Rep. Issa to Lois Lerner: You WILL testify

YES! Keep the pressure on these Neo-Marxists

Via Politico:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights and will be hauled back to appear before his panel again.

The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.

“When I asked her her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.”

Lerner’s decision to speak at all immediately triggered a dust-up among lawmakers who were confused about whether she gave up her Fifth Amendment protections when she made an opening statement.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor, said Lerner lost her rights the minute she started proclaiming her innocence, and that lawmakers therefore were entitled to question her. But Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland said hearing rules were not like those of a courtroom.

 

Does MSNBS require it’s hosts and analysts to have the IQ of toast?

Good Grief!

Via Free Beacon:

During a panel discussion on MSNBC Wednesday, Karen Finney suggested that presidential candidate Mitt Romney should have made a bigger deal about the IRS targeting conservative groups. The only problem with Finney’s remarks is that throughout the 2012 Presidential election the IRS was still denying that this improper targeting was taking place.

Good Freaking Grief stupid should hurt.

 

Rep. Gowdy rips into Former IRS head

Gowdy is pissed and should be. Shulman is a weasel, and a disgrace.

“Why was the culture such under your watch that an employee felt comfortable targeting conservative groups?” Gowdy continued. “Did you investigate that?”

“From my reading of the report, um, I can’t tell if it was political motivation or if it was tone-deaf, somebody trying to expedite a way –” Shulman started.

“You still don’t know that this was political?”

“Excuse me?”

“You still don’t know that this was political?”

“I defer to the inspector general.”

“Well, I’ll tell you this, Mister Shulman, your predecessor said that he wasn’t sure if it was partisan and that requires the listener to be as stupid as the speaker.”

 

IRS union head met with Obama the day before targeting of Tea Party groups began

Well now, isn’t that special?

By now, you’ve probably seen the news:

Report: Head of IRS Employees Union Met
With President Obama the Day Before
Tea Party Targeting Began

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union which represents employees of the Internal Revenue Service, met at the White House with President Obama the day before two IRS officials created the “Sensitive Case Report” that targeted Tea Party groups for special scrutiny on their applications for non-profit status.
White House visitors logs show that Kelley visited the White House on March 31, 2010, to meet with Obama, a day before an Inspector General’s report shows that the “Sensitive Case Report” was created, Jeffrey Lord of The American Spectator reported . . .

And you might be surprised (but probably not) to learn that Colleen M. Kelley has never worked a day in the private sector:

[A]n NTEU member since 1974, Kelley was an IRS Revenue Agent for 14 years and served in various NTEU chapter leadership positions, including chapter president of NTEU Chapter 34 in Pittsburgh. She was elected National President in August 1999 and was overwhelmingly re-elected to a fourth four-year term in 2011.
Kelley first joined the IRS upon graduation from Drexel University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She also earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Pittsburgh.

Go read it all, Stacy also lists the folks, or some of them, that Kelley seems to, shall we say, dislike intensely. I am sure Dan Pfeiffer would dismiss this all as “irrellevant”, and tell us these are just funny coincidences. Me, I think The Church lady might sum it up best

The Other McCain: It has been a tough week for the guy who used to be somebody

That “used to be” being Charles Johnson of course. As I read Stacy McCain’s post on CJ, I was floored. Who knew Charles Johnson was still blogging? I thought maybe he had run off to join some cult that worships pony tails or something. But it turns out that Johnson is still around, and still making an ass of himself

The World’s Least Credible Blogger™ has been tying himself into laughable knots of hilarious self-contradiction lately, attempting to defend President Wiretap Benghazi Failure against . . . Well, facts.

Facts have always been optional with Obama, who has relied on his media-generated force field to survive all previous encounters with unfortunate reality. Obama’s fawning fanboy Charles Johnson fancies himself an apostle of Scientific Truth (and imagines his antagonists are all ignorant bigots), but the relentless drip, drip, drip of scandalous facts the past few days have been quite hard on CJ’s self-image.

Case in point: Diary of Daedalus catches CJ attempting to redefine the word “bogus” as “vastly overblown,” so as to dismiss as false or exaggerated the accounts of how Tea Party groups and other conservatives were targeted by the IRS.

