Talk in Capital of Easing Taxes on Dividends

Eliminating the double taxation on corporate dividends is long over-due; but let’s not count on this getting through Congress just yet. The perception is still rampant that only evil rich people receive dividends and the media make sure we never forget that tax breaks for the evil rich are themselves more sin-ful than just about anything imaginable.

KMK

Tax Re-Form

As I’ve said before, the term “reform” doesn’t always mean an improvement. As sincere as our rulers in DC may be about wanting to simplify the tax system in this country, their results won’t be any better than after the last 30 or 40 tries.

Besides the fact that there is no consensus as to what form to change the tax system to, it’s no different than on my infamous Tax Legislation-Digestion poster. Tax simplification proposals start off very appetizing and appealing, like an apple pie. However, after making their way though the legislative process, the end results are much the same as an apple pie after making its way through the body’s digestive system. It has been re-formed; but is it better? Our tax system is an irreparable monstrosity that needs to be ended, not mended.

KMK

Not Keeping Up With Real Life

There are several special dates and amounts in the Infernal Revenue Code that were established decades ago and have never been updated for current times. One of them is the age at which people are supposed to start drawing out their tax deferred retirement money and paying normal income taxes on it. Our rulers didn’t like the idea of people holding on to all of their retirement savings and passing away before they can get their hands on a chunk of it. A rule was enacted requiring that people start withdrawing the money by April 1 of the year after they reach 70.5 years old. The minimum amount of money to be taken out each year is based on an actuarial life expectancy, with the goal being that the last penny is removed as you take your very last breath.

The special age of 70.5 was also based on the assumption that most people would stop working at the normal retirement age of 60 or 65. Socking away a lot of income into retirement plans during high tax bracket earning years, and then withdrawing it in low tax bracket retirement years, has long been a very effective tax planning strategy. However, as this article describes, fewer and fewer people are retiring at the magic age of 65 any longer. While not everyone is still earning a paycheck at 98 (as the woman in the article) or 100 (as with Senator Strom Thurmond), many are still employed well past the 70.5 year mark.

In a rare attempt to bring the tax code more into synch with real life, some of our rulers are trying to pass a law allowing a later start date for the mandatory withdrawals from retirement accounts, or even removing the requirement completely. Afraid of the possibility of less tax money, the DemonRats are working hard to defeat this measure.

I hope every senior citizen understands that, contrary to normal propaganda, the JackAss Party is not their savior. I constantly have to remind people that it was the Clinton-Gore team who drastically raised taxes on Social Security recipients in 1993. With life expectancy continuing to increase, why can’t people decide for themselves when to start drawing out their retirement funds?

KMK

LP vs GOP

It has long been a dilemma for those of us who strongly believe in the Constitution; whether to stick it out with one of the big political parties (neither of which fully supports the Constitution), or go with a smaller party that does, even though it is often a hopeless cause. When there are issues on which we can agree, we Libertarians have no problem working alongside the big parties to accomplish the goals.

Overall, it has long been the Republicans who have been more closely in synch with us. Some Libertarians have even run for office as Republicans in order to have a better chance of being able to get into position to have more actual political power than just yelling from the sidelines, as most of us have to do. Former Libertarian Presidential candidate, now Congressman, Ron Paul of Texas, is a good example of this.

Maybe it’s my imagination; but since the recent election, I have been noticing more discussions of how Libertarians and Republicans can or cannot work together. Here is a Libertarian who voted for Bush, expressing his current disappointment in the GOP; while here is a piece on how the GOP should try more to work with Libertarians. I’m willing to work with anyone of any party who has a plan to restore the Constitution, reduce the tax burden and the size of government.

KMK

Good Riddance

I guess there won’t be a lot of people sorry to see the current IRS Commissioner pack it in. We shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for him to be held accountable for allowing the Clinton Gang to use the IRS as a personal hit squad against critics.

KMK

Old Play Book Failed

Like with a football team that uses the same plays over and over, year after year, their effectiveness eventually wears off. The JackAss Party is so bereft of ideas and talent that they have been relying on the same old scare tactics and even resurrecting nearly dead candidates.

Fortunately, the public has wised up and realized what a load of donkey meadow muffins the campaign rhetoric is. We have made some progress by finally being able to put to bed the now-failed claim by the Dems and their media propagandists that the GOP wants to destroy the Social Security system and murder all senior citizens.

KMK

Tax Reform

I hope Bruce Bartlett isn’t holding his breath waiting for the Dems to take his advice and work towards the kinds of tax reform that we really need in this country. Of course, the term re-form really just means change, not necessarily for the better. The Dems would love to change our tax code back to how it was before the Reagan tax cuts, with a top marginal individual tax rate of 70%. Money is power; and the more of our money our rulers take, the more control they can exert over us.

As someone who has been working within the tax system for almost 27 years, I have long realized that it is far beyond repair and needs to be completely junked. End it, don’t mend it. As advocated in this article by Ilana Mercer, the only realistic way for the American people to be safe from the tyranny of our rulers and their Gestapo hit-men, the IRS, is to repeal the 16th Amendment. Anything less is no better than just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

KMK

Internet Sales Taxes

The quest continues for a simple manageable way for states to tax purchases made over the web by their residents from out of state vendors. Given the literally thousands of state and local jurisdictions that each have their own sales taxes, I’m not very optimistic about them ever agreeing on what anyone could classify as a simple system. Just look at how well the Feds have done in simplifying the income tax system; and that’s just for one jurisdiction.

KMK

Charitable Accounting Tricks

It’s not just the big evil corporations that have been using creative accounting techniques to paint a different picture of their finances. One way that charities are evaluated is by the percentages of their revenues that are spent on fundraising activities, administration, and providing the actual services they were established for.

With big middleman charities, such as United Way, under continuous scrutiny for their million dollar salaries and other very lucrative perks for top executives, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they would be playing games with their numbers. By using accounting tricks to inflate revenues and reduce certain expenses, they are able to shrink the perceived percentage of revenue used for administrative, as described in this NY Times article.

As I have said for decades, your charitable donations are much more effective when given directly to the organizations you support that provide actual charitable services. Giving to middlemen means that a good chunk of your money will never benefit any actual charitable cause; but will instead feather the nests of executives of the middleman organization.

KMK