April 2010 Match - Don't Tread On Me

In "Celebration" of the Tax Season, and our government's insatiable need to tax us into the stone age, I thought a little tax theme would be appropriate. The title of this month's match is Don't Tread On Me. The famed Gadsden flag has been used throughout U.S. history as a symbol of independence.

While not specifically an anti-taxation symbol, it has been used most recently by the Tea Party Movement to symbolize the concept of minimal governmental intervention into our daily lives. Pretty appropriate when we are talking taxes. Here is some better historical information about this very familiar symbol:

The Gadsden Flag

Wikipedia Reference

This Month's Match:

You are trying to shoot yourself to a tax credit. Unfortunately since times are tight, the maximum tax credit you can earn is $6.00. Don't worry, the real IRS will be taking plenty out so you don't have to be scared that our government will be losing money by handing out tax credits to us.

Click the link below to download this month's target

 Don't Tread On Me Target

Rules of Engagement:

2 Hands

7 Yards

10 shots total

Only one shot per coin. If you hit a coin twice, it only counts once. If you hit two coins with one shot, you get the higher value. Also, you MUST "sign" your tax return by hitting the IRS symbol. There are no exceptions, so plan your shots wisely.

No signature ... there is a $1.00 penalty. (At least I'm not like the IRS where if you don't sign it is returned AND you get a penalty!) By the way, no signature is the NUMBER ONE error made on tax returns each year. Don't forget to sign your return!

Scoring:

I pulled a bunch of change out of my pocket - much like the government does, and came up with the money to fund the tax credits. I laid it all out on my scanner and - behold - the target was born.

The maximum tax credit you can earn is $6.00. You do this by summing up the coin values. There are pennies ($0.01), nickels ($0.05), dimes ($0.10), quarters ($0.25), and dollars ($1.00). So for us mathematically challenged, the maximum tax credit is obtained by getting all five dollar coins, and all four quarters, and hitting the IRS stamp. Be warned, however, that the IRS will not accept currency from other nations, no matter how friendly. Therefore, if you shoot a euro coin, you must DEDUCT the face value from you total. That's right, if you hit a 10 euro coin you deduct $0.10, and if you hit the 5 euro coin you must deduct $0.05 from your total.

Deadline:
Email a scan or photo of your target to postalmatch@gmail.com by midnight April 30th.

Please, invite your friends to play along. Remember you can enter as many guns in each class as you like. Just make sure you fill out the information for each on each target. The general rules and guidelines can always be found at the bottom of the front page.

Be Safe. Have Fun.
Introduce a friend to shooting.

Gray