So, Johnson falls back on the deny, deny, deny tactic. It does not matter that Conservative groups WERE targeted, or that the IRS ADMMITED that they targeted Conservative groups, not to Johnson.  Stacy gets in one more barb at CJ while directing us to a list of his recent failures

Scroll down Diary of Daedalus and enjoy the ridiculous failures. That is to say, if you still remember who Charles Johnson is. Or rather, was.

 

 

IRS scandal gets worser and worser

Gateway Pundit has a very damning bit of info on what Tea Party groups were asked by the IRS

The Obama IRS demanded that several Tea Party groups provide back-end access to their websites.

And, from reliable sources: This happened to several Tea Party groups!

The source has this in writing. It states they wanted access to everything the members had access to, which would be chats, email, contact information, etc. The group raised less than $600. She was targeted as early as October 2010.

Central Texas 912 President, Maria Acosta joined Kristina Ribali from FreedomWorks to discuss being singled out by the Feds.

The IRS asked for back-end access to the group’s website.
And this is a tax question?

And here are some of the questions directed at the Richmond Tea Party

4) Provide the following for your publishing activities including books, CD’s, DVD’s, newsletters, literatures, flyers, brochures, pamphlets, voter guides, and class handouts (from October 22,2010 to now):
a) Copies of allthe publications and/or advertising materials that you have distributed.
b) Expense amounts incurred for your publishing activities from October 22,2010 to now
c) lndicate the percentage of time and resources you spend on these activities in relation to 1oo o/o of all your activities.
h) Will your near future publishing activities remain similar to those you have been conducting recently? lf not, explain the changes of your publishing activities in the near future in terms of contents, time, and resources.
5) Provide the following information for your web and internet related activities:
a) Copies of your current web pages and your presentations on other web pages such as social networking sites and blog sites (from October 22,201 to now). lf you are a membership organization, please include all the pages that are accessible only to your members.
b) Expense amounts incurred for your web and internet related activities from October 22,201 to now.
b) lndicate the percentage of time and resources you spend on these activities in relation to 100 o/o of all your activities.
6) Have you attempted or will you attempt to influence the outcome of specific legislation (in the near future)? lf so, provide the following:
a) Provide copies of all communications, pamphlets, advertisements, and other materials distributed by the organization regarding the legislation.
b) Provide copies of any radio, television, or internet advertisements relating to your lobbying activities
c) Please indicate the percentage of time and resources you have spent or will spend conducting these activities in relation to 100% of all your activities.
lf not, please confirm by answering “No” to this question.
7) Have you engaged or will you engage in business dealings with any candidate(s) for public office or an organization associated with the candidate, such as renting office space or providing access to a membership list (in the near future)?
lf so, describe the relationship in detail and copies of any contracts or other agreements documenting the business relationship

 

 

Well, isn’t that special?

Obama and his Spokestool, Jay Carney, cannot get their stories straight

White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a press conference Tuesday that the White House was notified about the IRS targeting tea party groups “several weeks ago.” This comes a day after President Obama said he found out about it from news reports on Friday of last week.

During a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, President Obama was asked about the IRS scandal. He responded, ”I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday.”

However, Carney said Tuesday that first a report had to be compiled by the IRS’s inspector general and then when it was completed, it was passed on to the administration.

If the media really starts looking into this scandal, or Benghazi, or the whole AP Gate deal, lookout~

 

Saying Obamacare sucks is easy, but complying with it?

Welcome to Statism America

Via Washington Examiner:

Complying with the raging tsunami of new Obamacare rules and regulations will cost American businesses and families 127 million hours annually, enough time to carve out another 1,039 Mount Rushmores which took 14 years complete, according to a new House report.

Based on figures from President Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget and Internal Revenue Service, the new report provided to Secrets reveals that the health reform law set to fully go into effect in 11 months will be the most costly federal burden to hit American in generations. And that hardship will grow as more rules are released.

Just consider: Using the lowest possible wage of an employee complying with Obamacare paperwork–the federal minimum wage–it will cost nearly $1 billion. Put another way: The Empire State building, which took 7 million hours to build, could be erected another 17 times in the time required every year to handle Obamacare rules and regulations.

