posted August 03, 2011 06:46 PM            

george lucas does some of( probably when the housekeeper has forgotten something) his own grocery shopping...i stood behind him at the supermarket the other day while he used COUPONS to buy a few items.

the millionaire next door was a book all about how there is only so much you can buy before it becomes just another purchase. my ex has been having this problem lately...in order to save on taxes he and his partner try not to take cash out of the company. purchases BY the company are another matter, but he has realized recently he doesn't need or even WANT another car, dining room set or camera...

there is a house i love in the hills over the bay here. built in 1930, a rambling but not ostentatious affair with a worldclass view and a couple of acres of prime real estate..worth a couple of million even in today's market BUT

owned by a family trust
bought decades ago so
the property taxes on this gem reflect the purchase price (that is how cali does prop taxes). the owners of this prize pay $200/month or $2400 a year in taxes. my sister in her rundown junker house with .10 acre pays more.

posted August 03, 2011 06:51 PM            

i have a few libraries on the "donate to" list, and certainly would spend some of it, but to ESTABLISH a base, not to show off or consume just because i could.

posted August 03, 2011 07:53 PM            

RE George, well he is one big coupon carrying bovine is he not?

yes, if I were to find myself in that bracket I would never consider that $200 restaurant wine a bargain , followed by an $125 shot of Louis XIII.

Disposable income?

Checked out that book. I would imagine you have a stellar library kat.

Back in the day the thought of a true British library with the leatherbounds, circular staicase... hearth, was a fantasy of mine.

Now I get really tingled when I find resales on amazon, or the local thrift for 2-3 dollars

posted August 03, 2011 08:01 PM            

wondering how many rich folk are laughing up their sleeves at the suggestion that balancing our books by cutting expenses is more important than getting people back to work, even if it cost MORE money...how many of them would balk at borrowing to get their company back on track ?

posted August 03, 2011 10:56 PM            

and for some reason they - or some of them - will choose to pay a lawyer or lobbyist to SAVE money on labour and taxes rather than just go ahead and pay the workers and government for what they have received.

posted August 04, 2011 09:21 AM            

Where's your supporting evidence this is even close to true?

America has the highest corporate tax rates in the world.

America has one of the highest capital gains tax rates in the world.

O'Bomber and fellow Marxists want the rates raised even higher.

While there may be a few bond coupon clippers...like the Kennedy family, most wealthy Americans made the bulk of their money in their own generation.

posted August 04, 2011 11:29 AM            

No one here should be confused about how much money is currently in the hands of big corporations, however. They're sitting on record amounts of cash at present.

Nearly a third of all federal taxes came from corporations in 1952. Last year, they paid just 8.9%, according to government figures. Loopholes, credits and the ability to shelter earnings abroad have helped many of the country's biggest companies pay far less than the corporate tax rate set into U.S. law. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/20/business/la-fi-corporate-tax-20110420

posted August 04, 2011 11:04 PM            

When are you too rich to shop for your own groceries or use coupons? Is it bad if "rich" people shop at Costco? (I love Costco, btw)

And just because you have money doesn't mean you should just become a mindless consumer wantonly spending money as if there is no end in sight (then we'd be the US government).

posted August 05, 2011 04:13 PM            

Kat, since you have owned businesses before, did you take your write-offs and deductions? Or did you waive them and pay the maximum tax on your income? And for those with kids, do you take your lawful deductions on your 1040 for having children? Or do you graciously just pay it in taxes to support your cause of high taxation?

posted August 05, 2011 07:23 PM            

Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes (Bloomberg)

I think there's ample evidence of loopholes.

posted August 05, 2011 07:25 PM            

in fact those that ARE investing in their companies are buying from china, just like donald trump, who thinks it is criminal that the chinese workforce is so cheap he can't afford NOT to...of course it would be SOCIALIST to expect people shopping for cheap extranational goods and labour to pay a tax of some sort for the privilege! can't have our home workers employed now, can we?

but "there is no such thing as a loophole"?? really randall? tell that to the billionaires whose trust funds i helped set up a few years ago...to GE who got a refund despite record profits...and so on.

in fact, tell that to the accountant who "saved" my father a fortune the year our house burned down...that loophole was one too many and came back on my dad, but there were plenty others...which made the 91% bracket he was in much less painful for years.

posted August 06, 2011 03:25 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Randall:
Trickle down always works. If the money isn't reinvested in wages and other expenses, then it is taxed. There's no such thing as a loophole. Businesses have deductions (some of which are varied by the type of entity), and anyone who starts a business or forms a corporation has access to the same. Whether the corporation itself pays a lot in taxes or not, the officers and employees receive wages which are taxed at the source, and they then pump money into the economy. Google has a lot of employees. And 5 percent with Google is a lot of money, since they make billions in revenues. The goal of a corporation should be to pay as little in taxes as possible. Money paid in taxes is like throwing it down a rathole. I would rather hire more employees and expand my business than to waste it by sending it to Washington. But taxes will still get paid through wages. The employer also has to match social security taxes paid by employees. So, if a corporation isn't paying much in taxes, you can bet they are still pumping it into the economy through expansion (and the labor asociated with expansion, i.e. construction, etc.) and through wages, because if they retain earnings, they will be taxed at the maximum corporate rate, so they almost have to be re-investing it to not pay tax on it. Not to mention that dividends are taxed twice on the same money, which is not fair at all!

Kat, since you have owned businesses before, did you take your write-offs and deductions? Or did you waive them and pay the maximum tax on your income? And for those with kids, do you take your lawful deductions on your 1040 for having children? Or do you graciously just pay it in taxes to support your cause of high taxation?

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I agree with you and jwhop 100%. While small businesses and corps are suffering, the President is living it up. What is the phrase that lead to the end of the BS.."let them eat cake"?