Chuck Grassley Has Had It with the Hating on Wealthy People

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Which makes a lot of sense since the Iowa Senator has a net worth reported to be anywhere from $2.3 million to $6 million.

The Hill reports that Senator Grassley made his annoyance known in a Senate Finance Committee meeting today, “I get sick and tired of the demagoguery that goes on in Washington about taxing higher-income people,” he said. “How high do taxes have to go to satisfy the appetite of people in this Congress to spend money?” Good question, Senator. Are you changing your tune on ethanol tax credits? [The Hill]

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Going Concern is Not Immune to the Michael Jackson Circus

1.michael_jackson_71246050015.jpgWe’ve been able to avoid the whole Michael Jackson debacle up until now. We couldn’t, in good blogging conscience, avoid this particular story.
The estate of Michael Jackson is probably going to have to turn over at least $80 million to the IRS and they get to cut the line right to the front to collect.
“As in a bankruptcy case, Jackson’s creditors will jockey for first crack at his fortune. But the estate’s initial obligation will be to pay the late star’s taxes, said Beth Kaufman, a Washington-based attorney specializing in estate tax issues. ‘There is no question that the U.S. government has first priority,’ she said.
Oh, and the Service is not going to take the royalty rights to She Loves You or I am the Walrus either:

To settle his tax bill, the executors of his estate may have to sell or borrow against lucrative but hard-to-value assets or ask the IRS for a multi-year extension. That could allow the estate to pay the tab over time with earnings from Jackson’s share in rights to songs by the Beatles and his own music — prized properties whose value will likely make the estate’s tax bill only bigger. “The government is not going to take a Beatles record as payment. They want to be paid in cash,” said Roy Kozupsky, a veteran estate lawyer in New York who has worked on behalf of several wealthy clients.

Reportedly, Jackson still made $40 million a year from his ownership of the recordings. This will no doubt make the calculation of the tax bill more complicated and thus, we’ll continue to be saturated with all the excruciating details about this story that we just don’t want to hear.
Death and taxes: Big IRS bill looms for MJ estate [AP via TaxProf Blog]

This Tax Reform Stuff Can Wait

[I]f we are going to make real progress, we can’t fixate on every overhyped, half-baked tax slogan that comes along. Sooner or later we must get back to basics. Here’s the main question: Should taxes be cut, raised, or reformed without changing overall revenue? The answer is that taxes should be cut in the short term, raised after we are clearly out of our cyclical downturn, and then reformed only after we have settled on the magnitude of tax increases needed for deficit reduction. [Martin Sullivan]

Tea Party Tax Day Photos

As you’re well aware, some Tea Partiers are out and about today (not everyone stayed at home) and the Mile High City was no exception.

Being in close proximity to the Capitol, I decided to run over and check out the festivities. While it was definitely a raucous (yet peaceful) bunch they didn’t seem to mind that I wasn’t listening and was obviously more interested in sociological aspects of the gathering.

With the crowd oblivious to my mission, I was able to snap a few pics (yes, total amateur hour) of some of the more, shall we say, interesting signs.


[caption id="attachment_8580" align="alignright" width="260" caption="Child exploitation!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8575" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Creative Algebra"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_8566" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Obvious stencil job on the hammer and sickle"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_8582" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Does anyone else find unnecessary quotation marks annoying?"][/caption]