cite or even a wag?
The criticism of double taxation has been around for a long time. It is not the province of a few quirky academics; it is very widespread. Hell, I recall discussing it as an accounting undergrad a very long time ago, and it is also prominently mentioned in law school classes focusing on taxation and tax policy.
At any rate, your thesis is incorrect. Opposition to double taxation is a respectable position held by many intelligent, responsible people who study tax policy. It is not a new invention, and it is not a “tactic” created for the sole purpose of pushing through tax legislation. It is a legitimate, longstanding policy criticism.
Great tactic, perhaps, but tactics are supposed to help your long-term strategy, otherwise they are pointless wastes. I would suppose that Bin Laden did not expect the USA to respond so quickly and gain even more power.
My favorite was the work of General William S. Rosencranz during the Civil War. Assigned to take the Confederacy’s northern sections after Grant had gone east, he used a mounted infantry group with repeating rifles to rapidly take and hold a critical mountain road until reinforcments arrived. He conducted a super-fast campaign which forced the Rebs out of Southern Kentucky, Knoxville, and kept them from ever threatening Nashville again.
Unfortunately, he apparently had a nervous breakdown at a key juncture, unable to focus properly. The Rebs turned around and fought back and seriously wounded the US at Chattanooga, at the battle of XXXXX.
Ok, for some reason I can’t quite recall the name, though I’m sure I will tommorow. Its very wierd since I also live an hour from that spot and have visited it.
IIRC, it was Alkibiades who came up with the idea of catapulting pots filled with poisonous snakes onto the decks of enemy ships. They’d whirl through the air, slam onto the deck, break open, and Ssssssss!
I always thought that was inspired.
.:Nichol:.
Just to cover all the bases, we should include Odysseuss’s Trojan Horse, though it may have been fictional.
Pssst. AmWaG–magiver already beat you to it. But that’s okay, because it was the one I popped in to post too, and was bummed that it was already taken.
I’d also add Cleopatra’s alleged “smuggled into Caesar’s rooms wrapped up in a rug gig”. I know everyone’s focusing pretty much on military tactics, but this story always impressed me. Bold, daring, and sucessful.
Daoloth- he was Alvin York. A good movie was made from his life story. I’m unsure of the title, but I think it was “Sgt. York”, starring Gary Cooper.
$#@%&! Damn him and his swiss army knife!
Or, better yet, Republicans continuing to blame everything wrong with the economy on the Democrats even when they are getting practically everything they want in terms of economic policy.
I don’t really buy this. I agree that one can complain about specific cases on their merits, e.g., one can argue that taxing the corporate earnings and then taxing again people’s income from dividends creates too high a total rate…or that it is better to tax at one place than the other.
But, the popularization of the idea that so-called “double taxation” is fundamentally unfair just on the principle of it seems to be a new tactic that was introduced in regards to the estate tax and used so successfully there that it was then carried over to the dividends debate.
Then you clearly haven’t been exposed to much tax policy debate. The problem of double taxation of dividends has been a principal topic of discussion in the tax policy world for a long, long time. I was an undergrad over a decade ago, and it certainly wasn’t a new issue when I was exposed to it.
Sports: One Stockholm baseball team once started a very important game against their closest competitors with their star player on the bench at the beginning of it. A clear case of one upmanship.