Ohio Sales Tax Repeal Efforts Could Effect Bond Rating – Thanks again to Dana Stahl for passing this along. Dana shares my disappointment that CPA societies are frequently lobbying in favor of higher taxes and against efforts to reduce them.

Change the State Budget Game – Dick Armey pushing for a State Taxpayer Bill of Rights. I like his quote, “Three groups spend other people’s money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision.”

What’s Wrong with Insider Trading? – Stephen Moore has an interesting look at the issue of insider trading.

Because I know many of the people involved in all sorts of ways in this mess, I have been following this case closely. This article in the Harrison paper, claiming that Dian Brown gave up all ownership rights to the properties she bought with the stolen money, is a completely wrong interpretation of what it means to deed property into the name of a living trust.

I wrote a response to the paper’s editor yesterday, and as of last night it hadn’t been posted to their website. However, it is up there as of this morning. I don’t like repeating myself, but such misunderstandings regarding living trusts and asset protection strategies are very common; so here is my letter regarding the Dian Brown case.

Your description of the new ownership of Dian Brown’s property as a “trust fund” is misleading. A living (aka revocable) trust is an estate planning technique used to avoid probate on a person’s assets after they pass away. While the individuals are alive, the tax and other ownership rights are exactly the same as if the properties were owned directly in the individual’s name.

While many people believe they can hide assets from lawsuits and judgments by titling them in the name of a living trust, that isn’t the case. Using a separate legal entity, such as a corporation, LLC or FLP (family limited partnership) is more effective at providing that level of protection.

In either case, Dian Brown’s transfer of her ownership in property in an attempt to avoid repercussions from her alleged thefts could very easily be classified as a fraudulent conveyance and set aside if needed to make any restitution as may be ordered by the court.

I just wanted to clarify the misleading impression that your story gave; that Dian Brown has been able to hide her property from any action in this case.

Just as the term “public servant” no longer means that our elected officials work for us because they rule over our lives…

The impossible reform – William F. Buckley is skeptical of the idea that anything positive will come from all the talk about fixing Social Security.

How to Get Federal Spending Under Control

Plan to Reform Virginia’s Tax Code Pushes Sales Tax Repeal

Buying power: Tax law changes give boost to new equipment purchases The DemonRats can deny it all they want, but the fact of the matter is that people will buy more equipment when they can deduct the cost quicker.

As I’ve said many times before, I don’t invest in the stock market because there are too many uncertainties involved, and the only way to eliminate those unknowns is to have some special insider info, which is generally considered to be illegal.

Often times, the most illustrative explanations of fiscal matters come from people who are not financial professionals, such as this analysis of the budget problems in DC by Dave Barry. Unlike most of the mainstream media, who want to blame the deficit on tax cuts, Dave understands that the real culprit is reckless spending. He really hits the nail on the head with these observations:

Congress is as trustworthy with money as a crack addict who is experimenting with heroin.

They’re being total slime-weasels. They’re spending MORE. They’re pandering their brains out.

Our so-called ”leaders” are buying senior citizen and Baby Boomer votes by piling massive debt on future generations. It’s like going to a fancy restaurant and ordering everything on the menu, secure in the knowledge that, when the bill comes, you’ll be dead.

Budding Entrepreneurship – Some good tips on running your own business and thus being more in control of your destiny.

Nine Out Of Ten Financial Advisors Recommend Mutual Funds That Cheat – This is satire, in case any DemonRats (who are generally brain dead and devoid of common sense) might think this is real.

Earth to Planet Corzine — Tax Cuts Are Working – A little counterbalance to the Left’s lies about the effects of tax cuts. With the DemonRats, it’s like the classic “who are you going to believe, us or your lying eyes?” when they try to claim that the tax cuts are not responsible for the improving economy. That direct cause and effect was the very real reason the lefties were fighting so hard to prevent the passage of the tax cuts in the first place. They knew that, with an improving economy, Bush couldn’t be stopped from winning a second term.

Effort to dump income tax gains steam – This would be a major step forward, but only if a national sales tax replaces the income tax and isn’t just added on top of it.

Proving once again that too many people are setting up corporations without having a clue as to what they are doing, I received the following question via my AnswerWay.com account.

Hello,

I am president of an s-corporation in Florida and I have not had any income or expenses as I did not use that company yet. I would like to make sure I have filled in properly my 1120S income tax return.

Having had no activity I have put zeros in all the fields and I am declaring $0 for tax due.

My questions are :

Is this ok?

Is there any other form or schedule that I have to send in with?

What about my personal 1040EZ income tax return? Do I have to mention anything about the s-corp. on it?

If I had had some income, where would I have mentioned it?

I thank you very much for your help.

My answer:

You are correct in sending in an 1120S with zeroes in the appropriate places. Even if a corporation has no activity, you must file a tax return with IRS telling them that fact. If you don’t, IRS could very easily come back years later and accuse you of failing to report huge amounts of income.

As a shareholder of an S corp, you should not be using 1040EZ for your personal taxes. You need to use the regular 1040 and attach Page 2 of Schedule E to show your S corp and its pass-through income for this year. Even if it’s zero, you should show it on your 1040.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter

I like these quotes from Thomas Sowell

No matter how much people on the left talk about compassion, they have no compassion for the taxpayers.




To liberals, “compassion” means giving less productive people the fruits of the efforts of more productive people. But real compassion means enabling less productive people to become more productive themselves. That way, the poor have not only more material things but also more self-respect, as well as more respect from others, and the society as a whole has a higher standard of living and less internal strife.