IRS vs Joe Everyman

[Ham n Cheese]

Uncle Sam spoils dream trip to space - CNN.com

[Kiroy]

I'd figure out how to pay it. Dumb ass for not eating the taxes IMO.

[Believe]

Should have just made a website begging for the money. Could even do some gimmicky shit while he's in space.

Didn't some dumb woman get people to give her thousands of dollars online to pay for her credit card bills from her expensive shopping habit? And some retard got thousands of dollars by threatening to kill some animal if people didn't send him money?

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Believe

Should have just made a website begging for the money. Could even do some gimmicky shit while he's in space.

Didn't some dumb woman get people to give her thousands of dollars online to pay for her credit card bills from her expensive shopping habit? And some retard got thousands of dollars by threatening to kill some animal if people didn't send him money?

Buy this book or the bunny dies. Yeah, it was savetoby.com. That's still a lot of fucking money in taxes.

[Eomer]

I've always kind of thought it's fucked up that the US charges taxes on lotteries and contest winnings. This just proves it!

[Thorpe]

This is a reason I hate all those "Extreme Makeover" shows. A lot of the times, the people they surprise can't even stay in the new houses because some of the work is taxable even though it is considered a "gift". They don't ever mention that during the show.

[James]

Yes they can you jackass. They don't start building houses until the taxes are paid for for *at least* 10 years. Lots of wealthy businessmen and uhh, other wealthy people, donate to that shit because it makes them feel good, and I believe it's some sort of a tax writeoff.

[Millie]

Paying taxes on gifts, inheritances, free prizes, and anything of that sort is completely ass-backward, IMO.

Fun Fact: You'd have to win the top prize on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" at least twice before becoming an actual "millionaire" from the show. This is because a million-dollar prize is, after taxes, somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000.

[Millie]

That said, if the guy facing $25k in taxes for the space flight can't find a way to make up for that $25k, he's not smart enough to be in space in the first place. I'm sure he could easily have signed a book deal with an advance worth 5 times that amount. Hell, big publishers offer book deals to just about anybody these days. I'm sure "first average shlub in space due to contest" would make an inspiring enough story for HarperCollins or Random House to fork over $1MM or so for the rights.

[Benito Fireslinger]

thus the reason a fair tax system. we could avoid all this bullshit tax with lotteries and the such

[Sarvius]

Originally Posted by Millie

That said, if the guy facing $25k in taxes for the space flight can't find a way to make up for that $25k, he's not smart enough to be in space in the first place. I'm sure he could easily have signed a book deal with an advance worth 5 times that amount. Hell, big publishers offer book deals to just about anybody these days. I'm sure "first average shlub in space due to contest" would make an inspiring enough story for HarperCollins or Random House to fork over $1MM or so for the rights.

Quotes like these worry me. Do you speak from experience, Millie? By that I mean have you published a book? Or wait, have you written a book? It's really not as easy as it sounds, and getting a book published often costs the author more than what they end up making off of it.

Who the fuck cares about some schmuck and his prize winning for knowing Java code? That sounds like an instant flop to me, and I'm sure that HarperCollins and Random House (or, probably more notoriously, Penguin) would think the exact same thing. It's not like people are knocking at your door begging to give you $1 Mil to write a book. Hell, even authors like Vonnegut or Bradbury rarely get advances of more than $50k.

You seem to think that books are very profitable, when in actuality less than a thousand writers actually live off of their writing.

[Millie]

Originally Posted by Sarvius

Quotes like these worry me. Do you speak from experience, Millie? By that I mean have you published a book? Or wait, have you written a book? It's really not as easy as it sounds, and getting a book published often costs the author more than what they end up making off of it.

Who the fuck cares about some schmuck and his prize winning for knowing Java code? That sounds like an instant flop to me, and I'm sure that HarperCollins and Random House (or, probably more notoriously, Penguin) would think the exact same thing. It's not like people are knocking at your door begging to give you $1 Mil to write a book. Hell, even authors like Vonnegut or Bradbury rarely get advances of more than $50k.

You seem to think that books are very profitable, when in actuality less than a thousand writers actually live off of their writing.

I'm not saying book writing as a career is profitable. I'm saying that the major publishers throw a ton of money away on flash-in-the-pan, 15-minutes-of-fame media "celebrities." Jurors on the frickin' OJ Simpson trial were offered $1MM+ advances, for Christ's sake. Were they professional authors, much less exciting figures? Not really. But they got book deals nonetheless, and I'm sure their stories were hacked out by a Neil Strauss type for pennies on the dollar.

I'm not saying any of the following:

1) That professional book writing is some sort of easy gravy train
2) That anyone can write, much less publish a book

I am saying the following:

1) That any schmuck who makes a big enough splash on the news media, even for 5 seconds and for something completely inane, can get a book deal in this country.

This was even truer prior to Judith Regan's firing from HC.

Also, your choice of analogies in Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury seems odd, or at least misplaced, here. They may be great writers, but their books don't fly off the shelves by the boatload, and hence, they don't get enormous paydays. Whereas the Michael Crichtons and John Grishams and even Dr. Phil McGraws of the world get giant advances, because their books sell like crack cocaine.

The publishing industry isn't a meritocracy based on writing ability, or even quality of product. It's based on what sells. Same with any other entertainment industry. Michael Bay gets a bigger paycheck than Richard Linklater. Joe Schmuck who served as a juror on some huge trial gets a bigger (if admittedly one-time-only) advance on his book deal than Kurt Vonnegut does on his 20+th book deal.

This is all really beside the point, anyhow. My original point in this thread was not about the relative merits and perils of the publishing industry. It was about how any idiot with a "triumph of the human spirit" story, a grain of self-promoting savvy, and a national spotlight can get an advance.

[Thorpe]

Originally Posted by James

Yes they can you jackass. They don't start building houses until the taxes are paid for for *at least* 10 years. Lots of wealthy businessmen and uhh, other wealthy people, donate to that shit because it makes them feel good, and I believe it's some sort of a tax writeoff.

If you mean the taxes for the land and the building, then yes, but not for the taxes the family would have to pay for the gift (meaning the value of the additions/improvements on the house, as well as the money "given" to them to pay said taxes).

Originally Posted by Millie

This is all really beside the point, anyhow. My original point in this thread was not about the relative merits and perils of the publishing industry. It was about how any idiot with a "triumph of the human spirit" story, a grain of self-promoting savvy, and a national spotlight can get an advance.

I would have to imagine he could get a company to pay him 25k to wear their t-shirt while going on the flight, unless Oracle had something preventing that in the fine print.

[James]

Originally Posted by Thorpe

If you mean the taxes for the land and the building, then yes, but not for the taxes the family would have to pay for the gift (meaning the value of the additions/improvements on the house, as well as the money "given" to them to pay said taxes).

They don't pay taxes on the 'gift' portion at all. The dudes up at the top know what the fuck they're doing -- there's a reason why they have to build the house in like 10 days or less . Or however long it is. It's a gay show anyway.

[Laek]

You have to pay taxes on any gift over $10k. The only way I think they can get around it for those families is setting up some type of non-profit group to own or give the house and goods.

The gift, winnings, and inheritances tax make total sense to me. It was implelmented to keep a royalty type class in the US from developing. It hasn't really worked out all that well though. Now the minimum amount should be changed(specially on winnings) since I don't think they have been updated in years. Now how that money is spent is a totally different story. Hi to you $400billion for defense and $60 billion to education.