was a busy day for officers patroling the city, harbor and skies around the FleetCenter. On city roads, unscheduled stops were the norm for many truck drivers trying to get through the city's roads and tunnels. On the city's mass transit system, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority was also conducting random searches of commuters, who were advised to travel lightly.

    During demonstrations on Beacon Hill Sunday, state police officers were wearing full riot gear, ready for combat. Armed, camouflage-wearing soldiers are patroling the old elevated railway near the FleetCenter in groups of threes, and bike-riding Boston police officers were blanketing the parks