Ah yes, the inherent incompetence of our government on full display. When we elect buffoons and corruptocrats to office, they pass bills like this, even while we scream not to pass them. And, rather than pass bills that are small, easy to understand an implement, and, yes transparent, Congress passes bills so large no  human being could ever fully grasp them. Put it this way, if you called Congress to fix your flat tire, it would go this way. First they would debate for days about the best way to do it. Then they would take three months to actually change your tire. Then they would hand you  a bill for 12,000,000 dollars, and after all of that, not only would your flat tire still be flat, but so would your spare, your other three tires, and your car would need a new engine as well.

 

STOP THE HATE! Save the Breasts

Stacy McCain has taken up the cause of celebrities with large breasts. FINNALY, a Stop the Hate campaign guys can really fondle, I mean support

Stop the hate!

Add an IRS seizure to the problems taxing Lindsay Lohan.
Uncle Sam has taken control of all of the “Liz & Dick” star’s bank accounts in an effort to recover $233,904 in unpaid taxes from 2009 and [2010] and an unspecified amount from 2011, TMZ.comfirst reported.

Well, what’s a young celebrity damsel in distress to do? Have no fear —Hef and Charlie to the rescue!

The 26-year-old Hollywood star has already been helped out by her friend Charlie Sheen, who gave her $100,000 to help her get back on track with her finances, but sources tell website TMZ she’s still falling dramatically short, as she also owes money for 2011.
Lindsay has spent most of this year trying to get her career back on track, and after filming roles in TV movie Liz and Dick and The Canyons as well as stripping off naked for a Playboy photo shoot, she is set to earn more than $2 million by the end of this year.

Stop the Hate indeed!

 

Same old media double standards, Mitt is evil for using tax shelters, Obama, not so much

Donald Douglas has a tremendous post up concerning how the media is covering the use of tax shelters by the two men vying for the presidency

Exhibit A this afternoon is the lead editorial at today’s New York Times, “Mr. Romney’s Financial Black Hole” via Memeorandum. Folks can read it all at the link. The editors really go off on Romney, attacking him for the alleged moral transgression of not releasing even more tax returns, and especially for his financial portfolio, which includes a number of offshore investments designed to reduce tax liability (a tax strategy that any good tax adviser would recommend). But for all the editorial’s outrage and bluster (which zeros in on Romney’s lingering ties to Bain), here’s the key passage:

Firms like Bain park money in the Caymans because the islands have no taxes on capital gains, profits or income for foreigners. But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

OK, if that is how they feel, fine. I disagree. I would ask why the United States does not follow the example of the Cayman Islands. Or, if the Times is so upset over these “loopholes” then why not take Obama to task for not trying to close them? But then again, I do not have an agenda like the Times does. I would love to see our tax laws simplified greatly. Flatten, and lower the rates, end the punitive rates that tax some Americans at a higher rate than others, and allow many Americans to pay nothing. End most of the deductions too. But until that happens, I will not blame anyone for using the deductions and loopholes as best they can, and that includes Romney and Obama, who BOTH use shelters!

President Obama and his wife, Michele, gave a total of $48,000 in tax-free gifts to their daughters, according to tax records made public on Friday.

The president and his wife separately gave each daughter a $12,000 gift under a section of the federal tax code that exempts such donations from federal taxes.

There is nothing illegal about the president’s taking advantage of this tax shelter, but it does raise eyebrows given that he has lamented the myriad tax exemptions used by the wealthy—“millionaires and billionaires” like himself—to pay less in taxes. He hasyet to propose a comprehensive plan to reform the byzantine tax code.

The Obama’s tax return indicates that the gifts, likely for their daughter’s college educations, began in 2007, when the maximum exemptible amount was $24,000 per couple. The maximum exemption has since increased to $26,000 per couple.

The Obamas paid a total federal tax rate of 20.5 percent on a gross adjusted income $789,674, which would typically fall within the top federal rate of 35 percent. According to an analysis of the president’s tax return, he may have paid a lower rate than his secretary despite making more than eight times as much money as she did.

