Gotta Run
But I just wanted to point out two online transactions I made:
1) I got conned by an IRS-affiliated payment center into thinking I was filing a New York state extension with them as well. It wasn't that they overtly stated that--but they help you file a federal extension and then "offer" to send you to the New York State one, where they don't clearly and prominently (at least if you're in a hurry) tell you that you will still need to file through the New York State tax department website and that New York State, unlike the federal government, hasn't yet privatized the business of sending money to the government. Above and beyond my queasiness and, well, outrage, at the federal privatization of payment of taxes, I think this is unscrupulous, to say the least.
The company is Pay1040.com and their official partner is H&R Block.
2) My bank has a program to send some portion of whatever you spend using the debit/credit program to a school. When I signed up for the program, it was directed to the NYC school near where I was living at the time. At some point, they decided it was okay to switch to the extremely well-funded school district that I grew up in because my billing address is as such. This was annoying.
I finally switched it, but New York has so many schools, that I had to basically pick one randomly that's in a fairly working-class / low-income neighborhood (Ozone Park, Queens). I was considering sending to some random-ass school in Mississippi or elsewhere where they really need the money, but given that I didn't have enough info for even the decision about New York, I figured I probably wouldn't about Mississippi either.
Public education is a basic service and, really, a basic right, to the extent that global society can afford it. I would like to be able to live in a world in which my bank and its customers are not making these choices about resource allocation--even if it's a small degree. I would also like to live in a world in which I could give to the school of my choice in Calcutta or Dakar or elsewhere, rather than only U.S.-based schools. But, such as it is, I pick to send the miniscule amounts of money that will accrue from this to a place in New York or Mississippie, and meanwhile the bank is the one that acrrues the real benefits-- public relations.
I should really get a credit union account or something. I would open an account at the UNITE-HERE-owned bank (yes, they own a bank), but I've heard it operates like East German institutions in its insanity and bureaucracy. And who cares about UNITE!
1) I got conned by an IRS-affiliated payment center into thinking I was filing a New York state extension with them as well. It wasn't that they overtly stated that--but they help you file a federal extension and then "offer" to send you to the New York State one, where they don't clearly and prominently (at least if you're in a hurry) tell you that you will still need to file through the New York State tax department website and that New York State, unlike the federal government, hasn't yet privatized the business of sending money to the government. Above and beyond my queasiness and, well, outrage, at the federal privatization of payment of taxes, I think this is unscrupulous, to say the least.
The company is Pay1040.com and their official partner is H&R Block.
2) My bank has a program to send some portion of whatever you spend using the debit/credit program to a school. When I signed up for the program, it was directed to the NYC school near where I was living at the time. At some point, they decided it was okay to switch to the extremely well-funded school district that I grew up in because my billing address is as such. This was annoying.
I finally switched it, but New York has so many schools, that I had to basically pick one randomly that's in a fairly working-class / low-income neighborhood (Ozone Park, Queens). I was considering sending to some random-ass school in Mississippi or elsewhere where they really need the money, but given that I didn't have enough info for even the decision about New York, I figured I probably wouldn't about Mississippi either.
Public education is a basic service and, really, a basic right, to the extent that global society can afford it. I would like to be able to live in a world in which my bank and its customers are not making these choices about resource allocation--even if it's a small degree. I would also like to live in a world in which I could give to the school of my choice in Calcutta or Dakar or elsewhere, rather than only U.S.-based schools. But, such as it is, I pick to send the miniscule amounts of money that will accrue from this to a place in New York or Mississippie, and meanwhile the bank is the one that acrrues the real benefits-- public relations.
I should really get a credit union account or something. I would open an account at the UNITE-HERE-owned bank (yes, they own a bank), but I've heard it operates like East German institutions in its insanity and bureaucracy. And who cares about UNITE!
someone else at 8:27 PM | Direct Link | |
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