XPost: alt.computer.workshop, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   From: recscuba_google@huntzinger.com   
      
   On 6/21/24 3:46 PM, David Brooks wrote:   
   > On 21/06/2024 20:21, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:   
   >> -hh wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:   
   >>   
   >>> TL;DR:   
   >>> be honest and make comparisons based on total taxes, not just by   
   >>> cherrypicking one individual tax within the whole.   
   >>   
   >> +1   
   >>   
   >> Still, recall that EXPOTUSSFB45 at one time paid more taxes to Chy-na   
   >> than to the U.S.   
   >   
   > Are you referring to Ex-POTUS Donald Trump?   
      
   That would be my guess too.   
      
   In any event, that individual is an effective illustration how there's   
   tons of income tax loopholes which enable the "1%" to pay lower net tax   
   rates than much of America that basically aren't available to normal   
   folk who get a W-2 from their employer.  This is because there's a huge   
   amount of latitude in what can be written off as a business expense that   
   benefits the business owner.   
      
   A huge one is in Real Estate, in that profits of a sale of a property   
   are tax-deferred if it is reinvested in another property.  Eventually,   
   those profits become permanently tax-free when the owner dies:  family   
   gains generational wealth, as the first $12M of an Estate is Tax free.   
      
   Similarly, business expense write-offs can offset: more meals become   
   either a business comp or are a business expense written off as client   
   entertainment - lowers one's daily costs of everyday life, so more   
   income is retained instead of spent.   
      
   Another one that's more relevant to some of these newsgroups has to do   
   with personal computers:  they're written off as a business expense   
   which goes to zero after it has depreciated, at which point the business   
   can hand off the old PC for free as a personal possession.   
      
   Plus there's ways to "finesse" on this:  after Fed accelerated   
   depreciation has been taken (it was recently just 1 year), have the   
   business incur a business expense to "pay" someone to recycle it, where   
   this payment conveniently aligns perfectly with the remaining State   
   depreciation.  Business owner gets a 1 year old laptop for free, plus   
   got paid to 'dispose' of it.   
      
   Or outright cheating:  business buys a new laptop to replace an existing   
   PC, but keeps the old PC that it was supposedly replacing in service in   
   the office:  that new laptop goes to the owner's kid in college.   
      
   And for both of these .. oops, we goofed on who pays the Office 365   
   subscription!  /s   
      
      
   Recall also how Warren Buffet has commented about how his income tax   
   rate was lower than his W2-earning secretary:  that's typically due to   
   income from Long Term Capital Gains & Qualified Dividends being taxed at   
   rates lower than personal income (eg, 15% vs 24%).   
      
      
   -hh   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)