Now, I would say here that 20.5% is TOO MUCH for any American, or any corporation to pay in income taxes! Do you hear that Liberals? I, and ALL Conservatives want EVERYONE that pays income tax to pay LESS! Liberals call this greedy. As if wanting all Americans to benefit from their hard work is greedy. Liberals, of course, are the truly greedy ones, seeking to get more and more of everyone else’s money.  As I said before, gut the exemptions and lower and flatten tax rates! Making the tax codes simpler, note not “fairer” as Democrats always call for. We all know that Democrats use the word fair to defend the Marxist vision of spreading the wealth around. 

An added benefit to simplifying the tax codes would be that the IRS could be shrunk. If you eliminate most of the ways for people to cheat on their taxes, you lessen the need for much of the spending on running the IRS. And, that, of course is the real issue here. It is not a lack of revenues that has America in a hole, it is the spending that far outpaces the inflow of revenues. Again, the Times might point this out, if they did not have re-electing Obama, rather than helping America to fiscal sanity, as their number one priority.

More attacks against the Kimberlin “enemies” list

Stacy McCain rightly points out that anyone who criticizes Brett Kimberlin is likely to be targeted, in one way or another for harassment by a website McCain refers to as “Not Brett Kimberlin”. Patterico has an example of the despicable attacks on Mandy Nagy It is very nasty, demeaning stuff you might expect to hear from some crazed stalker in a bad horror flick. No doubt a coward wrote that crap, but, this is one of the tactics the Left is using now to bully, intimidate, and demean those that stand up to them. This group, or person, is attempting to shut all of us up. So, who is behind this? Who is funding them? Stacy takes a look at some evidence that might help clue us in

We know that Brett Kimberlin’s tax-exempt non-profit organizations have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and we furthermore know that Kimberlin is now a client of Neal Rauhauser, who in 2010 was accused of organizing a gang of foul-mouthed thugs to harass Tea Party activists on Twitter.

Is the “Not Brett Kimberlin” site part of Rauhauser’s operation? Whatever the strategic wisdom of this “brass knuckles reputation management” — as Professor Glenn Reynolds has called Kimberlin’s campaign of harassment and intimidation — one thing should be clear: Such activities are clearly not legitimate uses of tax-exempt funds. Here are the most recent available IRS 990 forms for Kimberlin’s outfits:

• Justice Through Music Project 2009
• Justice Through Music Project 2010
• Velvet Revolution 2008
• Velvet Revolution 2010

People experienced in the management of non-profit organizations who have examined those 990s describe them as “thinly documented.” The phrase “red flag” occurs when discussing these IRS forms with such experts, who marvel that anyone would contribute to groups that exhibit such an astonishing lack of tranparency about exactly how they spend the money they collect.

All very good questions that need answers. Go read the whole post Stacy has up, and contact your Congressman and tell them to keep looking into this.

Also check out Stacy’s post that asks the question What DID Brett Kimberlin know, and when did he know it?

Donald Douglas going in after the rails of Brett Kimberlin’s Tax-Exempt Crazy Train

Did I just reference Ozzy? Wow! Donald Douglas has a very important post up go read it

I visited the district office of my congressman this morning, Representative John Campbell of California’s 48th Congressional District. He’s on Twitter here.

Rep. Campbell, a Republican, sits on the House Financial Services Committe. The committee’s jurisdiction extends to “all issues pertaining to the economy” and includes “efforts to combat terrorist financing.” And the committee oversees the Treasury Department, the cabinet-level agency which includes the Internal Revenue Service within its organizational authority.

I spoke briefly with District Director Lou Penrose. I delivered to him a number of documents.

These included:

* Brett Kimberlin’s 2010 tax return for Justice Through Music, which provides information to the IRS on tax-exempt criteria and qualifications.

* David Hogberg’s first-hand report from Aaron Worthing’s “peace order” hearing, “IBD at Kimberlin Hearing: Walker Handcuffed, 1st Amendment Muzzled.”

* Glenn Beck’s report from his May 25th broadcast, “Glenn talks to bloggers about Brett Kimberlin Terrorism.”

