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| April 19, 2012 |
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Ignoring
Clint Eastwood's advice in "Dirty Harry" that
opinions, like certain body parts, are best kept to
yourself.
Fairness in
Taxes
by Dave Johnson |
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Dave loves
trivia, this
was on my homepage
a few years ago.
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My friend Dave Johnson is retired and lives in
Bullhead City, Arizona, right across the river from the
casinos in Laughlin, Nevada. I try to get out and see him
once a year, and make some money, or at least not lose much.
The "Buffet Bill", which would
require a minimum of 30 percent tax liability for those
making over a million dollars a year, failed to pass
recently. Tax bills are always confusing. I have not
analyzed this bill in any detail. People on both sides of
the isle will point fingers at the other quoting statistics
and rationale for their position. I don't know if this
particular bill was good or bad, but the idea is intriguing.
My very best friend over the years in died last
year. He was a multi-millionaire. He came to see me every
place I lived. He visited me in at least five different
locations. I loved him like a brother. But I had to set
aside the devious businessman part of him and accept him as
a friend.
When he visited us in Abilene, he
arrived in a new motorhome. While he was there he and his
wife had to go over to a little town to the east of Abilene
to buy an antique. I asked him what he was looking for. He
said it didn't matter as he just needed to buy an antique so
he could write off his trip. He added that motorhomes could
be expensive. He also attended a high-end auto auction in
Scottsdale every year. He obtained a dealers license so he
could write off the trips in his motorhome as well as the
expensive stay at the exclusive motorhome park at Westworld
in Scottsdale. When I had first met him, he owned a
business. He had furnished himself with a company car to use
for both business and personal use. No logs were required at
that time. We played in a dance band together. He would
drive to the job, with the company-paid car with gas,
maintenance and all other expense deductible for his
business. And, did I forget to add that he took an
additional 10 cents a mile for driving to the dance job as
if were a personal car?
In my professional career,
like Warren Buffet's secretary, I paid more income tax than
my boss did. I sat at the right hand of "God" at
more dinners than you can imagine. There were always high
income folks present. When someone came up with another
scheme to screw the government out of taxes, every one would
snicker and take notes so they could enjoy those benefits.
Our company had an office in South Dakota to manage a part
of the organization. I only took one trip to South Dakota
but on my one trip I stayed at the owner's condo. His condo?
Well he had been there at least twice, but SD income taxes
held a better advantage for him than AZ, so that was his
residence for tax purposes.
I have paid taxes on
every penny that I earned. That is because I was on a
salary. There were no deductions for trips based upon bogus
businesses. Even when I won a jackpot at Las Vegas, I got a
W2 for the money received. When I was a Senior in High
School and would play for a dance in some other town, the
fifteen dollars I made went on my tax return. (Less the two
dollars for sharing a motel room.)
There is
something terribly wrong. Politicians have a hard time
passing laws to close the loopholes because:
- 1. They are doing it themselves for the most part.
- 2. Their contributions come from the wealthy people
they choose not to offend.
The Buffett law may NOT be perfect, and I would not
support it nor promote it without an INDEPENDENT evaluation
of it. Any opinion crap that comes from either conservative
or liberal sites is bogus, and is slanted to influence you.
It has been said that Millionaires are not paying
their fair share? Are you kidding. Of course they aren't.
Who benefits the most from contributions by the wealthy? I
won't bother answering that. Making millionaires pay won't
make much difference in our budget. It would just make us
feel better. We as a government need to make some deep cuts
in expenditures AND increase our tax rates on those who can
afford it.
I don't have to worry about taxes. I am
living on Social Security. Any Congressman can waste more in
one night having a good time than I take in in a month.
Dave
I
welcome responses, and will be glad to post them here. Email
your remarks to
ron@global-air.com |
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Dave: I think that the “Buffet
Rule” is mostly campaign rhetoric that does almost
nothing to really solve our nation’s deficit but is
designed to direct attention away from the more pressing
issues of government spending gone crazy and government
ineptitude. Yes, I would also feel better knowing that the
loopholes of the wealthy are closed and for the life of me,
I don’t understand why the Republicans would give the
Obama Administration the perfect campaign gift of this
diversion. This would be the perfect time for the
Republicans to present a national tax overhaul and throw the
debate and class warfare presentation back to the Democrats.
I don’t know that Mr. Cain’s 999 plan is
correct, but it is without doubt time to consider a fair
flat tax and toss out our convoluted current tax system. But
how can anyone really think that the current Administration
in Washington has the ability or honest desire to make
logical tax law changes when they cannot even do something
as simple, and ignoring the legal mandate, as formulate a
single budget in over three years?
What the “Buffet
Rule” really is is more smoke and mirrors to draw our
attention away from what is happening, so that the magician
can continue to amaze us with his tricks. If we really want
“hope and change” the first thing we need to do is
replace this Grant style Presidency.
Clint Chase -
International Falls, Minnesota
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