Uh, oh!
ITV News – Police hunt star over tax claims — Apparently the poor guy got caught up in one of those tax dodge companies that make you a target for this sort of problem. The end result is usually an auction selling off everything you own for next to nothing. This happens every year to one celebrity or other to send a message to the public-at-large. Watch the publicity machine at work.
Apparently Snipes didn’t file anything for a few years too. This may stem from one of those schemes based on the theory that the IRS has no legal right to do anything and that taxes are voluntary and it’s all a scam. Yeah, go for it. The Supreme Court is waiting to hear your case against the government. Hilarious. I guarantee that Dvorak Uncensored has readers who will chime in with this argument, you watch. They are everywhere.
Police in the US are hunting actor Wesley Snipes over allegations of bogus tax claims.
The Blade star has been charged with tax fraud and it is alleged he claimed illegal refunds of almost $12 million.
He could be jailed for up to 16 years if convicted of all charges.
A warrant has been issued for the 44-year-old’s arrest but the authorities do not know where he is.
Here’s the thing that will have Snipes freaking out:
One of his accountants is in custody and another has fled the country.
Can you imagine the dialog?
“Hey, it was on the up and up, just ask my accountants!”
“Sir, one of your accountants has fled the country! The other is in jail.”
He’ll work out a settlement and make a few crappy movies and liquidate some assets to pay it off. The fines will be considerable, but the IRS knows he can’t pay it off in prison. Anyone wants to discuss the fantasy of a flat consumption tax to rid the nation of this confusion?
Anyone wants to discuss the fantasy of a flat consumption tax to rid the nation of this confusion?
Yes, I am for the Fairtax. It makes perfect sense, pay as you buy products, nobody gets away from the taxes. It could also start people saving again, as the big picture gets smaller?
Let’s see they couldn’t nail Al Capone for murder, so they got him
for tax evasion.
Wesley you’ve got great friends and advisors.
As you say, John, this happens quite often. My guess is that celebrities are brain dead stupid. And combine that with massive amounts of money coming in and it’d be quite easy for a money manager to lead them astray.
He could have kept afloat if he had just done Blade 4, 5 and 6. Or white men cant jump 2. The guys a legend in my opinion, its a shame.
What about the Art of War? Maybe he’s just disappeared like his character…
They need to thaw out Sly Stallone again. He can track him down.
Thisa is nothing compared to OJ
Yeah stallone and tommy lee jones need to team up together to track him down.
Yes..the flat tax is the way to go.
Last night I watched the PBS program with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in “Buffett and Gates Go Back to School”.
Buffett told the audience that the rich are undertaxed, and for the last 6 years the rich have been given heavy tax breaks.
Buffett said he lives in the same home he has had for the last several decades (bought when he wasn’t super wealthy), and his kids are not aware how rich they are because they do not spend money like a rich person would.
Buffett is planning to give 99% of his money away rather than pass it on to his children (who will still be wealthy, just not mega rich).
Buffett talked at some length about how our tax system is already relatively FLAT, and it should instead be more progressive (meaning taxing the rich more).
LESSONS:
1. RICH PEOPLE DO NOT SPEND ALL THEIR INCOME, POOR PEOPLE DO. Therefore, rich people pay less taxes under a consumption tax because most of their money is in investments that make them richer. Poor people would be heavily taxed under a consumption tax because poor people spend most of their money on necessities.
Apparently Buffett does not spend that much money, and therefore would not pay much in a consumption tax. Someone in the audience asked if either Gates or Buffett dropped a $100 on the floor, would either bother to bend over to pick it up. Buffett said that if Gates dropped 10 cents on the floor, and didn’t pick it up, he (Buffett) would pocket that 10 cents. Buffett is thrifty!
