Request For Replacement Of Tax Forms: Fill & Download for Free

Hahahaha.You’ve been fed a line of bullshit.First, there is no “inconvenience”. I can go to literally any clinic, doctor, or hospital in the country and all I need to do is to show them my health card:Second, about those taxes: healthcare expenditures are mostly covered by various forms of income taxes, which means that you pay based on what you earn. If you’re a struggling new grad, you pay very little. If you are a rich old fart, you pay more. In both cases, overwhelmingly, people think that it is “worth it”. (And by the way? Just as an aside? In Canada, our taxes are actually lower than your taxes + health insurance + copays.)Here’s a great short video (by an American doctor) which explains the Canadian healthcare system really well:This article is well worth reading: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/06/health-insurance-canada-lie/?arc404=trueHere’s the text:In my prior life as an insurance executive, it was my job to deceive Americans about their health care. I misled people to protect profits. In fact, one of my major objectives, as a corporate propagandist, was to do my part to “enhance shareholder value.” That work contributed directly to a climate in which fewer people are insured, which has shaped our nation’s struggle against the coronavirus, a condition that we can fight only if everyone is willing and able to get medical treatment. Had spokesmen like me not been paid to obscure important truths about the differences between the U.S. and Canadian health-care systems, tens of thousands of Americans who have died during the pandemic might still be alive.In 2007, I was working as vice president of corporate communications for Cigna. That summer, Michael Moore was preparing to release his latest documentary, “Sicko,” contrasting American health care with that in other rich countries. (Naturally, we looked terrible.) I spent months meeting secretly with my counterparts at other big insurers to plot our assault on the film, which contained many anecdotes about patients who had been denied coverage for important treatments. One example was 3-year-old Annette Noe. When her parents asked Cigna to pay for two cochlear implants that would allow her to hear, we agreed to cover only one.Clearly my colleagues and I would need a robust defense. On a task force for the industry’s biggest trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), we talked about how we might make health-care systems in Canada, France, Britain and even Cuba look just as bad as ours. We enlisted APCO Worldwide, a giant PR firm. Agents there worked with AHIP to put together a binder of laminated talking points for company flacks like me to use in news releases and statements to reporters.Here’s an example from one AHIP brief in the binder: “A May 2004 poll found that 87% of Canada’s business leaders would support seeking health care outside the government system if they had a pressing medical concern.” The source was a 2004 book by Sally Pipes, president of the industry-supported Pacific Research Institute, titled “Miracle Cure: How to Solve America’s Health Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn’t the Answer.” Another bullet point, from the same book, quoted the CEO of the Canadian Association of Radiologists as saying that “the radiology equipment in Canada is so bad that ‘without immediate action radiologists will no longer be able to guarantee the reliability and quality of examinations.’ ”Much of this runs against the experience of many Americans, especially the millions who take advantage of low pharmaceutical prices in Canada to meet their prescription needs. But there were more specific reasons to be skeptical of those claims. We didn’t know, for example, who conducted that 2004 survey or anything about the sample size or methodology — or even what criteria were used to determine who qualified as a “business leader.” We didn’t know if the assertion about imaging equipment was based on reliable data or was an opinion. You could easily turn up comparable complaints about outdated equipment at U.S. hospitals.(Contacted by The Washington Post, an AHIP spokesman said this perspective was “from the pre-ACA past. We are future focused by building on what works and fixing what doesn’t.” He added that the organization “believes everyone deserves affordable, high-quality coverage and care — regardless of health status, income, or pre-existing conditions.” An APCO Worldwide spokesperson told The Post that the company “has been involved in supporting our clients with the evolution of the health care system. We are proud of our work.” Cigna did not respond to requests for comment.)Nevertheless, I spent much of that year as an industry spokesman, my last after 20 years in the business, spreading AHIP’s “information” to journalists and lawmakers to create the impression that our health-care system was far superior to Canada’s, which we wanted people to believe was on the verge of collapse. The campaign worked. Stories began to appear in the press that cast the Canadian system in a negative light. And when Democrats began writing what would become the Affordable Care Act in early 2009, they gave no serious consideration to a publicly financed system like Canada’s. We succeeded so wildly at defining that idea as radical that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), then chair of the Senate Finance Committee, had single-payer supporters ejected from a hearing.Today, the respective responses of Canada and the United States to the coronavirus pandemic prove just how false the ideas I helped spread were. There are more than three times as many coronavirus infections per capita in the United States, and the mortality rate is twice the rate in Canada. And although we now test more people per capita, our northern neighbor had much earlier successes with testing, which helped make a difference throughout the pandemic.The most effective myth we perpetuated — the industry trots it out whenever major reform is proposed — is that Canadians and people in other single-payer countries have to endure long waits for needed care. Just last year, in a statement submitted to a congressional committee for a hearing on the Medicare for All Act of 2019, AHIP maintained that “patients would pay more to wait longer for worse care” under a single-payer system.While it’s true that Canadians sometimes have to wait weeks or months for elective procedures (knee replacements are often cited), the truth is that they do not have to wait at all for the vast majority of medical services. And, contrary to another myth I used to peddle — that Canadian doctors are flocking to the United States — there are more doctors per 1,000 people in Canada than here. Canadians see their doctors an average of 6.8 times a year, compared with just four times a year in this country.Most important, no one in Canada is turned away from doctors because of a lack of funds, and Canadians can get tested and treated for the coronavirus without fear of receiving a budget-busting medical bill. That undoubtedly is one of the reasons Canada’s