Wesley Snipes Tax Problems

Wesley Snipes bought into an old argument that the government doesn't have the legal right to tax you. Just like everyone else who tried to not pay taxes, he was wrong. Unfortunately for him, his error is going to cost him 3 years in prison.

The article does a good job of giving you the time line of his tax issues and the resources Snipes was relying on for his tax philosophy. It's not a new philosophy, but when you hear about it for the first time, of course you are interested in learning more. If someone told you that you didn't have to pay taxes you would probably want to know more. There are a lot of good sales man in the world too that may even convince you that their Taxing is Illegal theory has solid facts to back it up.

Let me just say, the government can tax you. You are required to pay your legal minimum in taxes every year. Snipes had plenty of cash resources to take his argument to court to try and win. He failed. So I would definitely recommend that Snipes course of action is not recommended.

Find a tax genius who can help you legally minimize your taxes. Like me. You have to pay taxes, but you don't have to pay more than your fair share. (And yes....fair has an interesting definition at the white house, but you still have to pay)

What? Obama isn't doing what he says he is?

On paper, the government offers a lot of solutions to help the economy. In practice, sticky fingers are taking free handouts. Another way to say that is, "the politics of government solutions give absurd amounts of money (your tax dollars) to politician's supporters."

Now, I know that is a very blanket statement and maybe you've heard from your uncle's cousin's grandfather of situations were a politician isn't corrupt. So for those rare gems, obviously my comment doesn't apply.

So to the story, the government has contracts specifically designated for small businesses. Awesome! Small business is the backbone to our healthy economy. We need small businesses. At this point you should be asking, "Then what is your beef?"

The Inspector General for SBA found that 30% of its' small business contracts are being awarded to large corporations. In addition, the government believes that 30% of the stimulus money went to small businesses, while the American Small Business League shows the data that only 3% of stimulus money went to small business.

I believe in capitalism, not socialism. Free handouts and an entitlement mentality are destructive to a healthy economy. So money flowing through the system whether it be a large corporation or a small business is still a good thing when compared to printing money we don't have to provide benefits to people who don't want to work for it. But if you are going to isolate something as a "small business contract" then give the contract to a small business.

First Time Home Buyer Credit for Prisoners

Around 1,300 prisoners across the country claimed the first time home buyer credit during a period in which they were incarcerated. Unfortunately, the prisoners aren't the only ones trying to get a free and illegal handout from the government. I think what is sad about the whole situation is that none of the incredibly creative illegal schemes to get the credit are surprising. Meaning, it was very predictable that scams would happen.

What is even more tragic though are those that actually qualify for the credit now have to wait months and have the pleasure of additional scrutiny on their own tax return before the IRS sends them their first time home buyer credit.

H&R Block Slims Down

According to the latest report, H&R Block has closed 400 retail locations. I found a quote by Block President and CEO Russ Smyth very interesting.

“We operate in a challenging and competitive environment, and to be successful we must find new ways to provide better value to our clients,” said Block president and CEO Russ Smyth in a statement. “This requires that we narrow our focus and invest in a few key initiatives that will have the greatest impact on attracting and retaining clients in our retail and digital channels, while eliminating other activities and their related costs.”

So H&R Block closed down 400 locations in order to provide better "value" to it's clients. You know what it's going to do with the money it saved by closing those 400 locations? It plans "to allocate more resources toward client growth initiatives." That's a fancy way of saying advertising.

So to provide better "value" for its' clients, H&R Block is going to spend more money on advertising. Here's an idea. Why not spend the $140 million on training employees so they actually know something about taxes? H&R Block is losing clients because the majority of the tax preparers know little about actual tax law.

Incite Tax & Accounting has a great retention rate because we actually provide value for our clients in the form of excellent tax knowledge. That knowledge comes out as we make sure our clients pay the legal minimum on their tax bill.

That being said...we sure wouldn't mind have $140 million to spend on advertising to get the word out that we are less expensive than H&R Block and we actually know taxes.

Man Shot at H&R Block Employee

I'll be the first to tell you that H&R Block is not a place you want to have prepare your taxes. I think the majority of H&R Block employees know how to operate the tax software, but know nothing about taxes.

That being said, it's frightening that there are crazy's out there that would pull a gun on you for apparently messing up your taxes. Hopefully the police can find this man and arrest him.

As serious as the murder attempt was, I think a more serious crime is that he thought H&R Block was a good place to go for tax prep.

Beat down on Economy

Every morning I try to take 15 minutes to keep up to date with the world of tax. This morning I read an article "CPA Financial Execs Upbeat on Economy."

These types of articles are a joke. Anyone who has ever taken a statistics class knows that ANY survey can be manipulated to fit the outcome you want.

Apparently there was a 28 percentage-point swing of optimism versus pessimism. I guess the CPA industry was very pessimistic. Read the article if you want, but it really is a joke. The percentages they throw out mean nothing.

My point is this: "Who cares what CPA s opinion's are about the economy?" The only thing that matters is what is really going on in your life. So many people are thriving in this economy. Your economy is the only thing that matters.

If your economy is suffering, give me a call. I'm happy to help however I can. Click this link for my phone number.

My First Blog Post

I guess this blogging thing is supposed to be really easy. But I always wondered why blogging is so popular. Why should I blog? Who wants to hear from me? or Why should I follow someone's blog? It's simple. Value Creation!

I spend every day thinking about and studying taxes. It's what I do for a living. It also just so happens that there are billions of things that I know nothing about. So if I have a question I go to google.com. No more encyclopedias.

My intention is to create value for my blog followers. I want to help you better understand the crazy world of tax. I believe that if I create value, value will be created in my own life too.