...Wesley Snipes

Finally he started his three year prison sentence after years of appeals! The 48 year old actor began his sentence at a federal prison in Pennsylvania on Thursday for failure to file income tax returns. Allegedly he said he was told he did not have to pay taxes because of something with black men..not having to pay taxes...because they were black...? Sort of like reparations or something like that. That is what happens when you get your taxes done by the Nation of Islam. He earned a reported $13.8 million from 1999 to 2001 and failed to pay the $2.7 million he owed. I would like to not that most of that was post Bush Tax Cut time, imagine how much he would owe without it! Any who he was originally convicted like 2-3 years ago but tried he best to appeal and failed many times. I am giving this a Digit Up because everyone knows that no matter what you do, you never mess with the U.S. Government and their money or you will go to jail for sure!

...Online Taxes

With more than 80% of Americans shopping online it is no surprise that the government wants in. How? Taxes! The government wants to tax what you but online. It sounds simple, and I think people would go for it, we pay taxes on the things we buy anyway, in most states anyway. But there is some legal stuff that could complicate all of this. No matter what you are supposed to pay taxes for what you buy online, even if the company does not take them automatically. You are literally supposed to pay the taxes on your own! Send them to the IRS with a bill and a letter, odd. The popular site Amazon.com doe not collect taxes on their merchandise unless they are selling to someone within their state. Now there is a so called "Amazon Law" that would require others to pay an out of state sales tax on the merchandise they buy online.

• The Alabama Department of Revenue is sending letters to random taxpayers, telling them to review their last three years of online purchases and send in a check.

• In February, Colorado enacted the so-called Amazon law, declaring that online retailers were part of an “economic nexus” with state residents. Under the law — which has been challenged in federal court - Amazon and other online retailers are required to calculate the sales tax on every transaction and tell their customers how much they have to pay the state. They’re also required to disclose the identities of their customers and how much they spent, which has set off a fierce dispute over Coloradans’ privacy rights. Amazon says the law was enacted “over our strong objections.” Three other states have enacted laws like the Colorado statute since

• 2008: New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina. And at least a dozen more are considering following their example.

I totally understand the need for this, especially with the economy the way it is and with an expected $8.6 billion in uncollected online taxes this year why the government would want to do this so either way I am okay. I will give this a Digit Down only because I do not want to have to pay the taxes, especially if they apply to a site like ebay...oy vey.