* Hans Bader’s essay at Open Markets, “Injunction Imposed Over Blog Posts That Criticized Convicted Terrorist-Turned-Left-Wing Activist.”

* Matthew Vadum’s report at Capital Research, “Nonprofit of terrorist bomber received Tides Foundation funding.”

* Vadum’s article at FrontPage Magazine, “Brett Kimberlin and the Hall of Fame of Leftist Terrorists.”

*****

The Senate Finance Committee issued a press release last week announcing the investigation of a disabled veterans 501(c)(3) organization. See: “Baucus, Burr Investigate Nonprofit for Exploiting Veterans, Taxpayers, Abusing Tax-Exempt Status — Senators Demand Answers from Disabled Veterans National Foundation About Potential Charity Abuses, Failure to Provide Services to Disabled Veterans.”

That’s a good model for what I’d like to see. Checking the link shows that the committee requested a bill of particulars that would show “whether DVNF meets the standards for a 501(c)(3) organization.” And while Brett Kimberlin’s organization is much smaller than DVNF, according to Robert Stacy McCain: 

Federal tax forms filed by convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin’s tax-exempt non-profit Justice Through Music Project (JTMP) show that the 501(c)3 group collected $1.8 million in gifts, grants and other contributions during its first six years of operation. An analysis using database research indicates that more than $300,000 of that sum came in the form of grants from tax-exempt foundations, including the George Soros-connected Tides Foundation, the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, the Barbara Streisand Foundation, and the Heinz Family Foundation, connected to Democrat Sen. John Kerry’s wife.

That’s a lot of money. A congressional investigation could determine whether Kimberlin’s organization is violation of any of six rules for non-profit organizations: 

Private benefit/inurement
Lobbying
Political campaign activity
Unrelated business income (UBI)
Annual reporting obligation
Operation in accord with stated exempt purpose(s)

The first rule on the use of tax-exempt funding for personal use seems particularly problematic in Kimberlin’s case. As Ed Barnes reported at Fox News in 2010: 

A review of tax filings for Kimberlin’s blogs, “Velvet Revolution” and “Justice Through Music,” raises troubling questions about whether his “nonprofit” operations are dedicated to public activism — or are just a new facade for a longtime con artist.

And Kimberlin is likely in non-compliance with rule 3 prohibiting direct or indirect political activity, given his long campaign to silence conservatives daring to speak out on his political affiliations.

So, there you go.

It’s perhaps a stretch to hope for some kind of congressional hearing on the Kimberlin affair, but you never know until you try. I’ve heard back from District Director Penrose. He indicated that he’s forwarding all of the above information to the Rep. Campbell’s D.C. office and he requested that I follow up on the status of my request.

I will be doing that and more, since this case is a turning point in the left’s war on free speech.

See also Ace of Spades HQ, “What Can You Do?“

And especially Michelle Malkin, “A post-Brett Kimberlin blogburst to-do list; Updated.”

The key is to not let up on this. Megyn Kelly had a brief report today on Fox News, so we know the story is filtering up the media chain: “Conservative blogger targeted by new ‘swatting’ tactic.”

I’ll be updating with more ideas and action.

Meanwhile, see Lee Stranahan, “Brett Kimberlin, Meatball Justice & Legal Crowdsourcing.”

UPDATE! Linkmaster Smith links: “Donald Douglas Doubles Down; Brett Kimblerlin, Perhaps, Will Frown.” Thanks!

Also at That Mr. G Guy and Paco Enterprises. Right on!

Glenn Reynolds links. Thanks!

The Lonely Conservative links, “Something We Can All Do About Brett Kimberlin.” Thanks!

I hope Donald does not mind me postimng all of his info, but, I, like Donald, think this is VERY IMPORTANT. Pass this around folks!

Insanity as defined by our government. DHS, IRS told to monitor Tea Party, ignore OWS

Chris Wysocki has the details, which, ought to surprise us, but, given the actions of this administration, likely will not

The Department of Homeland Security “struggled” to avoid monitoring any #Occupy groups, for fear they might tread on someone’s civil rights.