2. WE ALREADY HAVE A FLAT TAX, AND IT BURDENS THE POOR MORE THAN RICH. Look at how much money you have to spend after taxes, and at what you spend it on (probably 85% of your income). You pay for necessities with this money (food, housings, transportation), and have some left over for entertainment (maybe 15% percent if you are middle class). Rich people do not spend much of their income on the necessities, because they have so much more money (I’m not talking about people who pretend to be rich, and that carry huge loans). Rich people have perhaps 80% of their money allocated to investments and entertainment, and investments are where most of this money goes. Capitol gains (profits) from investments are only taxed at a 15% rate (much lower rate than if that money was earned at a job), and capitol losses are deductible from taxes.
3. A MORE PROGRESSIVE TAX SYSTEM WOULD BURDEN THE RICH AS MUCH AS THE POOR. A more progressive tax system would evaluate all income anyone receives, and “hurt” each person in a similar way (not equally, but the rich would actually “feel” the burden rather than not (as it is today)). Today, a family in an urban area making $30,000 really feels the tax burden. A family making $750,000 does not feel the tax burden (if they have a decent accountant).
4. SOME RICH PEOPLE WANT A “FEE FOR SERVICE” TAX SYSTEM, MEANING EVERY PERSON PAYS AN EQUAL NUMBER OF DOLLARS FOR THE SERVICES THE GOVERNMENT PROVIDES. This system is called a regressive tax system. The costs of all government services are totaled up, and divided by the number of people, and then each person pays an equal share of the cost (say $10,000 per year). If a tax system is not progressive, it tends towards this “Fee for Services” scheme. Obviously, a person making $15,000 a year is hurt more than someone making $750,000 a year under this regressive, “Fee for Service”, tax system.
5. THE DEATH TAX IS A NECESSARY PROTECTION AGAINST THE US DEVELOPING A RULING CLASS. The promise in the US is that anyone can rise up the ladder if that is their primary goal, and are willing to work towards that goal. This promise will be stolen from us if we allow a monarchy-of-money to become entrenched, one that would have the power to buy up all housing, all businesses, all government (pocket the government), for their own purposes. This Monarchy-of-Money would send us back to feudal times, and we would all be serfs (slaves) to our rich masters.
#11 – Yes..the flat tax is the way to go.
Comment by John C Dvorak — 10/18/2006 @ 8:53 am
Was that sarcasm or do you hate the poor and the middle class? I mean, that’s fine if you feel that way, although to be honest, I’ve always liked you.
Any flat-rate tax plan that adds up must, by simple math, produce huge tax cuts for those with the highest incomes and create big tax increases on everyone else.
The nice thing about being rich is that one gets to be rich. With all the perks. Better access to health care, better levels of protection from emergency services, preferential treatment in the legal system, far greater access to the political process, better educational opportunities, nicer cars, bigger houses, massively expensive home entertainment systems, and the list goes on. Let’s face it, compared to rich, everything else sucks. The only thing the poor have to hold their heads up about is a stronger work ethic and better moral character.
One could deny may claims because these perks aren’t codified, but we have eyes and they are all true by default. You get rich two ways. One ) off the backs of the poor and the middle class, or two) being born into it. In either case you are lucky to be there so shut up and pay your goddam taxes.
In a secret cellar, somewhere in the midwest, there is collection of pitchforks, each one with the name of a rich person on it. Think about that…
ohforthe…
define “rich”
the way YOU use it..it’s anyone making more money than you make.
I’m for the flat tax. It’s simple; a one-page tax code to follow. xxx% and no exceptions!
“Fair” would be a variable fee for PRICES and taxes. Why should a rich person pay the same as a poor person for a gallon of milk? This logic resulted in the removal of taxes on items such as food in some states.
>THE DEATH TAX IS A NECESSARY PROTECTION AGAINST THE US >DEVELOPING A RULING CLASS.
The estate tax hasn’t been around that long, yet poor people still managed to move up and even become billionaires before then. The biggest thing stopping them today is a tax and regulation system set up to make it harder for them to compete with the ‘ruling class.’
