I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[Replaced_Texan]

It's been years. A new board for the new Trump party.

[taxwonk]

1. Section 162(m). TM I have no doubt there will still be many bankers, lawyers, doctors, etc., still paid in excess of $250K. I just want their employers taxed for it. I want the rest of America making their $16,000-$40,000 to stop subsidizing the ones who don't need welfare. The additional tax revenue can be put to use rebuilding roads and schools, creating jobs that pay a living wage and restoring infrastructure.

2. GGG, You say there are ways that clever lawyers use to get around 162(m). Please to show me how they will do that when there are no exceptions to 162(m) and all increases in wealth are taxed identically? As for sourcing rules, I would deal with them thus: if income from outside the US produces cash or its equivalent that comes into the hands of a domestic individual or entity, it becomes taxable US income. Loans, investment, whatever. Once the cash crosses the border it's taxed. If it is converted to hard goods and then those are imported, deem a sale at fmv at the moment the property crosses.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

1. Section 162(m). TM I have no doubt there will still be many bankers, lawyers, doctors, etc., still paid in excess of $250K. I just want their employers taxed for it. I want the rest of America making their $16,000-$40,000 to stop subsidizing the ones who don't need welfare. The additional tax revenue can be put to use rebuilding roads and schools, creating jobs that pay a living wage and restoring infrastructure.

2. GGG, You say there are ways that clever lawyers use to get around 162(m). Please to show me how they will do that when there are no exceptions to 162(m) and all increases in wealth are taxed identically? As for sourcing rules, I would deal with them thus: if income from outside the US produces cash or its equivalent that comes into the hands of a domestic individual or entity, it becomes taxable US income. Loans, investment, whatever. Once the cash crosses the border it's taxed. If it is converted to hard goods and then those are imported, deem a sale at fmv at the moment the property crosses.

162(m) relates to business deduction of salary. Just make it something other than salary, whether dividends or equity comp what have you. Lawyers who take partnership draws aren't subject to 162(m); it is a corporate provision.

So you're saying that if I keep my cash abroad it's not taxed here. WAHOOO! Not a problem. Retiring to the little Attican villa owned by an offshore trust sounds cool. In the meantime, Canada is close and very, very nice.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

One thing Trump has revealed is that an awful lot of Republicans haven't really been interested in what have been Republican elite's priorities -- free trade, immigration reform, cutting entitlements, tax cuts for the wealthy -- and care more about other things -- in particular, jobs and and halting immigration. Some of this has been clear for a while, especially re immigration reform, but Trump has had a freedom to depart from the orthodoxy across a range of issues.

Does Trump's wealth and skill working the media give him an independence that other Republican politicians won't be able to replicate, or will we see other Republican politicians echoing his positions? In the former case, he's an outlier and the GOP tries to revert to form in the next election, but in the latter case you have something more like a cleavage in the GOP.

Am assuming Trump loses in the fall, but if he wins all bets are off.

[SEC_Chick]

Wonk, so much for your thought that your vote won't matter. Trump has made Georgia a swing state.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...tie-in-georgia

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

Wonk, so much for your thought that your vote won't matter. Trump has made Georgia a swing state.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...tie-in-georgia

Hils it is, then. #NeverTrump

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

Wonk, so much for your thought that your vote won't matter. Trump has made Georgia a swing state.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...tie-in-georgia

Polls don't mean much right now, but in the spirit of amusing ourselves, here's another: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/0...llary-clinton/

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

One thing Trump has revealed is that an awful lot of Republicans haven't really been interested in what have been Republican elite's priorities -- free trade, immigration reform, cutting entitlements, tax cuts for the wealthy -- and care more about other things -- in particular, jobs and and halting immigration. Some of this has been clear for a while, especially re immigration reform, but Trump has had a freedom to depart from the orthodoxy across a range of issues.

Does Trump's wealth and skill working the media give him an independence that other Republican politicians won't be able to replicate, or will we see other Republican politicians echoing his positions? In the former case, he's an outlier and the GOP tries to revert to form in the next election, but in the latter case you have something more like a cleavage in the GOP.

Am assuming Trump loses in the fall, but if he wins all bets are off.

Sebby, is this you? https://zeroanthropology.net/2016/05...united-states/

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

Sebby, is this you? https://zeroanthropology.net/2016/05...united-states/

File under "Cuckoo Pants."

My longest meanderings don't ramble that badly, or attempt to connect so many disparate items and theories.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

162(m) relates to business deduction of salary. Just make it something other than salary, whether dividends or equity comp what have you. Lawyers who take partnership draws aren't subject to 162(m); it is a corporate provision.

So you're saying that if I keep my cash abroad it's not taxed here. WAHOOO! Not a problem. Retiring to the little Attican villa owned by an offshore trust sounds cool. In the meantime, Canada is close and very, very nice.

As for Section 162(m), I would repeal everything but Section 162(m)(1), redefine it to apply to all business entities not disregarded for FIT, and make the only limitation on it an allowance for any compensation to the extent it is exempt from employee income and deductible to the employer under IRC 401. Also, dividends, equity, options, etc. are all taxable compensation except to the extent excluded under the Code. My first step would be to remove all exclusions except for income treated as income of the sole owner of a disregarded entity or income subject to IRC 401.

If it's earned in the US, it's taxed in the US. I was talking about removing the ability to offshore earnings or inbound earnings through loans or other constructive transactions.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

As for Section 162(m), I would repeal everything but Section 162(m)(1), redefine it to apply to all business entities not disregarded for FIT, and make the only limitation on it an allowance for any compensation to the extent it is exempt from employee income and deductible to the employer under IRC 401. Also, dividends, equity, options, etc. are all taxable compensation except to the extent excluded under the Code. My first step would be to remove all exclusions except for income treated as income of the sole owner of a disregarded entity or income subject to IRC 401.

If it's earned in the US, it's taxed in the US. I was talking about removing the ability to offshore earnings or inbound earnings through loans or other constructive transactions.

I love the world of mythically idyllic tax code rewrites. I think it would be a good concept for a computer game, a sort of Oregon Trail kind of thing where if you write the right provisions you get steady economy growth distributed among the whole population and if you fuck up Donald Trump builds a tax-advantaged empire and takes all the little people's money at the casino.

We could call the game "Congress".

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I love the world of mythically idyllic tax code rewrites. I think it would be a good concept for a computer game, a sort of Oregon Trail kind of thing where if you write the right provisions you get steady economy growth distributed among the whole population and if you fuck up Donald Trump builds a tax-advantaged empire and takes all the little people's money at the casino.

We could call the game "Congress".

Given we were initially talking about getting to a flat tax, this is less mythically idyllic and more what we were aiming for. And this isn't about economic distribution. It's about everybody paying tax based on what they earn. What's wrong with that?

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

It's been years. A new board for the new Trump party.

Congrats NotBob. Let's talk about the Meters. A New Orleans quartet founded by Art Neville (later of the Neville Brothers), they were deeply rooted in traditional New Orleans music, but also pioneered a stripped down, riff-oriented funk groove, often instrumental, that puts them right up with James Brown, P-Funk, and later Prince, as one of the more influential funk groups of all time. You can tell this is the case in part by discovering how often they have been sampled in hip hop over the years. Because I missed the Dose yesterday, today is a Double Shot Daily Dose of the Meters, two of their earliest hits that helped define their sound. Cissy Strut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_iC0MyIykM

And Look Ka Py Py. Both gems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfCTHf2ne4

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Congrats NotBob. Let's talk about the Meters. A New Orleans quartet founded by Art Neville (later of the Neville Brothers), they were deeply rooted in traditional New Orleans music, but also pioneered a stripped down, riff-oriented funk groove, often instrumental, that puts them right up with James Brown, P-Funk, and later Prince, as one of the more influential funk groups of all time. You can tell this is the case in part by discovering how often they have been sampled in hip hop over the years. Because I missed the Dose yesterday, today is a Double Shot Daily Dose of the Meters, two of their earliest hits that helped define their sound. Cissy Strut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_iC0MyIykM

And Look Ka Py Py. Both gems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfCTHf2ne4

I think the new board ought to be called "Funk Trump".

But this is Not Bob's board. We only live in it.

[Not Bob]

Interesting interactive from the NYT -- At Least 110 Republican Leaders Won't Vote for Trump.

I have to admit, I am surprised how early (February!) some of the neo-cons spoke out against him, and how they didn't recant their apostasy even when Jeb!, Cruz, and Rubio fell by the way-side.