Tobacco Tax Just the Beginning. More New Federal Taxes Planned.

Hot on the heals of the recent increase of the federal tax on cigarettes, which went from 39¢ to $1.01 per pack, the White House is planning taxes on several other consumer items. Most non-smoking Americans turned a blind eye to the tax increase on cigarettes. It’s easy to have a holier-than-thou attitude when it comes to “sin taxes,” but the next round of taxes will hit those same pious people in the wallet.

The tobacco tax increase was touted as a way to pay for child health care, but the White House discovered that even at $1.01 per pack, the tax base, and therefore the tax revenue, was too small. More popular items were then targeted for federal taxes because there is money in numbers. The consumer items being talked about for the next round of taxes are more mainstream. If the tax increase doesn’t reduce sales, the number being bandied about by the government is $3.8 billion in new revenue.

For all you non-smokers who were so keen on the tobacco tax, I have this question, how do you feel about the proposed taxes on these items? Which one is your sin?

Item	Proposed new tax or increase
Softdrinks	2¢/fl.oz.
Refined Sugar	6¢/lb.
Flour	3¢/lb.
Candy	varies from 1¢ to 3¢
Gasoline	47¢/gal.
Batteries	varies by size 3¢ to 12¢ per cell
Bottled water	0.5¢/fl.oz.

Manufacturers are scrambling to head off these new taxes by petitioning Congress and employing lobbyist. The Coca-Cola Corp. which produces both softdrinks and bottle water, has no less than 30 new lobbyist headed to Capital Hill.

In the end, corporations don’t pay taxes; consumers do. So hang on to your wallets Mr. and Mrs. Middle America. The government is going for the big money in little bits. The White House is hoping you don’t notice a few cents here and there. Plan your budgets accordingly because the plans you had for your tax refund (which is your money to start with) just changed.

Associated Content Tip of the Day: Web Writing Ground Rules

Here’s today’s web writing tip/article. Web Writing: The Ground Rules that Make a Good Web Article
This is what makes a good web article be it for AC, Mashable, or even C-Net magazine.

Web content has rules. Let’s get right to this. The primary rules of web writing are:

Titles must be search-engine friendly
A well-constructed article title in cyberspace means the difference between 10 people stumbling on it and 10,000 people actively finding it. Good titles include key words and key phrases. They have low competition, but still use common terms that the average information seeker would type into a search engine. Don’t use Oryctolagus cuniculus when you can use “rabbit.”

This and at least five more rules for web articles. These are the rules. There are no exceptions. Give it a read.

I Am Not Ellen DeGeneres. Thanks for Asking.

I get it all the time. People are constantly chasing me screaming, “Hey! Hey! Ellen! Hey!” People get discouraged all the time when I turn and it’s me and not Ellen DeGeneres. I don’t know when or why it started, but people always mistake me for Ellen DeGeneres. Maybe it’s the haircut, her’s not mine. Maybe it’s my girlish figure or her manly jib. I honestly don’t know, but I need to make clear that I am not Ellen DeGeneres.

As proof positive, I give you Twitter.com. I’ve been a Twit for a couple of months. I enjoy it. I’m finding fun people. I’m making connections. I’m growing organically and have 165 followers. I’m having a blast, but along comes Ellen. That’s right. She’s shown up at Twitter (theEllenShow), but I refuse to let it start again.

Here is how you can tell us apart.

	theRealBarefoot	theEllenShow	Notes
Following	179	12	Her 12 are the stock Twitter preloads. I picked all mine.
Followers	165	88,872	She only joined yesterday, too.
Updates	860	16	Two of her’s were “I’m about to walk on stage.” I don’t hava a stage.
Location	Sweet home Alabama	Glamorous Hollywood	I’m not sure, but I think her house is slightly larger than mine.
Job	Software jock & part-time writer.	Comedian and talk show host	Not that I’m in her show demographic, but she’s a funny woman.
Internet Persona		Ellen’s video about Twitter	Clearly I’m taller.

 
 
DeGeneres is seen in millions of living rooms each week. I can be seen nightly in my living room by that creepy guy who pushes a shopping cart around the neighborhood unless I catch him again. DeGeneres is a funny, out-spoken woman with a TV show. I’m a funny, out-spoken man who owns a TV. She will probably have 100,000 followers before the weekend. I’ll probably not have 200. I hope your seeing the subtle differences.

Surely, this clarifies that I am not Ellen DeGeneres. We’re not even close in weight. She totally copied my Twitter handle though. The “the” prefix is a dead give-away. Please do not make my Twitter life an extension of my real life by confusing me with Ellen DeGeneres. I’m on the internet to escape this sort of thing.

Thank you.

Associated Content Officially Announces Daily Page View Updates

We enter a new epoch of the Associated Content page view beta era. Over the last two years, AC has steadily decreased the time between page view updates until it is now happening daily. Technically, it’s been happening daily for a couple of weeks now, but in a move very unlike AC, they waited to make the official announcement until they we’re sure they could pull it off.

Here is the message AC sent out Thursday, 5 March 2009:

Associated Content now updates every Content Producer’s estimated page views on a daily basis. This means you’ll have consistently up-to-date information about how your content is performing. This is something our Community has been requesting for a long time, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer it to you.

Keep in mind that these numbers are only estimations until we’ve had a chance to verify them. We verify all page views at the end of the month before processing Performance Payments, and adjust the numbers when necessary. If you have questions about changes made to your page views, please send a message to admin@associatedcontent.com. And if there is an issue that prevents page views from updating daily, we will resolve it as quickly as possible.

We hope you’ll enjoy receiving daily insight into the popularity of the content you publish on AC!

Now you can watch your article’s progress in near-real time. What will you do with this information? Make a graph? Put it in a spreadsheet? (You’d do that with the PV Report Converter, by the way.) Twitter it?

Honestly, I think it’s a nice feature/service. It shows that AC listened and responded to their CP community. I just don’t obsess over page view counts as much as some, I guess. I like that when I do check, I can be confident that I’m seeing yesterday’s numbers. I don’t have to look around for “date of last update” and do math in my head. That’s cool, but it doesn’t make a difference in what or when I’m paid for those views.

So, whether you’re a compulsive count checker or a slacker like me, we can both enjoy the new daily updates. Now if, after two years of having the page view program, AC could just stop calling it a beta, I’d be even happier.