Bolsanaro's administration killed off 1100 activists who attempted to stop the burning of the Amazonian rainforests for animal agricultural use. And it was a LOT of rainforest his administration burned too.

That being said, I don't trust America to do any better when they protect the worst industries on earth who pollute the most. I'd sooner trust China, because at least they're starting to make an honest attempt to try and reverse the damage they're doing, instead of America where it's all lip service to keep the corporations comfortable.

I'm not one to be into politics much, as I'm very liberal and agree with a lot of the things Biden is doing, but I'm not sure of this is one of them.

Well, I'm not sure that all of what the video said is true. This tax is already applied when people use the gig economy and make enough money. It's not like Uber drivers don't report their income to the IRS at all. They still pay this tax - this requirement just makes it easier to get the paperwork, because it is compulsory.

HOWEVER - the issue is with small-timers like me that might only make around $600 or so per year off PayPal. I was going to use that money on my student loans because I thought it was too poultry for the IRS to give a damn. But apparently not. Now if I start getting up into that range, the IRS is going to be like, "huh, wonder what's going on here?" And then they'll see that I don't have an LLC or anything, and they're going to think I've been committing tax fraud or something. I don't want to deal with it, so I'm probably going to bow out. It's not worth the risk. Mark my words, this is going to kill smaller places on storefronts like Etsy.

FFS... guess I'm just going to be paying my student loans until I die and it's someone else's problem, then.

Thanks, Joe. Real champion for the downtrodden, you are.

Yeah, I just don't get how ANY furry can look at this walking trainwreck and think, "This guy knows what he's doing!" It just kind of itches my neck like crazy, like they just don't realize how badly he is fucking us over on the side.

OK, I did some digging, and it looks like this is to keep people from operating under the radar; essentially, if you're working a gig, it should be reported and taxed, regardless of how much you make. I did not know this - I assumed there was a threshold but apparently, there isn't. This legislation only changes the threshold for when the payment platform is obligated to tell the IRS about the money you brought in, which seems to be assumed to be for business activities. But, I'm not sure how, if you sold a laptop on eBay for $600, that counts as "operating a business" or "working a gig."

You need a degree to sort this shit out and I hate it.

But, in all seriousness, this isn't actually Biden's fault. This tax law was already in place, and it is, indeed, pretty stupid. I call it as I see it, and the law to tax gigs was in place this whole time. It's just that people could get away with it a lot more before than they can now. And uh... I have an announcement to make about cutting this out right now because I am not risking the legal trouble over this. It's not worth it.

It really is a shame that you can't so much as draw pictures for a little extra scratch without the government appropriating 1/3 of it. :/

The thing is, it IS Biden/Harris' fault. Because pre-Biden, the threshold was $20,000 a year(which is understandable, even if I don't like taxes). $600 a year is just a blatant money/power grab, period. There is no excuse for going after the common folk like this...

Technically yes, but if you want to break it down, that threshold was only for the platform - the creator was expected to report this on their own, including for cash transactions. They will get into legal trouble if the IRS finds out that they were operating a business like selling paintings without reporting their earnings. The key is, "if the IRS finds out." But, let's be frank - no one's going to do that if they don't have to.

It still doesn't change the fact that I hate it. I still think they're getting a little too generous with the taxes. I understand having regulations in big operations, and stuff like that, and safety regulations, but this isn't the same. It's just... I'm freaking out a little because the IRS is not to be taken lightly. If they think something's up, they'll nail you to the wall. Even if it's a mistake, as would be my case. They don't care if you weren't aware. They'll take you to task either way.

Yeah, I really hope FA wakes up to this, because well, this is a BIG deal for a fandom with 1000s of artists. They can't bury their head with this.

You expected different? The corporate, old crop of democrats don't care about anything but themselves, their corporate interests, and their political funders, yet people bought it...again. (although let's be real here, Biden did NOT win on his own merits, as he has failed MANY times before because he truly has no merits, he instead won because he wasn't Trump, similarly to how Trump won because he wasn't Hillary the previous election) Want my prediction? Biden will continue to ignore his voter base, as they ALL do, until the last year (or possibly just months) of his term, where he'll chuck a few table scraps over and that'll be enough to fool his voters once again. Even better, people say "at least he's not a republican" like that matters (the man leans to the left from his peers by like an inch, every one of them think the same way on most issues, only differing on the stuff that decides votes, and only outliers right now are AOC and Bernie on the far left and Trump on the far right) Only way to fix this is to get out there and vote for the other parties, but since that won't happen, we're stuck with how it is now. (I personally think Jo, NOT Joe, would've been a good fit if she had a real shot)

Yup, I warned people this guy was going to be bad, but people put their heads in the sand. Oh well.

Also, as an environmentalist, I think Jo would have been the worst choice (for third parties anyway).

But yeah, there's a reason I'm moving out of this country. I'm so sick of how toxic and how corporate American culture is. I know there's better out there.

I don't really care too much about the go-green stuff, since it's been turned into yet another addition on the "things that shouldn't be left vs right, but have been politicized to the point of being that way." I think a lot of the ideas of "going green" on the table now are bad (Green New Deal being the best example) but companies also shouldn't just pollute and destroy all the time for their convenience. I'm also for green energy, not because of the environment, but because those natural resources are gonna run out one day, whereas wind and solar won't...well, they won't run out any time soon. I figure if the human race or some spinoff of it lasts 3 billion years when the sun burns up, they should have something figured out by then. I honestly feel if the "go green" crowd spun it that way, they'd cover better ground with their opponents, because you turn it from lovingly-labelled "tree-hugging" to "you're gonna run out of your input item, which means you'll run out of money," which as you know, is talking their language.

I think the main reason the right wing can't be green has to do with their need for "economic freedom", which in reality is a flimsy way of saying, "Conducting business with zero accountability for any damage they do to the environment or people." If you also notice, you don't see right wingers as a group trying to ban plastic bags or stop off shore oil drilling. That being said, the problem with the American "left", is that they're convinced that if they beg the govt hard enough they'll get change. The govt doesn't care. I like what the Green party is doing right now, where they've low key given up on electoralism and are putting emphasis on local/community action. Maybe with that, they'll wake up and see that personal responsibility is better than demanding the sociopathic govt to give a shite.

Wishful thinking, but I don't think the 3rd parties have enough steam yet to make any noticeable changes on a grand scale.

The Internet: 'You silly goose; if you are not a radical Marxist, you are a Trumper!'

It's rather annoying that I have to clarify where I stand so that people don't assume the worst. -_-

By the by, where would you like to move currently?

South America, Turkey, or Taiwan.