I had never heard of Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly before seeing this video of a speech he made in the House a few days ago, attacking insane governmental regulations.  However, it does give us hope that if we could get a few hundred more non-career politicians into the House and Senate, it might be possible to slow the growth of Big Government. 

Romney donor bashed by Obama campaign now target of two federal audits – Anyone who thinks this is a coincidence is woefully naive.  The 0Bambi regime is just as willing to use the power of the Federal government to attack their enemies as Nixon and Clinton were.

Pair inherits $65M sculpture, but can’t sell it to pay $29M tax bill – The kind of idiotic Catch 22 that the grave robbing vultures in the IRS love.  However, if I were handling this case, I would make the case that the true market value of the sculpture is zero and thus not subject to estate tax.  If that argument didn’t fly, I would advise donating the sculpture to a museum and deducting it from the taxable estate.

IRS sizes up political groups’ tax-exempt status –  What are the odds that those groups supporting the 0baMao regime will be acceptable to IRS and those opposing it will get into trouble?  If there is a safer bet, I can’t think of it.

Most members of Congress keep their tax returns secret – This is under the perfect heading, hypocrisy watch, on the JWR news site.   

The whole Romney tax return issue is a fabricated scandal by the Dims as they try to keep him on the defensive by continuously demanding that he do or say certain things.  It’s a refreshing change from the 2008 GOP candidate’s approach to campaigning to see someone refuse to do the Dims’ bidding on issues that really have nothing to do with the election.

From BlogComix2

Nancy Pelosi Downplays Tax Return Demand – Now that her hypocrisy has been exposed.

Words, Then and Now – accurate observations of the evolving language in this country from People’s Blog, including the following.

Bailout
Then: Ejecting from a failing aircraft before it crashes
Now: Injecting money into a crony too-big-to-fail bank before it crashes

Crony
Then: Someone a pal would share a drink with
Now: Someone a pol will share taxpayer money with

Tax
Then: A means of funding the services provided by the government
Now: A means provided to the government to screw you if you don’t buy health insurance

Investment
Then: A person risking some of his own money in hopes of a positive return
Now: A politician risking a lot of the public’s money which he’s positive won’t be returned

Poverty
Then: A lack of the basic necessities of life
Now: A lack of the newest iPhone

In response to the insane Roberts ruling on the ObamaCare tax, Glenn Beck is selling some special T-shirts, including these.

From Blog Pix

These might be appropriate attire for audiences at Mitt Romney appearances, considering how squishy he is about this whole issue.

Q-1:

Subject: Unique Tax Comparison Tool

Hi Kerry,

 

My name is Megan, and I am a student intern at FindTheBest in Santa Barbara, CA. FindTheBest offers over 800 unbiased comparisons and receives over 8 million unique visitors per month.

I want to compliment you on the great tax resources Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter features. We have just launched a comparison tool that is a reference of individual income tax by zip codes and compares them by state, number of returns, AGI, AGI class, and more and I thought it might be a great tool to pass on to your readers.

Would it be alright if I sent it over for your review?  It’s completely free, and I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Best,

Megan

A-1:

Megan:

That sounds interesting.  I would love a chance to see what you have.

Kerry Kerstetter

Q-2:

Kerry,

Thank you so much for your quick response! I bet your glad to have some time to breathe now that tax season is finally over!

Our tax rates directories offer around hundreds of thousands of informative tax listings compiled from the IRS, allowing readers to easily access income tax data for different regions and compare them to each other:

“Individual Income Tax by Zip Code” (http://income-tax-zip.findthedata.org/)

It is a great tool for accountants, taxpayers, politicians, home buyers, etc.  If you find it to be a useful resource, would you mind sharing the link with your readers on your blogroll?

Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

Best,

Megan

A-2:

Megan:

I finally had a chance to look around your site and some of the tax stats.

At first blush, it looked interesting.  However, some of the figures don’t seem to make sense, such as the tax percent paid by upper income levels.  They seem to be far too low.

I checked your page on the history of top tax rates (http://top-federal-tax-rates.findthedata.org/) and noticed that you have the top rate for 1972 through 1981 as 60%.  That rang odd.  Since 1982, whenever people describe the Reagan tax cuts, it’s always said that the top rate was 70% before he cut them.

