The Feds have released more details on the six people convicted in the Anderson’s Ark tax scam.

I couldn’t agree more with Spidell that, in their unquenchable thirst for tax dollars, the rulers of the PRC are crossing even more fairness lines by adding new fangled penalties.  Having worked with plenty of other former PRC residents, as well as non-resident owners of investment property there, I know that contacting Governor Arnold and other elected officials to play fair is a waste of time. Non-voters are easy targets for taxation who literally have no ability to punish those who want to fleece them.

AMT Can Complicate Timing of Tax Breaks From Charitable Gifts – Excellent point from the Wall Street Journal.  Normally at this time of year, there’s a mad rush to get as many deductible expenditures in as possible before January 1.  However, if it looks like you will be subject to the insane AMT, you will just be wasting your money because the tax calculation will ignore many of your Sch. A deductions.

As I’ve frequently said, the tax savings are higher for any deduction that can legitimately be shown on the front of your 1040 instead of on Page 2 via Sch. A.  This is just one of the reasons for that. 

For those folks still wallowing in the naivete that the AMT only hits the evil rich, this quote should be a wake-up call to contact your elected rulers in DC before it’s too late.

The AMT is expected to ensnare 29.9 million taxpayers by 2010, compared with 3.5 million this year, according to forecasts from the Tax Policy Center, a joint-venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution in Washington. More than half of those affected will be filers with income between $75,000 and $100,000, according to the center’s database.

 

Bush Expected To Delay Major Tax Overhaul

State to tax illegal drugs. Tennessee targets dealers, users with new levy. – Thanks to Bill at HobbsOnline for this perfect example of “if you can’t beat them, join them.”  Since the Drug War is impossible to ever win, governments might as well make some money off of it.  Also, as Al Capone found out, not paying taxes is treated by our rulers as much more important crimes to prosecute than other trivial things, such as murder and drug dealing; so those drug pushers in Tennessee had better not miss a payment.