Internal Documents Show the Department of Homeland Security Tried Pretty Hard Not to Monitor Occupy Wall Street

The Department of Homeland Security struggled to avoid monitoring or suppressing the Occupy Wall Street movement last year, despite being bombarded with requests from various federal agencies for intelligence on the protests, according to documents released via the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents show that officials in DHS’s offices of Intelligence Analysis and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties were keenly aware of the legal and constitutional issues raised by federal agencies monitoring political protesters, and sought to tamp down the appetite for intelligence on the Occupy protesters from their colleagues in DHS and other federal agencies that rely on DHS bulletins and intelligence.

Treat the Occupods with kid gloves! But when it comes to the Tea Party, DHS felt no such cumpunction. Nosirree, if you’re talking about dangerous right-wing extremists, DHS puts the Tea Party at the top of their list.

Because people who read the Constitution are a threat to the people who trample on the Constitution.

And if the DHS scrutiny wasn’t enough, the IRS is making sure us Tea Partyers get the message.

The American Center for Law and Justice has reported that the IRS is targeting the nonprofit tax status of Tea Party and liberty groups across the nation.

The IRS questionnaires are quite detailed containing pages of multi-step questions. The organizations have been given two weeks to complete the query. This short deadline would be tough for any organization, let alone all-volunteer groups.

Most of the questions are pointed and obnoxious, but fairly standard by IRS standards: Explain fundraising, explain outreach, explain volunteers, explain your relationship with another group.

Some of the questions are baffling and don’t identify anything of redeeming social value, meaning they seem geared to utilize organizational resources instead of supporting or refuting a tax status.

Examples of these include requests to provide a hard copy printout of web pages, list all issues of importance to the group, and outline any training completed by or presented to the organization in question.

Even better, the IRS is asking for information on the families of Tea Party members. Why? Is this North Korea where our children pose a threat to the regime?

How fitting of the Obama administration. Ignore protests marked by violence, threats, rapes, and filled with anarchists, Communists,and other scum. But the Tea Party? Those very peaceful, concerned citizens? You better watch those folks. Of course, this is just more of the same from Team Obama isn’t it? Ideology drives everything they do it seems. Free passes to union thugs, radicals,and Leftist agitators. But for those “bitter clingers”? Those people are considered extremists, and painted as dangerous,and all because they dare disagree with the Leftist agenda of Team Obama.

Like I said, this should surprise us, but, sadly, it does not

Another analysis of Rick Perry’s tax plan

From the Blogmocracy. Read the whole thing, but here is a preview

When reading Rick Perry’s economic plan, it may seem very familiar to you. That’s because it is. For anyone who doubts Perry’s conservative bona fides, a review of this plan should immediately alleviate those fears. This plan is a comprehensive list of the very things we free marketeers have been saying for years. It is also very similar to what has been offered both by Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain. Right off the bat here are my main impressions of the plan, the highlights so to speak. Perry introduces his idea for a flat tax, proposes balancing the budget by statute and by cutting spending. He seeks to eliminate special tax breaks for behaviors approved by government, and a massive roll back of onerous regulation inflicted by a bloated Executive Branch. You may recall that yesterday I came out in favor of Newt Gingrich based on his 21st Century Contract With America, but I also hedged somewhat by stating that any of the Gingrich, Perry, Cain trio would be O.K. with me. With that in mind, I will give Perry’s plan an overall grade of A-. There is room for improvement, but all in all, it is Red Meat for us Conservatives.

TAXATION

Perry starts out by pointing to a little talked about government statistic.  It costs American Taxpayers $483 Billion per year to comply legally with our current tax code.  Remember that figure for later, it will be important.  If you log onto the IRS website, you will see an estimation from the IRS as to what percentage of Americans who pay taxes, in fact overpay.  This percentage usually hovers around 90%.  According to the IRS’ taxpayer advocate in testimony before congress, this is due to the fact that the tax code has become too complicated for even the IRS to follow anymore.

