Americans spend $104 billion on tax preparation services

[Sean Renaud]

Prole, at least used in 1984, is not JUST about being a worker. It is very specifically about being uneducated/dumb. Subjected to constant propaanda to keep you from ever questioning how we've been at war longer than anybody could remember. They make sure you stayed liquored up.

 

[icanhelp1]

I would hope so. The working class is the backbone of America. Historically America has prospered because it affords everyone the chance to get ahead with grit and determination, not just lucky ducks born into wealth like Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

And yet they provide jobs for thousands.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

And yet they provide jobs for thousands.

Are you conjecting that the rich who employee people should get special treatment?

 

[icanhelp1]

Are you conjecting that the rich who employee people should get special treatment?

Just acknowledgement for their contribution.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Just acknowledgement for their contribution.

Could have fooled me.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

The only people who pay taxes are those who don't understand and take advantage of the tax code.

Every day that someone works for the man, is a day the gov gets its cut of that labor.

Every day that someone has income from an asset which is not taxed because of lawful tax code exemptions, is a day they get to laugh at the laborers of the world.

Every year, I get better at it. Smaller cuts for Sam and more cake for Wat.


It's good to stick it to The Man.

 

[dmallord]

Rich people have wealth which they use in place of income. Certain types of wealth accumulation aren't taxable as income.

For instance: Let's say you buy a house. You put 20% down and finance the rest with a mortgage. On your taxes you get a credit for the mortgage interest. That reduces your earned income so you're not taxed on that money.

Now, what if, instead of 1 house you bought 100 houses with 20% down and mortgaged the balance to rent them out? You still get the mortgage interest deduction for all of those houses. That offsets the rental income you get. You also get deductions for managing those properties which lowers your profit. On top of that you get to depreciate the cost (the FULL cost not just the 20% you paid out of pocket) of the properties over 27.5 years. All of that reduces your taxable income to zero or nearly zero while you get to keep all the actual cash that came in.

Using the above example, someone with 100 houses would have no taxable income and yet could enjoy a wealthy lifestyle. Robert Kyosaki (sic) is very open about how rich he is. You can watch him on youboob where he often says that he owns 12 THOUSAND rental properties and pays almost no income tax. Meanwhile you pay out the nose for your income earned as a wage slave.

Why? Because he understands the difference between income and wealth and you don't.

Now I'm waiting on the screams that it's not fair and he shouldn't be allowed to do that and the government should seize his stuff and give it to you even though you never earned any of it.

Harpy's example is an often-used model by real estate investment programs to draw in fresh blood. This is overly simplified, misleading, and somewhat incorrect. if you follow it, believing it means your taxable income is going to be zero or nearly zero and that you keep all the incoming cash, you would be wrong. Even then, you pay taxes. Your deduction of interest on the mortgage isn't a dollar-for-a-dollar deduction. The credit for mortgage interest is counted as a deduction against your total earnings on your tax form. The net income after expenses, taxes, insurance, and depreciation is added to your other income. Sure, you can whittle the amount by going into LLCs or other types of ownership. If you do your due diligence, your tax burden is far lighter than the average Joe/Jane, and you contribute your fair share, as Joe Biden says.

You need a CPA, a tax status as a 'Real Estate Investor,' and, of course, that magical 20% down for each and every house. That's the rub in the hypothetical model. Not to mention some 'grooming' of lending resources with specialized short-term lenders to prove you can successfully run this kind of business. Donald Trump runs this at an upper-level tier - not successfully, it's turning out.

The model does work—over time. I've used a variation of this successfully, and my income tax filings are as a Real Estate Investor—that's a special classification that one uses to get the added benefits it entails. Capital and time are required to start out this process, as well as diligent research, good financial partners in the form of lenders, and time. No one really starts out shoeless and makes this work unless they happen upon a winning lotto ticket blowing down the street.

Over time, as Robert Kiyosaki points out, wealth does accumulate - though you can still lose out if you behave like Trump or find yourself upside down in the rental market. Kiyosaki himself dealt with bankruptcy. Much of his wealth was not earned by property investments. It came from 'branding' himself through seminars and book publishing on growing wealth. Today, his estimated worth is $100m. Not bad over thirty-something years.

HisArphy, well I'm not sure he is offering seminars. Given his response, I'd not sign up for those.

 

[dmallord]

Prole is a descriptor. Nothing more nothing less. If you feel the descriptor is an insult, talk to Merriam Webster.

You own the use of the descriptor in this thread. Merriam-Webster didn't choose the word for you. You deliberately elected to use the pejorative term to incite anger. You failed. Shameful provocateur.

 

[Philthy_Phil]

Every year, I get better at it. Smaller cuts for Sam and more cake for Wat.


It's good to stick it to The Man.

Uncle Sam sure would suffer without their cut of your 35k. lol

 

[HisArpy]

Subchapter S corporations don’t pay income tax, but when the income is distributed to the owners it’s taxed at the individual level. So tax isn’t really avoided if profits are taken out, which is the point of any business.