covid-19 death rate is so much lower than ours. In America, exorbitant bills are a defining feature of our health-care system. Despite the assurances from President Trump and members of Congress that covid-19 patients will not be charged for testing or treatment, they are on the hook for big bills, according to numerous reports.That is not the case in Canada, where there are no co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance for covered benefits. Care is free at the point of service. And those laid off in Canada don’t face the worry of losing their health insurance. In the United States, by contrast, more than 40 million have lost their jobs during this pandemic, and millions of them — along with their families — also lost their coverage.Then there’s quality of care. By numerous measures, it is better in Canada. Some examples: Canada has far lower rates than the United States of hospitalizations from preventable causes like diabetes (almost twice as common here) and hypertension (more than eight times as common). And even though Canada spends less than half what we do per capita on health care, life expectancy there is 82 years, compared with 78.6 years in the United States.When the pandemic reached North America, Canadian hospitals, which operate under annual global budgets — fixed payments typically allocated at the provincial and regional levels to cover operating expenses — were better prepared for the influx of patients than many U.S. hospitals. And Canada ramped up production of personal protective equipment much more quickly than we did.Of the many regrets I have about what I once did for a living, one of the biggest is slandering Canada’s health-care system. If the United States had undertaken a different kind of reform in 2009 (or anytime since), one that didn’t rely on private insurance companies that have every incentive to limit what they pay for, we’d be a healthier country today. Living without insurance dramatically increases your chances of dying unnecessarily. Over the past 13 years, tens of thousands of Americans have probably died prematurely because, unlike our neighbors to the north, they either had no coverage or were so inadequately insured that they couldn’t afford the care they needed. I live with that horror, and my role in it, every day.

The causes of the American Revolution revolve around one central issue: taxation. I will also focus on some other issues though. This is going to be a very in-depth answer, so I hope you have the patience to stick around.1763You see, before 1763, British administration of the American colonies was very hands-off, and the colonies were allowed large degrees of autonomy, with most state functions (including taxation) being delegated to local assemblies such as the Virginia House of Burgesses.After the end Seven Years War in 1763, the new Prime Minister George Grenville had three major issues to deal with.How to defend Britain’s overseas holdings.How to check the colonists’ unceasing claims on Native American lands.How the fuck are we supposed to get money?The plan for point one was to have British regular troops man a line of forts from Canada to Florida, to protect the colonies from enemies on all sides. While this was ostensibly for the colonists’ protection, the colonists themselves felt like the troops were more of an occupation force. Their thought process was “Well, we just won a war against the French, so the biggest threat to us is gone. Now you station troops in our lands?” The whole thing reeked of despotism, and the colonists didn’t like it one bit.The second point was addressed by George III, who announced the Proclamation Line of 1763, which was a line drawn down the Appalachian Mountains. It restricted the colonists to the east side, and left the western side to the American Indians. Unfortunately, all this really did was stir up resentment for Britain, as land was becoming a rarer and more expensive commodity in the colonies.The third point was the big one. Britain had accumulated over £120,000,000 in debt by the end of the war with the French. Grenville needed to pay for this somehow, so he resolved to raise taxes on the people of the empire. At this point, he did not tax the colonists too hard; he merely thought that they should send more tax back to the mother country than the meager amount they were currently paying in tax to the central government. So the Prime Minister passed the Sugar Act.1764The colonists had been evading the six pence duty on molasses by bribing the agents who were supposed to monitor it with one and a half pence, so they would keep quiet. Grenville thought that by cutting the tax in half, that the colonists would be encouraged to use their money for paying the tax, rather than bribing the agents tasked with collecting it. They were not expecting any sort of pushback whatsoever.They were wrong in this assumption. The formerly lax tax collectors were replaced with incorruptible and diligent agents. This made the bribery (yes, the colonists still planned to do that) nearly impossible, and the colonists were stuck with paying twice what they used to be able to bribe the tax collectors with. On top of this, the Sugar Act reached the colonies during a post-war economic recession. This further angered the colonists who had little money to spare.The colonists began urging Parliament to repeal the Act. Some did so on purely economic terms, but others began arguing that Parliament did not have the right to tax the colonies, because the colonists were not represented in Parliament. The idea that your property should not be unjustly taxed went all the way back to the English Civil Wars. Where property rights existed, there was liberty. Where property rights did not exist, tyranny reigned. The colonists believed that they had the right to not be unfairly taxed, because, after all, they were proud Englishmen.1765Grenville’s ministry didn’t really pay much attention to the opposition, and decided to go ahead with phase two of their revenue plan: the Stamp Act. It was a tax on paper. The paper would be distributed by officials from Britain, and it was required that most printed materials would be printed on the stamped paper. The act was scheduled to take effect November 1, 1765.Opposition to this Act was strong, however, and dissidence rang throughout the Thirteen Colonies. In the Virginia House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry made his first appearance on the revolutionary stage with a vehement speech opposing Parliament’s taxes, and the next day, the Virginia Resolves were passed by the House of Burgesses. They stated, as follows:Resolved, that the first adventurers and settlers of His Majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, and all other His Majesty's subjects since inhabiting in this His Majesty's said colony, all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great Britain.Resolved, that by two royal charters, granted by King James I, the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all liberties, privileges, and immunities of denizens and natural subjects to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and