What's the difference between HARD and EASY earned income?

Reason my asking;

I'm growing tired of the following Mentality/Belief;

''The taxes Uncle Sam collected, collects, or wants to collect from ME is my HARD earned money, regardless if he had/has to use his Credit Card to pay the bills.

IMO, said mentality/belief is very selfish/unpatriotic, and I didn't create this thread ''in an effort'' to change their mentality/belief, therefore, let's debate the following topic;

''EASY earned money''

Well, my accountant is 64 years old, and he's a well-known CPA. Also, his clients are mainly UPPER CLASS/RICH PEOPLE, and he certainly knows how to LEGALLY dodge the taxman, both Federal, State and Local.

For example; In 2014, I inherited a 4th generation family farm, and my late parent's property taxes were very high because we had an ''Inactive Farm'', but with a stroke of my accountant's pen, my farm was legally ''re-activated'' in quotation. In other words, with a simple stroke of his pen, and his accounting expertise, I EASILY earned/saved thousands of dollars.

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GOP; Closing Tax Loopholes will help pay for tax cuts

''The White House has proposed doing that by closing almost all of the roughly 200 loopholes that riddle the system. These special carve-outs are worth an estimated $18.4 trillion over the next decade — money that the GOP wants to use to pay for across-the-board tax cuts instead''

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/simplifying-the-us-tax-code-isnt-so-simple-heres-why.html

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Donald Trump

"As part of this reform, we will eliminate the carried interest deduction and other special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and for people like me, but unfair to American workers."

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FOLKS, from 2017 to 2019, we had a Republican Majority, thus, in reference to (GOP; Closing Tax Loopholes will help pay for tax cuts)........what the hell happened?

 

In many states farm owners can get a tremendous tax rate cut by generating a modest income from the land. Is this what you are talking about? In my case it allowed my family to maintain ownership of a farm because ordinarily we wouldn't have been able to afford the taxes if it didn't fall under the category of agricultural use. The difference was 10's of thousands of dollars.

 

Yours is a popular position but not shared by everyone. I, for instance, want smaller more responsive, less corrupt government. The trend throughout my life has been in the opposite directions. So I prefer to deny government revenue whenever possible. If you add to federal government's revenue, it will spend it (waste it) and be back later in the day for more. If you don't add it, it will still be back for more but, at least, more money was saved in the meantime.

The vast majority of what federal government does (about 70%) are things it shouldn't do in my view. They are things that should be in the states, the private sector or the trash can. So there is an opposing position for which you can disagree.

 

Quote: In many states farm owners can get a tremendous tax rate cut by generating a modest income from the land. Is this what you are talking about?

''Modest income'' in quotation

Correct!

 

I own and live on a small farm. Other than horses and pets, I have never had any animals here. I don't grow anything except for hay for the horses. Because of that hay I get Dept of Agriculture financial benefits for protecting the land against erosion. I grow more hay than my horses can eat in a year so I make a little money selling the excess on the market. Who would have imagined that you could feed your horses for free, get the government to pay you for planting and maintaining the hay field and make a little money in addition? Is this crazy? I think so. But I don't turn down money when someone offers it. I don't think billionaires refuse their legal tax deductions either.

 

By virtue of his statement with which you now agree is the same policy that you used....doesnt that make it a state tax code policy as opposed to federal? Are you not talking about property tax?

 

Right on! and thanks for bringing this up.

 

"What the hell happened?" Uh, just WHO do you think forks over the big bucks to BOTH parties, Dick the ditch digger, Jane the secretary? BOTH parties make a lot of noise about "closing them loopholes", but when it comes time to deliver....crickets! $$$ in their campaign coffers talks, whining from the yokels walks. Be content you have the income to engage an accountant to sniff them out to your benefit.

 

i want an efficient government whatever size that turns out to be.

a smaller government with fewer people to answer the phones, can not be more responsive. moreover, keeping the same level of government service while privatizing the work to low paid contractors does not necessarily lead to smaller or responsive government.

 

State tax code is correct, and back in 2015, I've legally qualified for several exemptions, such as; a property tax exemption. Also, if they want to audit me, my accountant, who's also our Farmer's Union accountant has my ''PROOF'' of ag NET Income.