While you’re learning from Warren Buffett, you should know that a one source of his wealth came from taking advantage of tax loopholes. He bought up bankrupt companies with large losses, and used those losses to offset profits in other holdings to lower the tax bill. This loophole has been tightened so don’t bother trying this at home.
#16
Warren said in that show that he could have paid ZERO income tax, had he wanted, by taking loans against his investments. He could have lived off those loans, and resolved his debts during the future liquidation of his estate.
I would guess that you are not familiar how the British Monarchy holds on to wealth and power, or how wealthy they are.
It isn’t about how much damage has been done to the rich in the past. It is about preventing a multi-generational ruling class from buying up everything, and forcing everyone into doing their bidding. A healthy country would not be subject to the whims of a monarchy or plutocracy.
No, I have always liked the idea of a flat tax just to eliminate the layers of bureaucrats and accountants. As for the poor paying too much, ratchet up the minimum you need to make before you have to pay any taxes to $40,000. I don’t understand all these a-holes who think taxes are so great. As for Buffet and Gates I couldn’t watch more than a few minutes of those two guys blowing smoke up each others asses. It was pathetic.
No, I have always liked the idea of a flat tax just to eliminate the layers of bureaucrats and accountants. As for the poor paying too much, ratchet up the minimum you need to make before you have to pay any taxes to $40,000. I don’t understand all these a-holes who think taxes are so great. “let’s have MORE! And let’s make it more complicated!” I alctually once got certified as a tax preparer and can;t come close to preparing taxes anymore.
As for Buffet and Gates I couldn’t watch more than a few minutes of those two guys blowing smoke up each others asses. It was pathetic.
Then you Sir have no reason to live in the First World. You want all the benefits of living in the first world, buy do not want to pay for it.
I’m sure you would love to live in Saudi Arabia, where everything is free to the citizenry. Having been there, I would chose to defend our way of live with all my means.
“I would chose to defend our way of live with all my means.”
sure you would. more taxes would buy more smartbombs. when your country is less than 10 percent of the world’s population but accounts for over 50 percent of global military spending, you get a gut feel that something somewhere is totally screwed. you know that a parent somewhere is taking out the milk money to pay his taxes so that the eagles could soar.
somehow that makes the wesley snipes of the world righteous for wanting to go take his bizniz somewhere like mexico and shoot flicks about 911. with itunes, youtube and cannes– who needs hollywood?
#12: “1. RICH PEOPLE DO NOT SPEND ALL THEIR INCOME, POOR PEOPLE DO.”
I’m considered middle class with $900 cash a month left after all my expenses (except food and my kid’s education) are taken care of. Guess where my money goes? I spend $20-$30/day in food. I may not be rich but I am more generous than the rich. I tip 25-40% at restaurants. I took a $16 cab ride last weekend and gave the cabbie a $4 tip. Even in Dunkin’ Donuts I tip the change I receive and sometimes leave a $20 bill when they are not looking. With generosity comes more happiness. That is something the rich will never know. The rich are the most miserable people on Earth.
I agree with John about the flat tax. You raise the minimum for paying to about 40,000.00 or maybe 50,000.00 and tax every dime made above that level. Then you eliminate the upper limit on paying Social Security taxes and have a minimum for those taxes just like the income tax. Raising the upper level to say, 1 million dollars or even 2 million, pre tax dollars, would make SS solvent again and allow for the lowest income people to no longer have to pay it.
Where the problems come in, is the states and local goverments. Usually when the Feds back up on taxes(a rare event), those forms of goverment jump into that gap by raising their taxes, there-by offsetting any gains that the lower income people have made.
My biggest bugaboo is the Death tax. The limits need to be raised considerably, or set high and then allow for adjustments for property value increases and inflation etc.. Under the present system a billionaire such as Buffet(just using him as an example) could gurrantee that most of his money and assets will be passed on intact. But someone like my Dad, who owns a family business, that makes good money, but is still mostly non-cash assets, has to come close to edge of illegality to leave his family business to his children, with out them having to sell off the very assets that allow them to be a family business.