born within the Realm of England.Resolved, that the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, or the easiest method of raising them, and must themselves be affected by every tax laid on the people, is the only security against a burdensome taxation, and the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, without which the ancient constitution cannot exist.Resolved, that His Majesty's liege people of this his most ancient and loyal colony have without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such laws, respecting their internal policy and taxation, as are derived from their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same has never been forfeited or yielded up, but has been constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great Britain.Resolved, therefor that the General Assembly of this Colony have the only and exclusive Right and Power to lay Taxes and Impositions upon the inhabitants of this Colony and that every Attempt to vest such Power in any person or persons whatsoever other than the General Assembly aforesaid has a manifest Tendency to destroy British as well as American Freedom.The Virginia Resolves (coming from the largest and most influential colony) circulated throughout the colonies during the summer, and many colonies passed similar resolves. The first signs of colonial unity began to show.In Massachusetts, the opposition took a more violent approach. An effigy of a stamp distributor was hanged from a tree, and when a sheriff tried to take it down, he was stopped by an angry mob. That night, a shoemaker led a crowd down to the stamp distributor’s offices by the docks. They smashed the offices to splinters. Then they went down to the distributor’s home, carrying the effigy. They beheaded it in front of the house, and then stamped it into the ground (hahaha, these guys are a riot). They then smashed up the distributor’s house, before retiring for the night.The next day, a delegation from the mob contacted the stamp distributor and said “Why don’t you just resign?” and the distributor said “Yeah, I think that would be good.”In August, the mob reconvened. They managed to get themselves very drunk, and decided to attack the house of the local governor, Thomas Hutchinson. They gave it the same treatment as they did to all the other houses they systematically dismantled. The destruction, however, was highly organized and disciplined. This stoic opposition to a law that wasn’t even going into effect for months shocked and startled the politicians back in Britain.Grenville was replaced by Lord Rockingham as Prime Minister in July, and Rockingham quickly started looking for a way out from under the policies of Grenville. In October, the Stamp Act Congress met in New York City, with delegates from nine of thirteen colonies in attendance. They met to discuss a joint response to both the Sugar and Stamp acts.They concluded that Parliament did not have the right to levy “internal taxes” (taxes to raise revenue), but that they did have the right to levy “external taxes” (taxes to regulate trade). At the same time that the Stamp Act Congress was meeting, the first signs of non-importation were brewing. Non-importation agreements would grow to become a crucial building block of colonial opposition to Britain.Parliament convened in December, but while they wanted to repeal the Stamp Act itself, they also wanted to assert their right to tax the colonies however they saw fit.1766By February, they had reached a decision. They repealed the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act, but they also passed the Declaratory Act. It stated that “[Parliament] ought to have full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.”Only a few colonial leaders really saw what the Declaratory Act foreshadowed. Mostly, celebrations for the repeal of the Stamp Act ran rampant throughout the colonies. In the first major showdown between the colonies and Britain, the colonies had won.1767Back in July of 1766, Rockingham had been dismissed as Prime Minister, and replaced by William Pitt, a strong advocate for the colonies. But Pitt was old, and frequently absent from Parliament. So his divided ministers battled it out for control. The most influential among them was Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend.He used his position to pass what are now called the Townshend Acts. These were actually five interconnected bills, but the most important to the American colonies was the Revenue Act. It stipulated import duties on commodities such as lead, paper, printer ink, glass, and tea. If you recall, the Stamp Act Congress had conceded that Parliament had the authority to levy external taxes for regulating trade: exactly the kinds of taxes stipulated in the Revenue Act. Well, turns out they were just saying that.A Board of Customs was formed to enforce the paying of these taxes, so even more British agents would be running around in the colonies (something the colonists had shown their dislike for). On top of that, the government agents would be paid with the revenue from the duties, rather than by the colonial assemblies. Before, the colonies had been able to exert a degree of influence over the agents, (they were paying them, after all) but not anymore.Charles Townshend himself would not live to see the blowback to his Acts, however, as he died in September 1767. The power vacuum left by his death was filled by some guy who you don’t need to know about because he’s not important. Opposition in the colonies was slow to get started as I mentioned, as everyone was still weary from the opposition to the Stamp Act.Opposition was somewhat muted, as the Stamp Act riots had been exhausting to the colonists and they didn’t have much energy to continue resisting. However, John Dickinson’s Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, which began circulation in December, gave the colonial opposition a second wind. The letters reinforced the idea that Parliament did not have the right to tax the colonists at all, internal or external.1768By February, Samuel Adams had been able to drum up enough support in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to push through a petition to Britain to repeal the Revenue Act. He followed this up with a Circular Letter to the other colonies, urging them to send similar petitions to Parliament.While the news of the Circular Letter was making its way to Britain and back, the Board of Customs launched a series of attacks on John Hancock, both of which backfired. First, they sent an agent onboard one of his ships to search it. He went below deck where his search warrant did not extend; thus, he was thrown off the ship by Hancock, and his actions were upheld by a local court.The second attack was when the Board seized one of his ships and held it on a technicality. When the Navy tried to move the ship out of port, a mob coalesced and managed to stop Hancock’s ship from being taken away. The mob, like the one during the Stamp Act Riots, was disciplined and under control.Back in Britain, news of the Circular Letter finally reached Britain. The new Colonial