Lobbying

[Snaggletooth]

Where I live (and maybe where you live too), the radio airwaves are filled with conservative Republican talkradio shows. Some ex-NFL football player has one that plays on Sunday afternoon in Nashville. John Latham ...somebody

To support his "flat tax" agenda, he says that the real enemy is the huge multi-million dollar tax preparation lobby. H&R Block and other tax preparation organizations are funneling millions of dollars into the election campaigns of Liberal Congressmen and Senators to assure that the Tax Code remains as complicated as it is, and to fight tax simplification. His solution, of course, is to abolish the IRS and its archaic tax codes and regulations.

Folks, is this guy for real? Is it true that NATP, H&RB, and others are spending millions of dollars to lobby for tax complexity legislation? I don't think so, but would be interested to hear what the rest of you think.

Ron Jordan

[taxmandan]

Lobbying

An athlete who is expert on taxes, I should try to tell the coaches in the NFL how they should be playing! Same expertise I think.

I suspect that there are many larger, better funded special interests who are keeping the complex tax system in place than the tax companies. HRB is actually small potatoes in the business world, only a billion or so in annual sales.

He's just getting publicity, hasn't a clue what he's talking about. Kinda like Congress.

[jainen]

H&R Block

H&R Block, the Great Pillar of liberal economics! That's so fine.

[Snaggletooth]

Tainted Money

Right on Dan!

Just look at our history. We've had the great Teapot Dome scandal buying politicians, Big Railroads, Big Steel, Organized Crime, Big Oil, Big Medicine, and now....

...the huge Tax Preparation Lobby???

...give me a break!

[Gretel]

Weird

Whenever I read again about so called attemts to go to a flat tax rate I get a weird feeling. Almost like there is some unknown purpose but it's not what people are made to believe. I don't have any trouble imagining HRB to have their hands in heavily to make sure they won't loose any of their share.

The other day I was thinking about all the non-profits who are struggling already. A good number of them would have to shut down if no deduction is available any longer.

[Bird Legs]

Gabriele, remember,

the politicians in Washington get a little extra currency thrown their way by the lobbyists
representing various types of industry groups trying to get legislation passed that will
benefit that particular type of industry.
Remember the manufacturing credit effective this year? Guess what.
That little coffee shop down the street called Starbucks, did a little lobbying, successfully,
to have grinding coffee beans declared to be manufacturing, entitleing them to take
this credit.

[Armando Beaujolais]

Big Tax Prep. I love it! Sorry, if you're going to cash in on an industry where you use politicians to gain a monopoly you're not going to choose something like tax preparation. C'mon. It's too dang much work and too little little money.

"It's the big guy against the little guy and the big tax prep corporations are in bed with the IRS and it's a big conspiracy and a flat tax would magically put all those people in their place and put power back into the hands of the people where it belongs. **** them!"...sounds like something a guy would say if he managed to get a radio show and had absolutely nothing to talk about and wasn't smart enough to think of anything himself.

The incomprehensible tax code is not the result of an concerted conspiracy. It's the result of ignorance run amok. You couldn't create a monster like that on purpose no matter how hard you tried.

The tax code isn't what it is because politicians are smart. It's the way it is because they have no idea what they're doing!

[Armando Beaujolais]

I got bleeped. I got bleeped! The "bleep" symbol makes it look worse than what I actually wrote. That's O.K. I guess.

[Bees Knees]

I got bleeped. I got bleeped! The "bleep" symbol makes it look worse than what I actually wrote. That's O.K. I guess.

What were you trying to say? Was it ****, ****, or did you try to say ****?

[Snaggletooth]

Flat Tax

Gabriele, it's not hard to figure out who wants the flat tax. Gazillionaire Steve Forbes wrote a whole book about it, and this is very dear to the hearts of the extremely rich. Over the years, several politicians with extremely wealthy constituents have embraced it - probably the most notable was **** Armey - R - Texas, a powerful man who retired not long ago.

I won't comment on the righteousness of the flat tax, but will make a dramatic point about what will happen should it be voted in. Virtually none of the people who support it, except the extreme wealthy, will be happy. I can hear it now - "What happened to my mortgage deduction? What happened to my charity? What happened to my land taxes? What about my babysitting credit?"

Case in point was a poor, middle-aged woman in Tennessee for whom I prepared about 12 years. She got back ALL of her withheld tax every year, plus earned income credit when she had kids at home, and even one year she had no one but herself. She told me her taxes were unbearably high. Then, rolling out of her mouth, came the clincher: "I think they should just have a FLAT tax and give us a break!"

Blew me out of the chair....

[Bees Knees]

H&R Block and other tax preparation organizations are funneling millions of dollars into the election campaigns of Liberal Congressmen and Senators to assure that the Tax Code remains as complicated as it is, and to fight tax simplification.

Not that I am trying to defend Liberal Congressmen, but AMT came into existence under Nixon, At-Risk and Passive Activity rules came into existence under Regan, and the Schedule D went from 19 lines to 54 lines as a result of the Republican Congress's 1997 Tax Reform Act that Clinton and Liberal Democrats fought hard to defeat.

I think the Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats when it comes to messing up the code.

[Bees Knees]

History lesson

Case in point was a poor, middle-aged woman in Tennessee for whom I prepared about 12 years. She got back ALL of her withheld tax every year, plus earned income credit when she had kids at home, and even one year she had no one but herself. She told me her taxes were unbearably high. Then, rolling out of her mouth, came the clincher: "I think they should just have a FLAT tax and give us a break!"

Next time, show her page 16-14 in QF, who pays federal individual income tax. 50% of all taxpayers only paid 4% of total taxes collected in 2001, even though they earned 13.8% of total income. The top 5% of taxpayers earned 32% of total income, but paid over 53% of total taxes.

The income tax has always been a tax on the wealthy. The very first tax return in 1913 only applied to the top 1% of all Americans, with a graduated rate schedule. There has never been a time in its entire history where the federal income tax was a flat tax. People pushing for a flat tax are in favor of lower taxes on the wealthy and raising taxes on the poor. It is simple mathematics.

[Gretel]

Ignorance

If people stay that much ignorant they will have a hard awakening. I had a client once who started a small business, paying no taxes and was honestly thinking she could get back all the expenses she had incurrred.. Didn't come back to do her tax return.

As far as the very rich people are concerned. Let's assume we had the flat tax and the very rich now have double the money and the poor nothing and the in between half. Looks like a dead end road to me. I DON'T GET IT. Maybe I am born in the wrong country or at the wrong time or better yet on the wrong planet.

The rich people would have to do all the charity, which of course they wouldn't. So what are they going to do???

[djack1040]

Copy & Paste Quotes from Messages

How do you do the copy and pasting of quotes to get the color highlight and the "rectangular box"?

Thanks!

[Bees Knees]

How do you do the copy and pasting of quotes to get the color highlight and the "rectangular box"?

Thanks!

Instead of clicking on the "Post Reply" button on the lower left, click on the "Quote" button on the lower right of the post you want to quote from. Then in the message box that appears, erase the portion of the quote you don't want, leaving the portion of the quote that you do want. Then type your response below.