Archive for November, 2004
Marxist Tax Policy
Posted by taxguru on November 13, 2004
As I’ve pointed out for decades, one of the fundamental principles in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is a “progressive” tax rate structure that punishes the more successful people and redistributes their wealth to the less successful based on the ultimate goal of making everyone perfectly equal. It is the underlying justification for our current tax rate structure.
In case anyone thinks this punitive taxation philosophy can’t get any worse, thanks to TaxProf Paul Caron for finding this website from some of Marx’s disciples, TaxWisdom.org that is in favor of even more confiscatory tax rates; even as high as 99%.
This is a gold mine for those of us who love to notice oxymorons in the language. Calling tax rates that punish achievement “progressive” has always been a bone of contention with me. Now, calling a 99% income tax rate “Tax Wisdom” may win the award for most ridiculous terminology.
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Posted by taxguru on November 12, 2004
Election May Doom the Estate Tax – We hope our GOP rulers can finally get it together and make the repeal of the Marxist estate tax permanent and not just for a single year, as it now stands.
Bush revives push to privatize Social Security
Donating cars may be better in 2004 than 2005
Bush Administration Tax Policy: Down Payment on Tax Reform?
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Posted by taxguru on November 11, 2004
Senators and Insider Trading – Our rulers would use secret inside info to increase their own stock profits? Shocking!
Creating an Ownership Society: The Bush Challenge
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Section 179 Effective Dates
Posted by taxguru on November 11, 2004
For some reason, I’ve been receiving several emails from people under the impression that the Section 179 deduction has been eliminated or will be as of January 1, 2005. As you can plainly see on the Section 179 page on my website (which has been updated for the recently enacted new law), nothing could be further from the truth. Whoever is spreading this myth, please stop it at once.
I can only surmise that the following exchange with an operator of a car dealer website was the product of his wishful thinking.
Q:
Whats the deal on the SUV tax loophole?
All the sites I read say it died as of 10/22 but my manufacturer contacts say they have had their attorneys and accountants review and they say its still good until till 12/31/04.
Do you know whos right?
A:
The Section 179 tax break for SUVs over 6,000 pounds does not die.
The only change is that for SUVs weighing between 6,000 and 14,000 pounds acquired after 10/22/04, the maximum Sec 179 that can be claimed is $25,000.
The actual total first year depreciation deduction can still be much more than $25,000 when combined with the amounts claimed as bonus and regular depreciation, as I covered earlier in my blog.
Q:
My manufactuer PR contacts dispute that and say their lawyers and accountants have reviewed and the full deduction (100k) is good till 12/31/04.
Have you heard that?
A:
Either you are misunderstanding what they are saying or they are not looking at the law properly.
The full maximum Section 179 deduction for 2004 is still $102,000.
The new law addressing how much of that $102,000 may be claimed for the cost of business SUVs was signed and enacted by President Bush on October 22. The law clearly states that the new limit takes effect the day after enactment. Thus, any SUV acquired after October 22, 2004 is subject to the new lower Section 179 limit of $25,000.
I have read literally hundreds of articles and discussions on this very topic over the past several months, and not a single one mentions an effective date of January 1, 2005. Your recent email is the very first time I have seen anyone make such a claim.
Kerry Kerstetter
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Posted by taxguru on November 10, 2004
Election Shows the Third Rail Is Dead – I wouldn’t go that far. The Left will never cease in their screams of bloody murder against any attempt to reduce the level of government control over our retirement funds.
Democrats Finding Little Common Ground with GOP on Tax Reform – As I’ve repeatedly warned, too many people use the word “reform” as a synonym for “repair” or “improve” when it really just means to form it again or into something different, such as my infamous analogy of the legislative/digestive process, where an apple pie is reformed into something very different. Those of us who believe in capitalism obviously have a very different concept of what would be an improvement in the current tax system than do those who worship Karl Marx, such as most members of the DemonRat (aka JackAss) Party.
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Tax Guru - Ker$tetter Letter 