Secretary had no way of knowing that affairs in Boston had already progressed to organized mob violence. He ordered the governor, Francis Bernard, to order the House of Representatives to rescind the Circular Letter or be dissolved.The House of Representatives voted 92–17 not to rescind. Bernard, in turn, dissolved the House.The merchants of the colonies were starting to get pretty pissed about the new taxes and custom agents, and they began discussing a new non-importation agreement. However, each city was afraid to make the first move, because they feared that if they did, that business would simply move down to the next city who didn’t join the agreement. Non-importation, it seemed, was an all or nothing kind of deal.Massachusetts proposed the first successful non-importation pact on August 1, which was to commence on January 1, 1769. New York and Pennsylvania quickly followed suit, and Rhode Island signed on too, with a little “persuasion-not-a-trade-embargo.”Remember the mob violence that took place over John Hancock’s seized ship? Well, the administration in Boston had called 4000 troops down from Halifax to keep the mob under control. The Massachusetts Assembly tried to reconvene, but were shut down by the governor. An unofficial convention of towns met in Boston a week later, to try to urge the governor to reconsider. It was ineffective however, and on October 1, British soldiers began disembarking onto the docks of Boston.The radicals in Boston decided to cease overt resistance, but there was still resistance. That was evidenced by the fact that the soldiers could find no one willing to rent them lodgings. It took them weeks to get suitable winter quarters in some leased warehouses.1769In Boston, tensions continued to boil between the civilians and the loitering soldiers, who were a constant pain in the neck for the commoner in Boston. They did all the things that soldiers do: get drunk, flirt with the girls, etc. All they did was stir up further resentment among the colonists for the central government in London.In the rest of the colonies, the non-importation agreement adopted last year was expanded to Virginia, and thus the rest of the southern colonies. George Washington (yes, that George Washington) and George Mason helped push the pact through the Virginia House of Burgesses.The Townshend Acts, like the Stamp Act before them, seemed to be becoming more trouble than they were worth.1770In January, George III finally relieved that one guy whose name doesn’t matter of his duties as Prime Minister, and replaced him with Lord North, who had previously been Chancellor of the Exchequer. This guy will be around for a while, so I no longer have to try to stick in awkwardly worded paragraphs about British politics.In Boston, an 11-year-old boy had been shot and killed in February, and a crowd of thousands turned out for his funeral, which was more a show of political force than in memorial to the boy. Over the next few weeks, tensions rose rapidly, with fights between civilians and soldiers a common sight on the street.On March 5, the culmination of months of frustration, anger, and brewing enmity finally took place. The Boston Massacre.A sentry named Hugh White was talking with some of his comrades near the Customs House, when a civilian made a joke about his commanding officer. He punched the guy in the face, and his comrades ran off, leaving him to deal with the mob himself. He backed up against the Customs House with his gun drawn.Captain Preston of the Customs House garrison quickly saw that the situation would not resolve itself, and led his eight soldiers through the crowd. He had them form a semicircle facing the crowd. Guns drawn.For fifteen minutes, taunts, heckling, snowballs, and ice rained down on the soldiers, who were growing more and more jumpy by the moment. Finally, a private at the end of the line was hit, slipped on ice, and when he pulled himself back up, he fired his musket into the crowd.The whole group of soldiers was soon firing into the crowd. 11 men were hit; five died, and six were wounded. The mob fell back, but was only dispersed when Thomas Hutchinson, the acting governor, promised a full inquiry, and Preston and his men were arrested the next morning.John Adams defended the soldiers in court, and he got almost all of the soldiers acquitted with his eloquent defense. A propaganda war was waged between the conservative and radical presses in Boston, each trying to spin the story to suit their own ends.The Townshend Acts were finally repealed in April 1770. However, Parliament opted to leave the duty on tea in effect. This was to keep in place the precedent that Parliament could, should, and would tax the colonists whenever they saw fit. This was a nice impasse, really. The colonists were free of Britain’s incessant money grubbing, and Parliament maintained their right to tax the colonies. This ushered in a period of relative calm.1771Not much to say here. Non-importation ceased, and both sides of the crisis seemed to think that this was the beginning of a return to normalcy.1772Nothing to report until June, when a ship called the Gaspee ran aground while chasing smugglers off the coast of Rhode Island. A mob of patriots quickly boarded the ship, seized it by force, and burned it. This was a sign that hostilities had not yet ceased.Remember when Parliament took the right to pay the governors away from the colonial assemblies? Well, that hadn’t been repealed with the rest of the Townshend Acts, and later that year, Parliament decided to expand this to all the judges in the colonies. The colonists were, of course, enraged at the judiciary becoming a mere puppet of the Crown. Committees of Correspondence were again formed to discuss a response.1773In January, Thomas Hutchinson started off the year by making things ten times worse. He made inflammatory declarations that Parliament’s authority was supreme, that the Committees were completely wrong and should never have convened, and, most significantly of all, he said that “no line can be drawn between the supreme authority of Parliament and total independence of the colonies.”See, he thought that independence was so absurd even to the most radical of radicals that the supreme authority of Parliament would be the only logical option left to them. However, all he did with this statement was legitimize the small independence movements beginning to take shape.In May of 1773, the years of calm in the colonies finally ended, with Parliament passing the Tea Act. This act would allow the floundering British East India Company to import their tea directly into the colonies, totally bypassing the colonial merchants who made their living as middlemen.This shouldn’t have made such a large impact in the colonies, but then again, nothing else that Parliament did should have, so of course it had lots of opposition right off the bat. The greatest fear of the colonists was that this was only the start of other British companies being able to import directly into the colonies. This might be better for the consumer, but long-term, it would destroy the colonial economy, and reduce them to manual