I have a lot of respect for Buffett and Gates’s position on what to do with all their money. Both are making sure it’s left to help people all over the world and not just to maintain their children and all their decendents in luxury.
#13…OFTLO…First, the poor don’t have a lock on morality or stronger work ethic. In this country, most of the rich got that way through hard work or brains. There wasn’t a lot of millionaires on the Mayflower. Yep, some of those families are well known today and have money, but the really big money is not in their hands, but in the hands of people like Gates or Buffett, or Allen or any number of people who either invented things that made them money or knew how to market those things or knew how to invest.
I’ve never had this thing about people who become rich, like apparently you do. If they earned it, thats great, if they inheirted it, well….don’t spend it all in one place as they say. That my friend is one of those selling points of this country, along with freedom of press, speech, and assembly.
As to making it on the **backs of the poor or middle class**….maybe in your far leftist world there are no employee’s, just all employer’s…..but in the real world that just isn’t true. In a Utopia, the fruit and veggies are just there(like food stamps maybe), in the real world, someone has to grow them and make sure they get distributed…..something that has been known to lead to capitalism. It’s not natural that people want to be the same as everyone else, or to earn the same as the next guy, even if they work harder or the other guy does. People naturally like to go to their limits and sometimes beyond and also want the rewards of doing that. Something leftists have a hard time figureing out sometimes.
Those in favor of a “flat tax” are generally the same assholes that expect to pay less taxes that way. They just want to cut out paying the accountant and financial adviser. When society presents an equal opportunity for all then we can put everyone on the same level.
#24, Joshua, I think you will have a hard time finding a self made millionaire that didn’t take advantage of others along the way. Our capitalist system proudly boasts it doesn’t reward mediocrity.
The one term you used I do take exception to is “work ethic”. I don’t know what that is and guess what, either do psychologists. So please explain what it means, what relevance it has, and what measure you use to differentiate what makes a good “work ethic”.
Hey – I don’t have a lot. But what I have, I want to keep. And one day, when I am rich (to me, rich is having enough moolah to live comfortably off the interest!), I pray to GAWD that I’m not taxed more then the next guy. 10% Flat Tax…
Income Tax (10%)
$1M $100K
Wow! What happen to my masterpiece? I had a lot more than that….
Hey – I don’t have a lot. But what I have, I want to keep. And one day, when I am rich (to me, rich is having enough moolah to live comfortably off the interest!), I pray to GAWD that I’m not taxed more then the next guy. 10% Flat Tax…
Income | Tax (10%)
$1M | $100K —That’s a lot of money!
$100K | $10K —-That’s pretty decent scrant!
$20K | $2K —- Hey – that’s like $170 a month – guess that means cutting back to 1 pack of smokes a week! But I can see some pain here – Maybe, limit the minimum income to like $40K?
$10K $1K —- Under $100 a month now, but still, that’s pain. PAIN!!!
$0 $0 —- Are there no orphanges?
But this will never happen. Why? Not because of the mamby-pamby left leaning “compasionate” liberals, but because of the lawyers and accountants. Would drive them right outta business… What would H&R Block do? Where would all the IRS agents go? Nothing like creating bueracracy to stimulate job growth!
Flat Tax – Good
Current Tax Code – Bad
We all know that the US Governement Offices are full o incompetent people (not all but many, check the Willie Nelson file, or the present Man in the white house).
I mean if you have a company do your tax work for you for as it is way to complicated for a non jurist to understand the US Tax laws. He gets punished for the crime somebody else did? Cool way to go. American way of life.
I wonder if these alligations are even close of being legaly justyfied.
Greetings from Switzerland
Where you can enter your tax online with guidance and easy to do. Not realy needing a tax firm to do the wok for you. All done within2 houres if you have all your papers ready.