Well Put

Since starting in the tax business in the early 1970s, one of my biggest hot button issues has been to educate as many people as possible as to the scam that is called Social Security.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, appeared the following letter to the editor that puts it quite well.

UO Yourself

In your excellent May 22 editorial “A Real Tax Cut,” you, like most commentators on the “lockboxes,” refer to the pieces of paper that go into the lockboxes as “IOUs.”

I believe it would be more accurate to call them “IOMes,” since there is no U there. One branch of the government gives a promise to another branch. No different from my writing a post-dated check to myself.

Milton Friedman

Senior Research Fellow

Hoover Institution

Stanford, Calif.

Give Back Your Refund

The news media have been filled with stories about the IRS plans to send everyone a check for about $300 in the next several months. Unlike the implication in the news stories, this isn’t really free money. It’s merely an advance on the refund that would be received next April when people file their 2001 tax returns. My guess is that those people who bank on large refunds every tax season will be screaming next April when they receive $300 to $600 less. Memories are very short in this country. It will also screw up the penalty calculations for people who pay estimated taxes.

The big government loving liberals are still screaming that the recently passed tax cut is the end of the world. When you encounter one of those folks, give them one of these forms to return their refund to the IRS, provided by Libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz. I’m sure you’ll find that when it comes to their own money, they are no-where near as generous as they are with the money that IRS snatches from other people.

KMK