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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.
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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 intelligent responses, and will be glad to post them
here. Anonymous responses that are profane, or add nothing
to the subject being discussed, will not be posted. 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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