Tax Day
The news tonight will be full of people lined up to get their taxes in at the last minute. I’m usually sending mine out today, but somehow I screwed up my withholding last year and got a refund. That’s incentive to get it in early. I’ve been pretty successful with TurboTax, despite having a somewhat complicated return.
Out of curiosity, I looked up Tax Freedom Day at the Tax Foundation website this morning. The good news is that Indiana Tax Freedom Day is tomorrow the 16th of April. Last year it was the 13th, so that’s not a good trend. Unfortunately for the Nation, U.S. Tax Freedom Day is 6 days away on the 21st. I probably should sit down and figure out what true Tax Freedom Day is for Becky and I, but it might be depressing. I think taxes would be looked at quite differently if everyone literally had to pay their government obligation for the first part of the year in lieu of having it come out of their paycheck somewhat unseen.
And an interesting comment I heard on the radio today from Jonathan Hoenig. To paraphrase, when President Obama has held press conferences saying, “I’m going to ask you to pay a little bit more…”, the reality is that he’s not asking, he’s telling… Asking implies you have a choice. When the alternate is jail, that’s not much of a choice.
Image Source: Tax Foundation
Own your own Spy in the Sky
Image borrowed from thrillist.com via supercompressor.com
Now you too can spy on your friends and neighbors just like the NSA! Lehmann Aviations LA100 is an automated drone on which you can mount your own GoPro camera for your own aerial photography.
From the Lehmann website: “LA100 – world’s first aircraft designed for users with no piloting background – is now coming in Version2. It is a fully autonomous UAV (drone). Just choose one of the suggested flight paths and altitude in OperationCenter, check drone’s systems via Wi-Fi, connect the battery, launch it, and wait for it to come back to you after 5 minutes of flight (limited for safety purposes). The whole system comes ready to fly without GoPro and tablet.“
You can pick one of their kits up at their website for $990 and be up and flying in no time.
Serving Mankind…
I try to live a good life and serve mankind towards the betterment of all… Unlike Hannibal Lector who preferred to serve mankind with fava beans and a nice chianti…
Shell Building Groundbreaking
I attended the groundbreaking for the new shell building in the Plymouth Industrial Park today. I got to wear multiple hats at this. Both PIDCO and MCEDC are partners in this venture and I sit on both boards. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. is doing the electrical installation for the building. There were a lot of nice words said about the project, but it’s hard to convey how much coordination went into getting all of the groups together on this. Not only PIDCO and MCEDC as listed above, but also the City of Plymouth and the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission had to come to terms on the project. It was a major effort over two years to make this happen. The building is scheduled to be complete early this Fall.
I’m hopeful that this will lead to similar projects throughout Marshall county. I have spoken to Culver about this. Argos could easily pursue this on the new Shovel Ready site they’re developing. The other Marshall County communities should be considering it as well.
For more particulars about the project, check out the MCEDC page on it here.
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MacKenzie Ledley - Executive Director, Pulaski County Public Library