 

I guess I am a little confused at to the intent of your OP. Why would you bring up an issue of your state taxes right before asking what happened to trump closing all of the tax loopholes? My assumption would have been that it was all supposed to be one cohesive thought. Hard/easy money? It all seems disjointed. What am I missing?

 

The entire tax system which is currently designed to give the wealthy a FREE RIDE needs to be rewritten top to bottom to make it fair and equitable to our entire income earning population, all income regardless of the source should be taxed at the same rates with no loopholes for anyone.

 

I believe the requirement was so low all we needed to do was generate the $600 of income we earned on a 96 acre farm. We rented out 20 acres to someone who ran a vegetable stand during the summer.

 

Let's put it this way; My late parents were ''just pay you tax owed, don't ask any questions'' folks, and my non-certified Auntie did their tax returns. Also, my accountant once told me; "Several times, I asked you Mom to have a serious sit-down with me, and she never did''. In other words, after the estate settlement, I also became the beneficiary of his ''tax avoiding'' expertise, and other accounting tricks.

 

I still do not have the faintest idea as to what is your larger point.

We are a nation of laws, which also includes the tax code. An expert that understands tax law is not doing anything nefarious, they are simply applying the law correctly (assuming they are not claiming deductions not legally entitled). Saying things like "tax avoiding", or even "loophole" give this a negative connotation when in fact it does not deserve that designation. There is nothing wrong with properly applying the law. If someone does not want to take all of their legally entitlted deductions, that is certainly their prerogative. There is a sucker born every minute.

 

Among local farmers; rental agreements, leasing/sub-leasing/sub-sub leasing arrangements, both VERBAL and paper trail, ''I'll pay you later'', in-kind payments, use of red diesel for ''off the road'' trucks, ''depreciation of farm equipment, both running and obsolete'', $1 purchases, and a whole lot more. Gee, let's start a thread.



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Quote: I still do not have the faintest idea as to what is your larger point.

For a better understanding, give me an example of ''EASY earned money'', thus, the opposite of HARD earned money?

 

Please stop talking in riddles.

All money earned is "hard earned". Utilizing a tax deduction is not earned money, rather it is an example of keeping more of your hard earned money as opposed to giving it to the government.

 

What again is Easy Money?

 

I've worked for years as being self employed and enjoyed the massive tax write off section of the tax code, you don't need an accountant to read tax law just patience and a codicil.

 

Examples of Easy earned money

Warren Buffet: Daily Routine


''When Buffet arrives to work at the Berkshire Hathaway offices, a majority of his time is spent reading, “I just sit in my office and read all day.” In fact, he estimates that 80 percent of his daily work routine is spent on reading materials ranging from financial statements, journals and business reports, to newspapers and books.''

https://www.balancethegrind.com.au/daily-routines/warren-buffet-daily-routine/

 

So Warren Buffet did not work hard to obtain the knowledge that he has used to make a fortune in the market while building Berkshire Hathaway ? If it is so "easy", what is stopping you from doing so?

I disagree. Warren Buffets fortune is indeed "hard earned".

 

Of course it can. We just need to move most of that stuff away from federal government so it can concentrate on what it should be doing - Defending the country, Dealing with other countries, maintaining a stable currency and resolving interstate disputes. And, frankly, it is so distracted by its incompetence and corruption it doesn't do any of those things very well.

Let the states handle what is worth handling. They face competition from other states and that would help keep government in line and under control. The reason you call them on the phone is to deal with some program or agency that shouldn't be there in the first place or, perhaps, not exist at all. One simple example. Why do we need an education department? It doesn't operate any schools or educate anyone. It just passes money between you and me and state and local governments - not necessarily our state and local governments. It shouldn't be doing that. If it were closed, you wouldn't even notice it. Sending federal funds to states and local governments should be illegal. They are taxing authroities themselves. Get rid of it.

Why does federal government own land that it doesn't use? That land should all be turned over to the states. Social programs go against the concept of equality espoused by the founders. They are the opposite of equality. Think of the money we would save if government treated everyone the same. If the states want social programs they can tax for them and do what they wish without constraint except for competition, of course. I could go on for a week but there is an opposing opinion to yours.

 

He is a financier and a brilliant one. What would you expect him to do in the office? He should be a guiding light for any future entrepreneur.

 

Government should treat people equally. Change the tax law so that it taxes every single citizen the same percentage of income, no deductions. You might be surprised how low that percentage could be.