laborers harvesting raw materials.Around this time, some secret letters from Thomas Hutchinson and his conservative allies to someone in Britain were leaked by Samuel Adams and one of Benjamin Franklin’s friends. The letters contained explicit recommendations from Hutchinson that certain civil liberties be suspended in the colonies. These letters all but confirmed every conspiracy theorist’s wild theories, which, once regarded as nothing but wild speculation, now seemed like the truth.Opposition to the Tea Act spread through the port cities of the colonies. Spearheaded by John Dickinson, the Philadelphia merchants led a resistance campaign, and convinced the merchants of several major port cities to stop any tea from being unloaded.On November 28, the cargo ship Dartmouth arrived in Boston, carrying assorted cargo. Among that cargo: East India Company tea. They were planning to unload, take on some more cargo, and sail away. The Sons of Liberty, however, were not planning to allow the tea to be unloaded. Giant “public meetings” congregated in Boston daily, with a sole objective of preventing the Dartmouth from offloading its cargo. The mob gave the ship one choice: get the fuck out of here.The poor owner of the Dartmouth had no way of knowing that he wouldn’t be able to unload his tea, however, and so he requested permission from Hutchinson to leave. Hutchinson responded with “no, you haven’t cleared customs yet.” But of course, to do that… the cargo had to be unloaded, and the owner couldn’t exactly do that. So this poor owner is stuck in the middle of the conflict between Hutchinson and the Sons of Liberty, and has no way of getting out.The Sons of Liberty, out of necessity, began considering drastic measures. There was a law stipulating that if a ship spent 20 days in port without paying customs, the ship would be seized and have its cargo unloaded. They couldn’t have that, of course. Just as the Sons were considering their options, two more tea-carrying ships sailed into port.On December 16, a public meeting was convened, where it was decided that the Sons of Liberty would board the ships and dump the tea into the ocean. So, of course, that’s what they did. 90,000 pounds of tea was dumped into Boston Harbor. This would become known as the Boston Tea Party.1774When news of this incident reached Parliament in late January… boy, were they pissed. They summoned Franklin to the Privy Council to defend the actions of his countrymen. They attacked him viciously and tore down his reputation. He stayed silent. After this incident, he swung decisively into the independence camp.In response to the Boston Tea Party, four bills were passed by Parliament between March and May, dubbed the “Coercive Acts” in Britain, but which were called the “Intolerable Acts” in the colonies.Boston Port Act: Trade in Boston was blockaded, and nothing but a few necessary commodities were allowed into the city. The blockade would remain in effect until the East India Company was reimbursed for the lost tea.Massachusetts Government Act: Massachusetts’ charter was taken away and the colony was placed under direct control of the British crown. Nearly all administrative posts would be appointed by the governor, Parliament, or the King.Administration of Justice Act: Royal officials accused of crimes could be tried in Britain if the governor ordered, and not by the local colonial courts.Quartering Act: The governor was given the authority to order civilians to house soldiers in their residence if suitable quarters could not be found.There was also another bill, technically separate but often lumped in with the previous four bills: the Quebec Act. This act extended the province of Quebec southwest down the Proclamation Line, and it cut off the colonies’ ability to expand further west.The colonists began to debate what they should do in response. There was divisive debate, but conservatives and radicals alike thought that representatives from all the colonies should meet and discuss a joint response.The First Continental Congress convened on September 5. 56 delegates from twelve colonies (not Georgia, they actually wanted British troops to help with an uprising) met at Carpenter Hall at Philadelphia. While they deliberated, meetings of the Committees of Correspondence in Boston passed the Suffolk Resolves on September 9. These resolves:Urged the citizens to boycott British goodsEncouraged the citizens to ignore the new taxes altogetherSuggested that the colonists acquaint themselves with the local militias, and be seen under arms at least once per week.The Resolves were endorsed by the Congress on September 17, which basically guaranteed that the radicals would be steering the ship from this point forward. The Massachusetts delegation felt secure enough in their position to propose a new step in opposing Britain: non-exportation.Debate was heated all through late September and October, but a blanket non-exportation pact was pushed through, with only two exceptions: Virginia would get to ship out its latest tobacco harvest, and rice would be exempted for South Carolina. Non-importation was scheduled to begin December 1, and non-exportation would begin September 10, 1775.The enforcement of the boycotts would be overseen by the Continental Association, which formed local committees to oversee that no one disobeyed the boycott. These committees would become a crucial part of colonial organization when the war finally broke out in the spring of 1775.The response in Britain was apoplectic, as Lord North began discussing plans for a continental blockade, to prevent the colonies from trading with anyone. Thomas Gage saw how badly the Intolerable Acts had backfired, and sent dispatches to Parliament urging them to repeal the Intolerable Acts. Parliament responded by sending three generals to act as his advisers, because they thought he wasn’t the best man for the job. These three generals, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, would become the leaders of the British side in the coming Revolutionary War.1775On April 18, Joseph Warren received intelligence that British troops were on the move. This was confirmed by another source, and so Warren sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that they were about to be arrested.Revere sent some men to the Old North Church to light a signal, so that there would be a horse for him on the other side of the Charles River. He arrived at Lexington around midnight, and he told Hancock and Adams to run the fuck away, before moving on to Concord with Dawes and another rider, Samuel Prescott.The three were ambushed by a British cavalry patrol on the road to Concord. Prescott and Dawes escaped, Prescott managing to ride on to Concord. Revere was captured, and told the British troops exactly who he was, what he was doing, and also that five hundred militiamen were massing in Lexington. (That was bullshit.)The British led Revere back to Lexington to test his bluff, but as they approached, they heard gunshots. They ran to inform the main British force that an army of militiamen was massing in Lexington.Revere raced back to Adams’ and Hancock’s house to check that they had gotten safely away, but was shocked to find that they were still just sitting around. With some more urging, they finally decided to leave, and were able to evade capture when the redcoats arrived in force the next day.The next day, the British regulars arrived in Lexington, and they had an intense staring contest with the militiamen. The commanding officer of the redcoats ordered the militiamen to disperse, and after a few seconds, they did.And then, someone fired a shot.No one knows who, and no one knows why.But one thing was for sure: The American Revolution was on.

