Taxes and the Mega-Wealthy

#126
#126
McDad said:
Good post. Thanks.

If we change the scenario from Bezos enjoying a 500k weekend in Vegas, to a team from Amazon at the International Trade Expo held in Las Vegas each year racking up 500K expenses that week, would the team's week be held to the proxy statement?
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Depends who is on the team and it's getting spent for. If it's not one of the 5 officers listed in the proxy, then its not in the proxy. If it's being spent on expenses running the trade show (i.e. booth fees, food, hotels), then likely no. Even if it some of that is being deemed as compensation, Amazon could bury it in the proxy since the amounts would be nominal in the grand scheme of things.

If it's giving a listed officer $50K in casino chips, then yes, that is compensation and would be in the proxy.
 
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#127
#127
The room I am sitting in right now is my office. My company leases it from McRib and I every month. We own the room personally. It is our room. We possess it.

If my company leased a building in the little town to my east from a complete stranger, I would sit in that office and use that space. I wouldn't own the space.

In both scenarios I have control of the usage of the space (within reason).
 
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#134
#134
volinbham said:
burying the lede again - see the comment about the potential for a breach from the IRS as the source of the documents.

if true isn't that a neat trick: agency leaks info to press to justify looking into people they leaked on
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I assumed that's what the tweet was about...the leak of private information and NOT an investigation of those wascally billionaires not paying their fair share.
 
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#136
#136
volinbham said:
burying the lede again - see the comment about the potential for a breach from the IRS as the source of the documents.

if true isn't that a neat trick: agency leaks info to press to justify looking into people they leaked on
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No no no. Our resident genius @Tyler Durden has guaranteed us this is all protected via 1a and these people merely need to give up their riches and public figure status if they don’t want this treatment 😂🤡🤡🤡

From the article, but I’m guessing now the investigation will turn nothing up for prosecutors to act upon.
ProPublica reported that the 25 wealthiest U.S. taxpayers have paid little-to-no income taxes despite billions of dollars of wealth gains, based on 15 years of confidential, individual tax data the publication reportedly received.

“We will find out about the ProPublica article,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing today on the agency's budget.

The IRS has “turned it over to the appropriate investigators, external and internal,” and he “absolutely” plans to prosecute, Rettig said.

…

Returns enjoy strict privacy protections – divulging details about people’s taxes is a felony punishable by up to five years in jail.

Even so, the information given to ProPublica comes on the heels of another high-profile leak last year, of then-President Donald Trump’s long-hidden tax returns to the New York Times.
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#137
#137
McDad said:
I assumed that's what the tweet was about...the leak of private information and NOT an investigation of those wascally billionaires not paying their fair share.
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It’s both. The progressive Dems are already using the article as a talking point even though the data acquisition is poisoned.

“By any means necessary”
 
#138
#138
Let me preface this by saying I have no problem with any of these folks taking advantage of any tax break due to them. That being said:

Several of these people have been thrown in my face over the years by others saying these Uber rich say they should pay more in taxes. To which I always reply "what the hell do you think they would say when asked that type of question."

Of course they don't want to give the Gov more money, and as proven here, you are naive to believe they would. LG I am specifically looking at you.
 
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#139
#139
volfanhill said:
Let me preface this by saying I have no problem with any of these folks taking advantage of any tax break due to them. That being said:

Several of these people have been thrown in my face over the years by others saying these Uber rich say they should pay more in taxes. To which I always reply "what the hell do you think they would say when asked that type of question."

Of course they don't want to give the Gov more money, and as proven here, you are naive to believe they would. LG I am specifically looking at you.
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Gates and Buffett started the Giving Pledge, Zuckerberg and Musk are in on it too. Uncle Sam won't get his hands on most of their money.
 
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#144
#144
n_huffhines said:
But the point is this is just an accounting trick. I get that legally he doesn't own it...but he controls it and enjoys it....so essentially he does own it. To me, the whole discussion is about whether or not this is fair.
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Without creating special laws for the extreme wealthy, there is no way to stop this without screwing a lot of normal people.

And wealth/lifestyle is still not income, which is what is taxed. So this is an argument about nothing.
 
#145
#145
DancingOutlaw said:
Gates and Buffett started the Giving Pledge, Zuckerberg and Musk are in on it too. Uncle Sam won't get his hands on most of their money.
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I remember when they pledged to give away most of their money and yet for all of their "giving" they are probably worth 2 or 3 times what they were 15 years ago. The sacrifices they have made is enormous.
 
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#147
#147
@n_huffhines
while mowing the grass, I think I understand your original post more clearly now. We were using different definitions of the word, "realized".
n_huffhines said:
I see both sides of this. The study is framed in a stupid way, but let's not pretend that $95B of Bezos' "unrealized" wealth is actually all unrealized. A lot of it is unrealized, but a lot of it is paying for his lifestyle and he's able to write it off, so it's realized, it's just not legally taxable.
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I was using as:
- make (money or a profit) from a transaction.
"she realized a profit of $100,000"
You were using as:
give actual or physical form to.
"the stage designs have been beautifully realized"

Jeff Bezos didn't make a profit from unsold assets. Those were unrealized. But he does realize...have actual or physical form...to his lifestyle from his wealth.

At any rate, you didn't communicate as gooder as you done when at your bestest.
 
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#149
#149
Tyler Durden said:
Isn't there an argument to be made that the average Joe's are the one's making up for the billionaire's lack of tax payment? Seems like the average Joe is bearing the burden for the billionaire's tax. They pay what they're supposed to they're still billionaires, but the average Joe has more money to spend, more products are bought, more money is made.
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1. You are assuming our government works on a budget.
2. You assume that the government wont find a way to increase spending to match whatever tax revenue they have.
3. You are assuming the billionaires, or their companies, arent paying any thing else that offsets this particular tax dodge that is open and legal to all. And that they are negatively impacting the system.
4. The super rich, even paying incredibly low effective tax rates, still pay out more than any other group. I think it's something like the top 1% pay more than the bottom 40% of net tax payers. Note that isnt bottom 40% of the population, bottom 40% of net tax payers. So you cant say they arent pulling their weight, or even extra. The argument is they arent offsetting even more of the population. Which just seems arbitrary.
 
#150
#150
As a DoD contractor who got all of their identity information harvested by the damn Chinese a few years ago in the Office of Personnel Management huge data breach I’m laughing my ass off at this “leak” as well as anybody thinking any real action will be taken.

I’ve still got government provided identity theft monitoring going because of it.
 
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