Personal story:
Last year, I called a CPA on behalf of a client.  I asked about a specific deduction a client wished to take.  The CPA gave me a negative response, saying, “that’s ridiculous.”   The client pressed on, so I called the IRS help line.  The IRS told me sure, the deduction is good, and here is the publication that I found that info in.  I called the CPA back, feeling somewhat not confident in the info, first being conflicted, and also the IRS’ own disclaimer about their answers not being guaranteed.  As it happens, they were both wrong.  The CPA, graciously followed up by reading the entire publication and not just the first paragraph, or even only the first sentence as I suspect.  As it happens the deduction was allowed, but with very severe caveats.  The client was not Warren Buffett, but an average American tax paying citizen.

Why does this happen? Over the last decade, there have been 4428 changes in the tax code.  There will be 350 changes for 2012.  60% of Americans employ the help of paid professionals to file their personal returns.  One mistake Perry makes here is one that I have noticed personally.  Many of the professionals hired have no actual training or expertise in tax law or preparation.  There are a lot of people who operate tax preparation businesses with no more expertise than the software they purchased at their local book store.  While I do not wish to disparage the fine software products being sold,  It is not the same as paying for the services of a CPA or an Enrolled Agent.

Perry also points out that the Average Corporate Rate paid in the United States is the second highest rate of any industrialized nation.  While most of the other industrialized nations around the globe are lowering their rate of confiscation, our government is seeking to increase our corporate tax rates.  Perry has also done his homework and refers to a graph originally produced by Art Laffer.  In this particular chart, Laffer pointed to the past, and noticed that no matter what tinkering occurred with the tax code, revenues were consistently around 18% of GDP.  Fluctuations in tax rates only served to affect GDP in the long term, while increases or decreases in revenue were only affected by increases or decreases in GDP.

As I said go read the entire piece. This plan, along with Perry’s conservative stances on many other issues, guns, life, energy, small government, States rights, is a big reason I am endorsing Perry for president.

Warren Buffet you hypocrite!

Image via Wikipedia

Shared sacrifice? Try paying the taxes you owe Mr. Buffet!

Remember when Warren Buffett — a staunch Obama supporter — said that rich people like him would be willing to pay more taxes to help out? If you do, it will probably shock you that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has back taxes dating back to 2002.

The New York Post explains:

That’s right: As Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson notes, the company openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002.

“We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years … within the next 12 months,” the firm’s annual report says.

It also cites outstanding tax issues for 2005 through 2009.

Socialists or Individualists

No two words more concisely define the difference between Left and Right than Collectivists and Individualists. Smitty of The Other McCain infamy sees this and examines whether or not Americans are still individualists.

I couldn’t agree less with O’Donnell’s thesis that Americans are Socialists, not rugged individualists.

Rather than just reject him entirely, though, we need to allow that there is a healthy chunk of the population with an unhealthy taste for the socialist whip. They exist. Stupid people. Fortunately, their stupidity often extends to their mating habits, with predictable non-results.
To the extent O’Donnell has a point, I submit that arguing the Socialist/individualist question at the national level is itself the problem. Let Massachusetts or California be as Socialist as they want to be, and don’t mess with Texas. We must halt the redistribution of wealth that lets the federal government be the collection agent for fools. O’Donnell may lack the intellectual honesty to deal with the results of prying Socialist states away from the federal tit. Enforcing sanity on O’Donnell is not our task. Protecting our wallets from the idiocy of O’Donnell and his ilk, however, is.

I agree, sadly too many of us are addicted to Socialist programs, and yes stupidity is the chief cause of that addiction. A genuine ignorance of our history, and our founders and their founding principles is at the root of that. Too many Americans are detached, self-absorbed and vote with their hands out. The fact is that our federal government has seized power over things the Constitution our founders gave us does not allow. Predictably, the further we move from the Constitution, the more our problems grow. I will allow Smitty, and his wisdom finish my thoughts here

I submit that admitting that 1913 was an abso-effing-lutely suck-tacular year for the US Constitution, and unwinding the ill deeds undertaken by Woodrow Fascist Wilson is crucial to letting the Progressive State of America experiment die its dismal death.
On a related note, Hot Air wants to know where the 5 minute tax form is. Going back to 1913, we need to repeal the 16th Amendment. There is no hope with the IRS. None. Nothing but byzantine pettifoggery there. We nix the IRS, and let the States figure out how to raise their allotted portion of the Federal tab. Doughty co-blogger Wombat will no doubt find gainful employment in Virginia, whose tax system will also grow burdensome. But the knuckleheads of Richmond are far more accountable than those within the Beltway.