How can I reduce taxes?The first way to reduce taxes is to reduce your income. And the best way to reduce your income is to contribute to a 401 (k) or similar work plan. Your contribution reduces your salary and your tax bill. You can also reduce your adjusted gross income through various income adjustments.How can I avoid paying income tax legally in India?A reduced tax bill is at your fingertipsThen you want to pay less taxes in 2019. Who does not? The good news is that there are ways to reduce the amount of money you send to the IRS, legally, without charge of tax evasion. In fact, you can take many steps to reduce your federal and state tax bills. And the sooner you start, the more you can do to reduce the taxes you owe.1. Use your limit of Rs 1.5 lakh under section 80CThe investments/deductions mentioned below are subject to a maximum limit of 1.5 lakh Rs. In other words, it involves investments and one investment will reduce the space for another:1. Tax savings devices: You can obtain a tax deduction of up to 1.5 INR for a 5 year FD with fiscal efficiency. He carries a fixed interest rate currently between 7-8%. Interest in these FDs is subject to taxes2. PPF (Public Pension Fund): The Public Pension Fund is a savings plan established by the government with a term of 15 years available in most banks and post offices in India. Its rate changes every quarter but is currently 8%. Interest in PPF is tax-free.3. ELSS funds: they are mutual funds that invest a minimum of 80% of their assets in shares. They have a lock-in of 3 years. Returns on ELSS funds are subject to long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) at 10%, above a deductible limit of Rs 1 lakh.4. NSC (National Savings Certificate): a national savings certificate is valid for 5 years and has a fixed interest rate. The rate is currently 8%. Interests in NSC also automatically accumulate within the 1.5 lakh 80 ° R limit and are tax deductible if no other investment uses the upper limit.5. Life insurance premiums: premiums for different types of insurance policies, including universal life insurance policies (ULIP), term insurance policies and endowment funds policies, are tax deductible up to 1.5 Rs. However, the insurance coverage must be at least 10 times higher than the annual premium.6. National Pension System (NPS): this deduction is available under Section 80CCD up to 1.5 lakh for contributions to the NPS. This amount is in addition to the 50,000 rupee deduction in Section 80CCD (1B) described below.7. Mortgage loan repayment: the repayment of the capital of the mortgage is tax deductible up to 1.5 Rs per year.8. Payment of tuition fees: the payment of tuition fees for your children is tax deductible up to 1.5 Rs per year.9. EPF: Under the EPF Law. 12% of the remuneration of employees in the organized sector is deducted from the Employees' Provident Fund. This deduction counts towards the limit of Rs 1.5 lakh under section 80C.10. Savings plan for seniors: contributions to the SCSS are tax deductible up to 1.5 lakh. SCSS has a term of 5 years and is available for people over 60 years of age. The rate for SCSS is higher than the current rate in Mexico City and is currently 8.7% (subject to taxes).11.Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: this deduction is given to parents of girls under 10 years of age. This account is for 21 years or until the girl marries after turning 18. It subscribes interest at the current rates (currently, 8.5%) and is free of taxes.2) Contribute to the national pension system.Under Article 80CCD (1B), this deduction up to 50,000 rupees is available only for NPS contributions. The NPS allows you to invest in pension funds in capital and debt and build up a body of pension. You can withdraw it at 60 years old.3) Pay health insurance premiumsA deduction of up to Rs 25,000 is available for health insurance premiums under Section 80D. This goes beyond the deductions mentioned above. For the elderly, this limit increases to 50,000 rupees. A person who contributes to health insurance for himself and his elderly parents can benefit from the combined deduction of up to Rs 75,000 per year.4) Get a deduction on your rentYou can claim the tax deduction on your Rental Housing Allowance (HRA) if you receive an HRA. There is no upper limit for this, but there is a set of rules that limit the maximum deduction of HRA. If you do not receive an HRA but pay the rent, you can claim a deduction under Article 80GG up to Rs 60,000 a year.5) Get a deduction on the interest on your mortgageIf you have a mortgage, the interest payable is tax deductible in accordance with Section 24 of the Income Tax Act, up to 2,000 lakh per year. If you deliver the house for rent, there is no upper limit. However, the total loss that can be claimed in the larger-income head of household is limited to 2,000,000 rupees.6) Keep money in your savings accountThis is probably the easiest deduction to claim under the Income Tax Act. Interest on savings accounts is tax-free up to Rs. 10,000 per year, in accordance with Section 80TTA. This limit is 50,000 rupees for seniors, both for the FD and for savings account interests under Section 80TTB.7) Contribute to charity.You can get a tax deduction on your charitable donations. There is no upper limit, but different rules limit the amount of tax deduction available in your charitable contributions. For most donations to NGOs, the limit is 50% of donations and 10% of adjusted total income. NGOs in this section must have an 80G certificate to qualify for this deduction.To help you reduce your tax bill in 2019, here are 18 steps to take into account.1. Contribute as much as you can to retirement accountsDo you want to prepare for the future while reducing your tax bill at the same time? Contribute to retirement accounts with tax benefits, such as a 401 (k) and an IRA.Unless you opt for a Roth account, you can deduct your contributions in the year of your creation. This allows you to deduct a large sum of money. You can contribute up to $ 19,000 to a 401 (k) and up to $ 6,000 to an IRA in 2019. You can also make additional recovery contributions of $ 6,000 to a 401 (K) and 1,000 USD to an IRA if you have more than 50 years.Everyone can contribute to a 401 (k). If neither you nor your spouse has a workplace pension plan, everyone can also contribute to an IRA. If one of you has a plan at work, contributions are phased out at higher income levels.If you can maximize your 401 (k) and IRA, you can reduce your taxable income by 25,000 USD or 32,000 