This depends a LOT on the profit which gets passed through. If you set up your Sub chapter S corp correctly, with assets which aren't taxed, you pay ZERO taxes.

Or haven't you figured out that that's the point yet?

 

[HisArpy]

Every year, I get better at it. Smaller cuts for Sam and more cake for Wat.


It's good to stick it to The Man.

It is. It's even better when The Man smiles down upon you for sticking it to him.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

It is. It's even better when The Man smiles down upon you for sticking it to him.

He does, doesn't he? Kind of like Tr000mp's answer to Hill'reh in the debate 8 years ago about his taxes . . . and those of her donors. If'n ya don't like it, then change the rules.

 

[HisArpy]

The problem, I think, is that most people aren't aware there are rules in the first place. Let alone know how to play by them.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Because so fucking few people are paying attention.

 

[jomar]

…

Maybe his Arphy also, though I'm not sure of that. I do know he likes to inflame issues by choosing vocabulary words such as 'prole.' That's just fuel for his type of ridicule.

Nah, he grew up in an adversarial court system and is still salty about only winning cases if the other side didn’t show up. It frequently leaks out.

He seems 'educated' though not 'cultured.'

Nice phrase

If he is/was a lawyer, maybe he saved and invested. Once, in a rant with me, he posted that he never lost a case. That's got to be an outright lie; even Ben Mattlock lost a couple of cases and was just a fictional television home-spun lawyer. @HisArpy loses cases here regularly. Some of them are with you.

Yeah, in his fantasies. Though technically could be true if he’s talking about a three day period.

Carbon water still hangs around him like an albatross.

It was a glorious day

 

[JoePepsiCo]

The US income tax system is so confusing that Americans spend $104 billion on tax preparation services annually. That’s absurd.

Dozens of prosperous countries save billions of dollars and hours annually by not requiring residents to fill out tax returns




It appears that the reason why we don’t have a “return-free” system is because tax preparation services and tax accountants lobby Congress to keep our nonsensical, confusing current system.

FairTax.org

 

[JoePepsiCo]

It will surprise no one that an audit by the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration found that "President Biden's plan to hire a new army of tax collectors is falling flat, and the agents already at work are targeting the middle class."

"As of last summer, 63% of new audits targeted taxpayers with income of less than $200,000," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Only a small overall share reached the very highest earners, while 80% of audits covered filers earning less than $1 million."

Bank robber Willie Sutton supposedly responded to the question of why he robs banks by saying with a shrug, "That's where the money is." So, too, the IRS audits well-off but not "rich" taxpayers because they can't afford the army of tax attorneys that the super-rich can bring to the table.

https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2024...-those-80000-new-agents-would-target-n4927951

 

[JoePepsiCo]

I said at the time (actually all the time), if you're all for soaking the rich, then you're for soaking you.

The enemy is not the rich, but a government telling you it's going to get even for you.

Wealth envy is detrimental to you and your well-being.

The rich soak you, dumbass...

 

[wizzard426]

I never make any money, it's terrible to be destitute........

 

[Chobham]

It will surprise no one that an audit by the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration found that "President Biden's plan to hire a new army of tax collectors is falling flat, and the agents already at work are targeting the middle class."

"As of last summer, 63% of new audits targeted taxpayers with income of less than $200,000," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Only a small overall share reached the very highest earners, while 80% of audits covered filers earning less than $1 million."

Bank robber Willie Sutton supposedly responded to the question of why he robs banks by saying with a shrug, "That's where the money is." So, too, the IRS audits well-off but not "rich" taxpayers because they can't afford the army of tax attorneys that the super-rich can bring to the table.

https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2024...-those-80000-new-agents-would-target-n4927951

Who'd a thunk?

 

[JoePepsiCo]

I know I for sure knew what was going to happen.

The rich merely purchase government "indulgences."

"Tax the Rich" is nothing more than a unicorn and rainbow slogan for the economic illiterate that sounds good and noble but is base when actually employed.

 

[Chobham]

I know I for sure knew what was going to happen.

The rich merely purchase government "indulgences."

"Tax the Rich" is nothing more than a unicorn and rainbow slogan for the economic illiterate that sounds good and noble but is base when actually employed.

Anyone with a modicum of common sense knew what was going to be coming down the pike. The whole "soak the rich" meme is designed to attract those driven by the baser instincts of life, greed and envy.

 

[JoePepsiCo]

Exactly what I posited, the economic illiterate and the mindset that wealth is only accrued illegally, through greed.

Human nature is, unfortunately, Ivan and Igor's goat. It's easier to take than to earn.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

I know I for sure knew what was going to happen.

The rich merely purchase government "indulgences."

"Tax the Rich" is nothing more than a unicorn and rainbow slogan for the economic illiterate that sounds good and noble but is base when actually employed.

Why are you so worried about it? If the government added in a "wealth" tax, it wouldn't apply to you. *chuckles*

 

[JoePepsiCo]

You do not know that. It's pure ascription.

I don't live in Canada, so my income was never limited to what my system "governed."