Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Any Excuse Will Do

The pro income tax forces in Tennessee are still at it. Their latest attempt to enact a state income tax uses the classic “for the children” excuse. You can be sure that any new tax earmarked for something as specific as teacher payroll will find its way into being used for everything else. Government is consistently atrocious when it comes to using taxes and fees for their intended purposes. Trust funds and lock boxes mean nothing to our rulers, as they routinely dip into them for other uses. This happens all the way from the imaginary Social Security trust fund down to local dog catcher’s fees.

The only way to keep a tax from getting out of control is to prevent it from ever being enacted in the first place. Here’s hoping the anti-tax forces in Tennessee can keep up their fight. As always, they will be portrayed as evil enemies of children for daring to oppose an income tax that will be used to provide quality education.

KMK

Frontier House

I don’t often make recommendations on TV shows; but I just noticed that PBS is replaying their excellent Frontier House series, starting tonight. Three families have to adjust to living for three months in a recreation of 1883 Montana. The only real problem they had with the simulation of that time was a ban on hunting. The show was filmed on a nature reserve where hunting was not allowed; and that did put a very big crimp on the food the families were able to obtain. Any real life family in 1883 Montana would have been harvesting wildlife for many of their meals.

Sherry & I watched and enjoyed the entire series when it was on earlier this year. We could relate to it more than most people because of the fact that we had to go through many of the same adjustments when we moved from life in modern civilized society to a very rustic existence on an isolated ranch in the boonies of the Ozark Mountains. Luckily we still have access to food stores, or we would have to start eating some of the wild deer, turkeys and squirrels that are always around us.

Check out Frontier House to see how many things we take for granted in today’s world. It would be great for spoiled bratty kids to see for that same reason.

KMK

Better Accurate Than Rushed

It is not necessary to remind me of the date. I am more aware than anyone that we are reaching the end of the second extension for 2001 1040s on October 15. I have been working as hard as I can to finish as many tax returns before then as possible. I am in fact also still working on some 1998, 1999 and 2000 tax returns.

I will be filing for a third extension, until December 15, for any tax return that I can’t complete by October 15. Contrary to what many misinformed IRS employees and inexperienced tax practitioners may tell you, such an additional extension is possible if there is a very good reason. I file several of them every year.

Repeated calls and emails bugging me about the status of tax returns doesn’t help the already very stressful situation around here. Your patience is appreciated.

I do not operate like a news service, where speed is more important than accuracy. It has always been my policy to prepare the highest quality tax returns possible, even if it requires filing them later than normal. The philosophy that some people have of just whipping anything together and then fixing it later doesn’t always work. There are several things, such as tax elections, that can only be done on an original tax return. Too often, I have seen people short-changed by filing a tax return too quickly and haphazardly to allow them to prepare the best tax returns possible for their situation.

I have been delaying every possible project, both personal and business, until after October 15, including several updates and items that I want to post to my website and to this blog. We have also refused to accept any new clients until if or when I am able to get caught up with the huge backlog of tax returns still waiting for me. Before next year’s tax season, we are also planning to trim back on some of the clients we work with, based on a number of criteria.

KMK

Republican Touches Third Rail–and Lives!

Yo-Yo Wealth

Those financial gurus, who are proclaiming the fact that the stock market has jumped upward in the last two days’ trading means that the bad times are over, are very naive, as well as idiotic about investments in general. Any investment with the kind of volatility of the stock market, that can increase or decrease in value by three to five percent in a single day, is not the way for anyone to accumulate wealth without incurring ulcers or chest pains. Multipy that by 365 to see what it is on an annual basis.

Just as with dieting, it’s safer all around to get rich slowly than to shoot for the get rich (or poor) quick schemes. Just something to keep in mind as the roller coaster ride continues, as it will.

KMK

Cyber-Panhandling

The number and variety of people using the web to beg for money have grown considerably since I last mentioned it. I guess as long as both sides are being honest about what’s expected from the other, there’s no harm. As one person in the story says, it’s better to see money go directly to someone in need than to a large bureaucratic charity that gives very little to real people with problems. That’s a familiar sentiment.

KMK

Same Picture, Different Message

I’m sure this cartoonist intended for this to be another jab at capitalism, with the obvious solution being more government control. I see a very different message here. It is is dangerous to trust your career and retirement to others, including corporate executives, politicians or government bureaucrats. The answer is to control your own destiny with your own business and your own self controlled retirement plans.