USD if you have more than 50. If you are in the 24% tax bracket, you save up to $ 6,000 or $ 7,680 if it also maximizes up-to-date contributions. That's a lot of tax savings.2. Take advantage of the collection for tax losses.If you lose investments, their sale allows you to recover your losses to offset the tax on investment income or to reduce your taxable income up to $ 3,000.This strategy can be particularly beneficial if your income needs to be higher than normal and you want to avoid being pushed to a higher tax level, or if you are going to sell investments that you will have to pay in the short term. gains in.3. Get or keep your health insurance.In 2019, the mandate of Obamacare was revoked at the federal level. This means that you will no longer pay a tax penalty to the federal government if you do not have health insurance. But that does not mean that you are necessarily stuck. Many states have imposed sanctions in 2019, most of which take the form of a tax if you do not maintain eligible health insurance coverage.The last thing you want is to pay a higher tax bill because you did not have health insurance to protect yourself and your loved ones. Therefore, check the rules of your state to find out if a fine is in effect. Or even better, just buy health insurance because you can benefit from a cover that can save you a huge financial disaster if you get sick or feel injured.4. Invest in an HSA, if eligibleSpeaking of health insurance, if you have a health insurance plan with a high deductible, you may be able to invest in health savings account in 2019. If you can, you should definitely take advantage of it.If you have self-service coverage, you must be eligible to invest in an HSA if you have a deductible of at least $ 1,350. If you have family coverage, you may qualify if your deductible is at least $ 2,700. If you are allowed to contribute, you can invest up to $ 3,500 in individual policies or $ 7,000 if you have family coverage.When you put money into an HSA, you invest the funds in dollars before taxes. That means you could reduce your taxable income by $ 3,500 or $ 7,000 if you maximize your contributions. You can then get this money tax-free to cover the costs of medical care. This gives you a huge tax advantage because deposits and withdrawals are tax-free. And, if you do not use the funds for health care, you also have the option to withdraw money after age 65 and pay taxes on distributions as ordinary income without paying any taxes. 'fine.HSAs are an excellent tool for investing in your future. There is, therefore, no reason not to invest money if you are eligible.5. Keep track of your medical billsIf you incur significant medical expenses, you may be able to deduct the funds you have spent.In 2019, you can deduct unreimbursed medical expenses only if they exceed 10% of your income, compared to 7.5% in 2017 and 2018. You must detail to claim this deduction, which makes no sense for you. many taxpayers to the big standard deduction.Even in this case, you must keep the invoices you incur throughout the year. If your costs are high enough to meet the deductibility threshold, you want to be able to take advantage of the tax savings to offset some of your big expenses.6. Save for college for the children of your lifeIf you have a child, saving for college in 529 is a no-brainer. However, even if you do not have your own child, you can open a 529 plan for other children in your life, including grandchildren, nephews and nieces, and even friends. He could even open a 529 to save for his own tuition if he plans to return to college.Contributions to 529 accounts are not tax deductible at the federal level, although the funds invested have tax-free growth. But depending on where you live, you can deduct 529 contributions from your taxes. In fact, more than 30 states, as well as Washington DC, allow deductions or credits for 529 contributions.Reducing your state's tax bill may be more important than ever thanks to the new federal limits on national and local tax deductibility that came into effect in 2018. You could previously deduct all taxes that you paid to your state from your federal tax. . taxable income, you are now capped at $ 10,000. This new cap is called the SALT cap (national and local taxes).Anything you can do to reduce your state's taxes below this threshold is useful because you do not want to pay federal taxes on the money you have paid to your state.7. Put money into flexible spending plansIf your employer offers flexible spending accounts, you should probably take advantage of it.You can make contributions to an RTA with pre-tax funds to pay eligible reimbursable medical expenses. You may also be able to register for an FSA for dependents to pay for services such as babysitting or caring for a disabled relative.It is important to know the rules regarding FSA contributions. You will usually have to register for an FSA when you register with your employer, and many plans are structured. Therefore, if you do not spend your dues, you lose them. Nevertheless, if you know that you are going to have to pay for medical expenses or care expenses for your dependent, you should strongly consider investing money in the FSA in order to reduce your taxable income and effectively reduce the cost of these expenses.8. Group your deductible expensesMany tax deductions - such as deduction for medical expenses, charitable contributions and mortgage interest - are only available if you specify them. And, as mentioned above, the standard deduction is large in 2019. Unless your detailed deductions exceed $ 12,200 for singles; $ 24,400 for the joint marital deposit; $ 18,350 per head of household; or $ 12,200 for the classification of married spouses separately, the detail does not make sense.But, there may be a way to preserve these detailed inferences by grouping them together. Basically, this would involve making deductible payments or contributions over two years in a taxation year. For example, if you make an annual donation of $ 10,000 to a charity, try to donate $ 10,000 for 2019 throughout the year and make your total donation of $ 10,000 for 2020 in December 2019. This means that you now have $ 20,000 in deductions for one year. logical to detail when it was not the case before.Obviously, this is a simplistic example. However, if you want to group deductible expenses, you need cash to make it possible. Nevertheless, if you do, you could potentially realize more tax savings than through the standard deduction.9. Deduct each business expense to which you are entitledBusiness owners can ask for many different deductions, but many people are reluctant to take advantage of it for fear of being audited. In particular, people are afraid to take the home deduction. If you are legitimately entitled to a deduction, you should never be afraid to claim it. Just make sure you know the rules of the IRS and be able to prove that you are in compliance.You can also try to classify your expenses as professional expenses as much as possible. Want to take a vacation to Vegas for a few days? Try to plan your trip to attend a conference while you are there so