And now, for this years John Galt award, the nominees are:

Martha

Martha

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[FONT=VERDANA, HELVETICA]Trial lawyer Gary Baise is the "lower taxes, limited government ... less spending" candidate for chairman of the Fairfax County (Va.) Board of Supervisors, but an October Washington Post investigation revealed that he had collected nearly $300,000 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2005 on an already profitable farm he owns in Illinois. At first, he appeared outraged at himself: "There's no way you can justify this for guys like me. This is what's wrong with government." Nonetheless, he said, he'll continue to take the subsidies. [Washington Post, 10-4-07][/FONT]
 
Martha said:
Nonetheless, he said, he'll continue to take the subsidies.
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He must've realized that he still has to pay his pollsters, even if they predict that he's going to lose by 40 points...
 
He's not a good enough John Galt unless he's standing up to his knees in water in his own garage.
 
What ever happened to John Galt? He used to post here often.
 
[FONT=VERDANA, HELVETICA]So is Gary Baise any different than any of us?

I'm all for smaller govt, but of course I'm going to take any legal tax deduction or credit due me. Whether it is a subsidy, deduction or credit is just semantics - it all means less money flowing from us to the govt.

And if one is NOT for smaller govt, why take any of those deductions/credits? Why not just give a little extra to the govt for all the good work they supposedly do?

My 'holier than thou' detector is clicking just a bit.

Time to brine a Turkey - good day all - Happy Thanksgiving!

-ERD50

[/FONT]
 
REWahoo said:
After an altercation on the forum with someone who claimed to be his ex-wife, JG apparently decided to fold his tent and disappear into the sunset.
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If I remember correctly he was also having problems with his PC and was posting from the library, then eventually faded away.

Is it possible he came back under a different forum name?
 
REWahoo said:
Hey, if the shoe fits...;)
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The shoe fits me. I am for lower taxes and less government. As a young fella I was just outraged (now I am old resigned to the system etc.) that able bodied folks could collect welfare and do nothing all day. I was unable to make the government stop taking taxes from me and disbursing to these folks.

So I bought rental property and had the state and federal government send me money for their rent payment. I found this very cathartic. :)
 
My Dream said:
If I remember correctly he was also having problems with his PC and was posting from the library, then eventually faded away.
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Maybe his ex-spouse got it as part of the divorce settlement.

For a guy of the [-]dumpster diving[/-] LBYM skills he claimed to have, Galt experienced the most amazing problems with technology. I think "problems with my PC" and "posting from the library" were euphemisms for "I don't feel welcome here anymore" or "I'm outta money".

My Dream said:
Is it possible he came back under a different forum name?
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It's possible, although posters with multiple IDs frequently neglect to change their IP address. However they usually give themselves away within the first dozen posts-- failing to pretend to be a newbie by introducing themselves, gravitating toward the same topics & opinions, using the same writing patterns, and even using the same vocabulary.

But if a rabble-rousing poster comes back under a new name and behaves then hypothetically it's not a problem.
 
Darryl said:
The shoe fits me. I am for lower taxes and less government. As a young fella I was just outraged (now I am old resigned to the system etc.) that able bodied folks could collect welfare and do nothing all day. I was unable to make the government stop taking taxes from me and disbursing to these folks.

So I bought rental property and had the state and federal government send me money for their rent payment. I found this very cathartic. :)
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Interesting. We fixed up a house and found that a great big lady with kid could afford it thanks to government assistance - no other job than being a Mom. The house was nicer than the one we lived in, we were both working and dumping our time and money into the rentals, and it was offensive that someone with no job (no offense Moms) could live in better surroundings than us, thanks in part to our paid taxes. Kinda like taking the money out of the wallet with the right hand, waving it, and putting it back with the left.

Since then we've taken a fair dinkum amount of dross from the Section 8 program but never enjoyed it - lots of paperwork, adherence to their rules rather than our own, annual inspections, the time lag in approval and paper shuffling... It has been distinctly pleasurable to have our Section 8 tenants move and then tell new applicants we no longer rent to Section 8, not because of them, but because of the program. Down to four, one moving at month end, one a wonderful old woman who won't last much longer, one a 15 year tenant, and one a go getter gal who will get off the program (hoping to sell her her house on contract - she's a gem). Government programs, at some point, are too much pain for the gain.
 
I take all the breaks the idiotic tax code allows. In fact, as we found in another thread, failing to take deductions can be against the law. So, while I fight for a better system I live with the one we have. There's nothing wrong with that.

Someone really eager to fix the system might tap all the crazy government give-away programs legally available (helping to bring the system down by its own weight) and donate the gained money to charity, and to small government candidates (if any are left) and political action groups.
 
samclem said:
as we found in another thread, failing to take deductions can be against the law.
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Really? Can you point out that thread? I've skipped taking some deductions because it appeared obvious that the paperwork would be a pain, and the deduction would likely be minimal.

-ERD50
 
Martha said:
Man, I am slapping myself silly for starting this thread.
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Well, at least your are not like Trombone Al with his inflammatory fresh milk posts. ;)
 
ERD50 said:
Really? Can you point out that thread? I've skipped taking some deductions because it appeared obvious that the paperwork would be a pain, and the deduction would likely be minimal.
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One example is depreciation recapture on rental housing, which the IRS assumes is being taken even if the landlord is blissfully ignorant of the concept.
 
ERD50 said:
Really? Can you point out that thread? I've skipped taking some deductions because it appeared obvious that the paperwork would be a pain, and the deduction would likely be minimal.
-ERD50
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We're in about the same situation: the standard deduction comes pretty close to what we would get if we itemized, so we generally bundle our charitable deductions and itemize every other year. As the interest portion of our mortgage continues to decline, soon it will be the standard deduction every year.

Here's the thread to which I was referring http://tinyurl.com/yvgnka . Because the tax laws are so convoluted, it is possible for a situation to develop where the taxpayer pays less tax if he does not deduct all the expenses for his business (because he/she will thereby qualify for different tax breaks due to the higher income). In these cases, the IRS mandates that the business keep track of and claim all the deductions. Bizzarro world lives. NRST!
 
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