Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Virginia proposes burial tax break for cremated remains blasted into space

Buy a ticket to space, get a tax break. That's the latest pitch from Virginia, which is trying to bolster its commercial space industry.

But there's a catch. To get the ticket -- and the tax break -- passengers have to be dead. And their remains reduced to ashes.

Legislation introduced by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, would provide a state tax credit of up to $8,000 to those who agree to have their cremated remains loaded onto a rocket and blasted into space.

The bill, which goes before the General Assembly in January, is intended to help Gov. Bob McDonnell realize his goal of making Virginia "the number one commercial space flight facility in the nation."

Virginia's commercial space industry is already worth $7.6 billion in annual economic output and created 28,000 jobs, according to McDonnell. The state ranks third in orbital launch capacity, behind only Florida and California, according to a recent report commissioned by the state.

Kilgore's bill would try to bolster that industry even more, even if it is just a small section of it.

Read more here: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/vir ... ak/1990791

No, I want my body burned and the ashes cast into a strong wind or into the sea. Either way if I die on this planet then this planet shall be my tomb as well.

thekinetic wrote:No, I want my body burned and the ashes cast into a strong wind or into the sea. Either way if I die on this planet then this planet shall be my tomb as well.

I was under the impression that ashes sent into space just do a couple orbits and then fall back, getting further incinerated (and, consequently, winding up back where they started).

Diomed wrote:

thekinetic wrote:No, I want my body burned and the ashes cast into a strong wind or into the sea. Either way if I die on this planet then this planet shall be my tomb as well.

I was under the impression that ashes sent into space just do a couple orbits and then fall back, getting further incinerated (and, consequently, winding up back where they started).

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What a deal! burned once, then again; and depending upon the life you've lived, perhaps a third time and forever. Tough afterlife, huh?

and that politician got paid to think of crap like this??? That boy ain;t right

VBshooter wrote:and that politician got paid to think of crap like this??? That boy ain;t right

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Terry Kilgore's a good guy, and has a lot of power in the House of Delegates. He's a good ole SW VA boy who isn't given to silly-@ssed stuff. Obviously, he's agreed to carry this bill for someone who wants it done and has something to trade off or is owed a favor. The implication is that it's the Governor. But there's also some powerful democrats who are really behind the Virginia Space Center. That makes the issue fertile ground to accomodate people and accumulate political capital. Unless I miss my guess, Kilgore's probably accumulating brownie points from both sides on this one.

More social engineering and tinkering with the market by manipulation of the tax code.

TenchCoxe wrote:More social engineering and tinkering with the market by manipulation of the tax code.

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Can't argue with that. But politics generate that kind of activity much as horses generate road apples.

TenchCoxe wrote:More social engineering and tinkering with the market by manipulation of the tax code.

How's it social engineering?

All tinkering with the tax code is social engineering. Impose a tax to discourage behavior or activities that you don't like; give a credit or a deduction to encourage behavior or activity that you do.

Mortgage interest deduction? Why? Because "we" think it's good for people to own a home (query whether you actually "own" it if you've got a mortgage on it, but that's another discussion).

Deduction for trucks with a GVWR of 6,000 lbs. or less? Why? Because "we" want to encourage small businesses to invest in new capital and help stimulate the economy, post 9/11.

Tax credit for electric cars? Why? Because "we" want to encourage people to buy the new technology and reduce the use of fossil fuels (big fat query there - again, a totally different discussion).

"We" want you to spend your money on shooting cremated remains into space, so to entice you to do so, we'll dangle a tax credit in front of you.

The revenue code was meant to be and should be about raising the revenue needed to operate legitimate, core government functions. All the tinkering around the edges is pure politics, pandering, and manipulation of the market by manipulating the voters.