Century Old Tax Dispute Clouds Property Title
The mineral rights in question had been issued to Union Pacific by the US Government in 1901. That’s how we built the infrastructure that made America great. Take land from the indigenous people and give chunks of it to subsidize railroads. The railroads could then sell the land to settlers and charge them to move produce to market.
At any rate, Laramie County taxed Union Pacific’s mineral rights in 1911. Union Pacific did not pay. There was some remarkably quick work done as the mineral rights were auctioned in 1912. No bidders so Laramie County ended up with the mineral rights. In 1919 Laramie County sold the rights to Iowa Land & Livestock Company. For some reason, no deed was recorded until 1949.
Amazon’s Fight With IRS – At Least It Gives People Work
Perhaps the simplest thing would be to tax public companies based on their reported earnings. The foreign tax credit prevents double taxation. By taxing the companies on their reported earning instead of having one set of accountants scheming how to inflate earnings to help stock prices and another set of accountants over in the tax department scheming on how to reduce taxable income, the pressure would be to tell a consistent story. The IRS could to a significant extent ride on the work of the independent auditors and tax provisions would be comprehensible to more than a few hundred people in the country. On the other hand, a plan like that would probably be a job killer for accountants, so maybe it is good to keep things as they are. At least it gives people clean jobs with no heavy lifting.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.