you can deduct the costs. Again, make sure you know the rules - and that the trip is a legitimate business trip - to avoid trouble.10. Continue your studiesDid you know that you can deduct up to 20% of the first $ 10,000 in eligible education expenses incurred each year, even if you are not actively working to earn a degree? That's right - you can apply for a lifetime apprenticeship credit, provided your income is not too high. This credit could reach a maximum of $ 2,000 and the number of years during which you can claim it is unlimited.This means that taking classes can help you lower your tax bill while gaining valuable new skills that open up career opportunities. So why not learn something new in 2019 by paying a little less to the IRS.11. Contribute to charityCharitable donations are tax-deductible if you detail them, so consider making generous contributions in 2019.You can take a deduction for both cash contributions and valuables. Just make sure you can document the contributions you make and not inflate the value of the items you give. No one is going to believe that your bag of old clothes that you donate to the Salvation Army is really worth $ 10,000, even if you had some really nice shoes on the inside.12. Moving to a lower tax statusThis may seem like a drastic step, but there is a huge difference between state taxes from one place to another. In fact, there are states where you could live where you pay no tax on your income, while others impose a high tax burden.The Tax Foundation provides a classification of state and local tax burdens and, for 2017, the average United States tax burden in the United States as a percentage of government revenue was 9.9%. However, in the state with the heaviest burden - New York - the state / local tax burden was 12.7%. By comparison, Alaska had the lowest burden at 6.5%, while six other states had a tax burden of less than 8%.If you have some flexibility about where you work - or your retirement - opt for a state in which you pay much less of your income in taxes could help you keep a lot more. This is all the truer as, as mentioned above, all your state and local taxes can no longer be deducted from your federal return through the SALT cap.13. Buy a houseAlthough buying a home is an important decision, it is a choice that could help you reduce your tax bill.Indeed, you can deduct the mortgage interest as well as the property taxes that you pay (within the limit of the SALT ceiling). If you buy a house in 2019, you can deduct all interest paid on mortgages up to $ 750,000. In addition, interest on equity loans or lines of credit may also be deductible if you use the funds to acquire or improve your home.Remember that to qualify for the mortgage interest deduction, you must detail your taxes. If you are claiming the standard deduction, buying a home could still be a good investment, but it will not have the same effect of lowering your federal tax bill.14. Improve the energy efficiency of your homeDid you know that you can actually get a tax break to make your home more energy efficient? Indeed, a multitude of residential energy tax credits available to homeowners in 2019 could save you a fortune.Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credits are available for the installation of solar energy in your home, as well as for the installation of solar water heaters. You can also apply for credit for wind turbines, renewable fuel cells used to produce electricity for a home, and geothermal heat pumps. The credit equals 30% of the cost of your renovation project. There is no maximum limit to the amount of credit you can claim unless you request it for fuel cells. You can even claim this credit for improvements to primary and secondary residences.When my husband and I installed solar panels on our home a few years ago, we got a credit of about $ 9,000 for the panels we paid in cash for. Remember that credit is equivalent to a reduction of one dollar in two of the taxes you owe.15. Appeal your property taxesUsing your property taxes is a great way to reduce your local tax bill, especially since the National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates that 30% to 60% of taxable property in the United States has been overvalued.When you use your property taxes, you challenge the value of your home, which is used to determine the amount of taxes you owe. If you can prove, through an assessment or comparable sales, that your home has been overrated, you can reduce your local tax bill by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.Usually, this process is quite simple and simply consists of filing documents and perhaps attending a hearing. With the new SALT deduction ceiling, it's definitely worth the effort to reduce the local taxes you owe.16. have a babyThat's right - children enjoy many tax benefits!While this is certainly not a good enough reason to add another child to your family, you need to know all the federal tax benefits you get for your enjoyment. These include the child tax credit, which has doubled in tax reform to $ 2,000 per child under age 17 and qualifies (of which $ 1,400 is refundable).Having a child can also make you eligible for a higher income earned income tax deduction than the one you are single, and give you the right to claim the status of head of household instead of single status ( provided you meet the requirements support your child).When you have a child in a taxation year, even if you give birth on December 31, you are considered a parent all year for tax purposes. So you have plenty of time to add a new member to your family and claim all the credits that come with it in 2019.17. Get help from a tax expert or use the right software toolsDoing your taxes can be complicated, and if you try to do everything yourself, there is a good chance that you are missing credits and deductions to which you are entitled.The software is designed to help you recover these credits and deductions by asking you simple questions about your life. And, for most people, finding high-quality tax software to use should be enough to ensure you reduce your taxes as much as possible.Sometimes, however, nothing can replace professional help. If you have had big changes in your life in 2019, if you have started a profitable business or if you have made a lot of money from different sources, hiring an accountant can be worth the cost to make sure you do not pay more IRS.18. Deferred income if you earn less next yearFinally, if you think that you will earn a lot this year and think that your income will be smaller next year, try to divert as much income as possible until later. This could mean asking your boss to delay the payment of a bonus after January 1, 2020, or to delay billing some of your customers until the New Year.Reducing your tax bill takes effort, but it's worth itWhile it is unlikely that you can take all of these steps to reduce your tax bill, taking as much as possible is smart financial planning. If you can get help from the government to create wealth by buying a house or investing for your future, there is no reason not to take advantage of these opportunities.