Tax Guru-Ker$tetter Letter

Friday, January 02, 2004

Special Tax Breaks

In response to an email about our tax code including special tax breaks for certain companies and individuals, I sent the following response.

It is a normal part of our legislative process that tax breaks designed specifically for certain campaign contributors are tossed in. Nobody actually reads the complete entire tax bill, so it is easy to sneak these special breaks in and nobody else learns about it until it's too late.

I have long said that the best and most lucrative investment in this country is donations to our rulers who can do this. It is very common for donations in the range of $100,000 resulting in tax breaks in the millions. In some cultures, these would be considered to be bribes; but they are standard operating practice for our system. This was part of my motivation for my infamous Tax Legislation - Digestion poster.

I don't have a list of the currently operative special breaks. You can probably find some more specifics from some of the taxpayer watchdog groups, such as Citizens Against Government Waste.

- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 1/02/2004 02:33:00 PM Send this post: