Subject: Re: [LPNY DISCUSS] Re: The final blow Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:55:45 -0400 To: From: Bob Armstrong On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 13:55:26 -0000, Jeff Bennett wrote: >=A0--- In lpny_discuss@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Popkin"= =A0wrote: >=A0>=A0The Alternative Minimum Tax may become the final blow >=A0>=A0http://kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2003/10/amt.html >=A0> > >=A0I read the article. While I have sympathy for the couple, let's= not >=A0forget that they could have sold the stock immediately and= walked away >=A0with around half a million dollars. The taxs laws are screwy,= they got >=A0bad advice ( why didn't they get a second opinion ?), Reading the circumstances , the second opinion would likely have= been the same . The "long term" versus "short term" capital gains= distinction itself is a Tax Code distortion designed to induce people to "invest"= instead of "trade" . The AMT is abhorrent . I despise it simply for doubling the= amount of slave labor I have to do to compute what has so far always= predictably been a $0 on some of the returns I have to calculate . It is why I was so joyful when Dan Rostenkowski of my home state= Illinois was sent to prison . It's mainly his abortion created in the= "Tax Simplification Act" of 1986 . The whole notion of an income tax generates intrusiveness and= complexity , and the Statists don't give a damn about accounting costs which= are at least $100 Billion per year . Add litigation costs to that . At least property taxes are based on a single variable , the= assessment of the property ( so that's where the battle is ) rather than= accruals and expenditures and contrived categorizations . Countries , for competitive advantage , should structure their= taxes as a simple rake from the table , due and payable by the recipient= of legal tender , in transactions , e.g. , a flat sales tax . --=A0 =A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864 Return our Right to Relax : =A0http://ny.lp.org/cgi-bin/petition.cgi?Against_the_Smoking_Ban Computing Environment : =A0http://CoSy/CoSy/ A WTC vision : http://CoSy.com/CoSy/ConicAllConnect/ Liberty : http://CoSy.com/Liberty.htm =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02003/09/18 10:24:30 AM