Heading In The Right Direction

According to this analysis, the effective tax burden has come down slightly since the Bush administration took over, from 32.8% of income to 32.1%.

This pushes the symbolic Tax Freedom Day up by four days. Under this concept, every dime we earn from January 1 through April 27 is for the benefit of our masters in government. After that date, the money is ours to keep. There is still a very long way to go; but we need to prevent any backsliding, as Gephardt, Daschole, and the rest of the Dims are trying to achieve.

KMK

A Fool & His Money Are Soon Parted

As hard as I try, I just can’t work up any sympathy for the idiots who lose money in the Nigerian bank scheme. This scam has been around for well over at least 15 years because I can remember receiving it in the mail back in my Fremont, CA office. It pops up in my email at least once a week nowadays and looks exactly the same.

There have been countless news stories, including a 60 Minutes piece, on this fraud over the past dozen plus years; so nobody can claim they weren’t warned about it. People stupid enough to fall for this just shouldn’t be trusted with money or with sharp objects.

KMK

Who Are the Evil Rich?

Larry Elder has a good commentary about the recent articles detailing how much of the tax burden is paid by the evil rich portion of the USA populace. He does a good job contrasting this recent disclosure with the normally anti-taxpayer pro-big government media.

As he mentions, it always fries me when I hear or read a news story that implies that something is free because the Federal government is paying for it. That’s very common with local road work. In my mind, I can’t help translating that to mean, “the IRS will be taking more money form the achievers and redistributing it.”

Elder also makes a good point of how out of touch people are with the economics of our society. When asked how much income it takes to be among the top one percent in this country, most people guess in the million dollar range, missing the actual figure of $293,415 by a long ways.

The commonly held stereotype of the evil rich being those like Donald Trump needs to be debunked. Those in the cross-hairs of the spendaholic rulers in DC are more average than the high profile rich folk. An annual income of $120,846 puts you in the top five percent, and $74,981 ranks a person in the top ten percent. I’d bet that Trump’s maid earns more than that.

KMK

Are You Willing To Sacrifice Your Privacy?

One of the things that keeps many people out of public office is the tradition of having candidates reveal their personal finances. In some states, it’s mandatory, while in others, it’s more of a voluntary action to prove that you have nothing to hide. It looks like the GOP candidate for governor in the PRC, Bill Simon, is now coming face to face with that reality and is resisting the invasion of his privacy.

My guess is that, even though he is not legally required to make his income tax returns public, he will be forced to do so by public and media pressure. He will then be pilloried for taking advantage of the laws to minimize his taxes.

My advice for Mr. Simon? He should do what loan applicants do, when they need to show a substantial income in order to qualify. He can send IRS & FTB tax returns where he goes light on the deductions. Then, after the election, he can file an amended tax return and get his tax money back, plus six percent interest. Filing tax returns is a legally private matter; so nobody will know if an amended tax return is filed, unless the taxpayer voluntarily discloses that fact. Those of you who know Mr. Simon personally, please pass this on to him.

KMK

Taxes More Important Than Rights

For decades, I have been trying to convince as many people as possible, including our rulers in DC, that meaningful tax reform could be accomplished quite easily. All that needs to be done is have the President issue an Executive Order that the rights specified in the US Constitution shall apply to everyone in matters related to taxes.

For decades, because money for the imperial Federal government has been ruled time and gain more important than anything, all of the civil rights and protections that are supposed to be afforded to us are null and void. It is not an exaggeration to say that a mass murderer has more rights than someone who is accused of underpaying his taxes. Here is a good summary of the violations of our rights in the name of money for government from the Cato Institute. I encourage everyone during this election season to force the incumbents and candidates to address this serious violation of the sprit of our founding fathers.

KMK

Any Question What the JackAss Party Stands For?

Little Tommy Daschole has done a great service for everyone by explicitly coming out and demanding that taxes be raised and the temporary tax cut plan not be made permanent. This kind of blunt statement should make the decision in November much easier. If you want higher taxes, vote for a candidate from the party symbolized by the JackAss. If you want lower taxes, vote for a member of either the party symbolized by the Statue of Liberty or the Elephant. If you vote for the JackAss, you have no right to complain about your taxes.

KMK

More IRS Propaganda

Now the Washington Post does its duty to help rile the public up to give the IRS more money to hire more auditors to catch those evil rich people who are cheating on their taxes. This claim that poorer people are being audited more often than rich people is fraudulent reporting. They are including so-called “correspondence audits” in the mix. Getting a letter from IRS stating that you forgot to report interest from a bank account is not the same thing as a face to face audit.

I don’t mean to be condescending; but poorer people are generally more likely to be less sophisticated about their finances and more likely to make mistakes when preparing their tax returns, such as accidentally forgetting to report a small amount of interest income. To equate receiving a letter from IRS about that with someone who has to assemble boxes and boxes of records and hire expensive CPAs and/or attorneys to fight IRS is completely bogus.

KMK

Dave Barry’s Tax News

According to Dave Barry, we will soon have to also file a shadow tax return in order to finance the new shadow Federal government.

Another big change: Taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions may now file their tax returns via Etch A Sketch. This is part of the IRS’s new modernization program.

KMK

That’s Why We Have Rulers In DC

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all given a chance to keep our tax dollars and spend them the way in which we felt best instead of allowing the elected geniuses in DC to make those decisions? That’s just not how it works. These anti-war activists are playing with fire in refusing to send in their taxes. I’m sure we could all think of several programs that we don’t want supported by our tax dollars. We can’t just refuse to pay our taxes. We have to select rulers who will spend according to our wishes.

KMK

Tax Simplification – Not

If anyone needs a reminder of what a mess our rulers in DC have created, here’s an interesting summary.

It includes a point I was making with a client yesterday. If anyone gripes about how long it takes their tax pro to prepare their tax return, just take a look at the official time that IRS itself says a tax return should take, as shown in their instruction booklets. For a 1040, IRS claims the average person should expect to spend 28 hours. Paying a CPA for two or three hours of time doesn’t look so bad now, does it?

KMK