You can find a more accurate history of tax rates here:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/151.html

You can see that 1965 through 1981 had a top rate of 70%

I hate to rain on your parade here, but you may want to check on how the figures and stats you have were assembled.

Please keep me posted as to when the info is corrected.

Kerry Kerstetter

Q:

Subject: corporate medical plan

You recommend setting up a corporate medical plan for people with C-Corps who have a lot of medical expense. Can you comment on whether this a formal arrangement involving a plan document, or a corporate resolution or an IRS filing or a non-formal arrangement that simply involves paying medical expenses from the corporate check book?

Thanks for your consideration and your website which is a real public service.

A:

There are companies that will provide admin services for small employer plans, but that is an unnecessary expense.

I have handled some recent IRS audits where they allowed all of the medical costs without even asking for formal documentation of a plan. However, I think it is still a good idea to have a corp resolution just in case your auditor isn’t as lenient.

Attached are a couple of samples from the Small Business Tools program from CFS Software that can give you a good idea of what a plan resolution should look like.

TaxToolsMERP1.doc

TaxToolsMERP2.doc

I hope this helps.

Kerry Kerstetter

Additional Info: TaxCoach has an even more detailed plan document, along with an excellent implementation guide with the applicable IRS regs and court cases to document the kinds of expenses that can be included in the plan.  Their planning module on MERPs has a lot of useful info, including these advantages of using a MERP:

• You can deduct 100% of your employees’ health insurance. Deductible health insurance costs include major medical and supplemental premiums, Medicare premiums, qualified long-term care premiums, and Medicare supplemental (“Medigap”) policies.
• Out-of-pocket medical costs include routine expenses such as co-pays, deductibles, and prescriptions; occasional expenses such as eyeglasses and dentistry; big-ticket items like orthodontics, fertility treatments, and schools for learning-disabled children. It also includes over-the-counter medicines and health-care supplies, if prescribed by a physician. You can reimburse employees or pay health-care providers directly.
• The plan lets you deduct 100% of your out-of-pocket costs, bypassing the usual 7.5% floor for itemized deductions. You’ll also avoid any self-employment tax you would otherwise pay on amounts you deduct as plan benefits.

Thomas Sowell’s latest batch of excellent Random Thoughts include these tax related ones:

With all the talk about people paying their “fair share” of income taxes, why do nearly half the people in this country pay no income taxes at all? Is that their “fair share”? Or is creating more recipients of government handouts, at no cost to themselves, simply a strategy to gain more votes?

Some people say that taxes are the price we pay for civilization. But the runaway taxes of our time are the price we pay for being gullible.

The United States now has the dubious distinction of having the highest corporate tax rate in the world. And people wonder why American corporations are expanding overseas, providing jobs to foreigners. The left may get their jollies attacking “the rich,” but the real victims are other people, who want the jobs that are sent overseas to escape a hostile business climate at home.

Thomas Sowell has another great selection of his Random Thoughts. 

These ones are very appropriate for here.

What do you call it when someone steals someone else’s money secretly? Theft. What do you call it when someone takes someone else’s money openly by force? Robbery. What do you call it when a politician takes someone else’s money in taxes and gives it to someone who is more likely to vote for him? Social Justice.

The wisest and most knowledgeable human being on the planet is utterly incompetent to make even 10 percent of the consequential decisions that have to be made in a modern nation. Yet all sorts of people want to decide how much money other people can make or keep, and to micro-manage how other people live their lives.

In the 1920s, Rep. Thomas S. Adams referred to “the ease with which the income tax may be legally avoided” but also said some congressmen “so fervently believe that the rich ought to pay 40 or 50 percent of their incomes” in taxes that they would rather make this a law, even if the government would get more revenue from a lower tax rate that people actually pay. Some also prefer class-warfare politics that brings in votes, if not revenue.

Cali to Business: Get Out! – Anyone would be nuts to try to run a business in the PRC.  Unfortunately, its socialist agenda is poised to spread over the rest of the county if the DemonRats in DC have their way. 

On tax reform, Congress says one thing but does another – Every reform brings more work for us.

It looks like the GOP isn’t as trustworthy regarding raising taxes as we had been hoping.

Toomey’s Tax Hikes 

The Norquist Myth

A Super Tax Hike Spells Disaster

Grover Norquist Crushes Them