Smitty is quite right, the simple fact is that the farther away from the people power is centralized, the worse that government gets. And, as our Founders knew, the problem is constraining government, not the people. Again, note our Constitution gave us constraints on the federal government. And also note that the Left has waged a war on those constraints for decades upon decades now. From Wilson, who Smitty rightfully despises, to FDR, and LBJ and Carter, and Obama, and scores of others, the Left loathes individualism, and embraces Collectivism, and make no mistake, Collectivism is the mortal enemy of God’s most precious blessing, liberty!

How about some Walter Williams Wisdom?

Via Dave C

I touched on it here last night, Walter E. Williams takes it on so much better than I ever could because, well, he’s Walter E. Williams:

This year, Congress will spend $3.7 trillion dollars. That turns out to be about $10 billion per day. Can we prey upon the rich to cough up the money?

According to IRS statistics, roughly 2% of U.S. households have an income of $250,000 and above. By the way, $250,000 per year hardly qualifies one as being rich. It’s not even yacht and Learjet money.

All told, households earning $250,000 and above account for 25%, or $1.97 trillion, of the nearly $8 trillion of total household income. If Congress imposed a 100% tax, taking all earnings above $250,000 per year, it would yield the princely sum of $1.4 trillion. That would keep the government running for 141 days, but there’s a problem because there are 224 more days left in the year.
[. . .]
According to the Forbes 400, America has 400 billionaires with a combined net worth of $1.3 trillion. Congress could confiscate their stocks and bonds, and force them to sell their businesses, yachts, airplanes, mansions and jewelry. The problem is that after fleecing the rich of their income and net worth, and the Fortune 500 corporations of their profits, it would only get us to mid-August.

The fact of the matter is there are not enough rich people to come anywhere close to satisfying Congress’ voracious spending appetite. They’re going to have to go after the non-rich.

Be sure to read the entire thing.

When we talk about government waste………..

We are talking about things like this.

The Internal Revenue Service says it will need a battalion of 1,054 new auditors and staffers and new facilities at a cost to taxpayers of more than $359 million in fiscal 2012 just to watch over the initial implementation of President Obama’s healthcare reforms. Among the new corps will be 81 workers assigned to make sure tanning salons pay a new 10 percent excise tax. Their cost: $11.5 million.

Why, or maybe I should ask HOW can it cost THAT much, $ 359 MILLION  for 1054 new employees? Seriously? By the way, I know that the Stalinist feel of this is a bigger deal in the big picture, but I wanted to illustrate the fiscal ineptitude of anything Washington tries to do.

Separation of church and state outrage from the ACLU in 3,2,1 NEVER!

Somehow my friends, it is just a different story when a Democrat urges pastors to, uh “spread the word” as Chris at Wyblog duly notes

Remember the inviolate Wall of Separation between Church and State?

If the Church and State are on the same page, who needs walls?

And if the Church does the State’s bidding? Then the fun really starts!

President Obama Calls Pastors To Preach Healthcare

Earlier this week on a conference call, President Obama and his top healthcare officials charged religious leaders across America with spreading a new kind of gospel — the good news of nationalized healthcare. Isn’t it convenient how the pulpit is barred from promoting political opinion, until it is the opinion of the President? According to Politico, “Obama instructed faith leaders to treat the new law as settled fact and use their perches of power to convey that message to congregants and friends.”

And, the State turns a blind eye!

Pastors plan to ‘bait’ IRS with pulpit politics

On Sunday, a group of 100 preachers nationwide will step into the pulpit and say the only words they’re forbidden by law from speaking in a church.

This is a perfect example of why I refer to Liberalism as a ideology of convenience. Liberalism demands no consistency does it? No, instead it demands only that certain feelings be re-enforced. A consistent Liberal would be outraged over this, but, sadly most will defend it, because they agree with the message.