Most Recent Posts

Non Sequitur Lawsuit Divides Hovindologists
Given how many Hovindologists are involved in this some of the Parallels with Hovind are interesting. Steve’s notion that taxable income can kind of be suspended is a little reminiscent of Kent’s non-statutory trusts. That one is pretty tenuous. More to the point is the way in which control over the channel compares to Theo’s stealing Kent’s URL and Kent’s fight with Eric over the Creation Science website. I think I recall Kent having trouble with another renegade webmaster earlier.
And then there is the matter of service, now the key legal issue in the McRae v Curtis suit. That is what also threatens to kill Hovind’s half-billion-dollar lawsuit. I noted in my first post on that that they might have a problem doing that properly and it seems that is playing out.

President’s Executive Order On Payroll Taxes – Some Detail
I am so glad I don’t work for a payroll company. What does “generally is less than” mean? If you are figuring out people’s withholding, you need be exact. For people who have set salaries, you should be able to figure it out, but it is kind of difficult for people whose pay is irregular, which is more common nowadays than it used to be.
The other thing that is odd about the provision is the cliff effect. If you are in the “generally less than $4,000” category it seems like all your social security is deferred, but if you are not then none is

Conservation Easements -Is IRS Burning The Forest To Save It?
I am not a big fan of using tax incentives to support worthy goals, but it seems that there is no stopping it. As it presently works conservation easement deductions represent a potential for abuse that will continue to exist even after DOJ and class actions attorney finish their march through Georgia which may wreck the professional lives of many accountants, lawyers, appraisers and others attached to the industry.
A better model might be what is done in low-income housing. There is a credit that is limited by state population and doled out annually. That creates an incentive to use the federal tax benefits more wisely.

Senate Bill Addresses Remote Worker State Tax And Gig Worker Issues
It strikes me that a state hard hit by the “state tax certainty” rule may be New York, since employers will have the option of treating workers not able to come into Manhattan from New Jersey as working in New Jersey. New York tends to be very aggressive in bringing people into its jurisdiction and has a high rate.
Massachusetts had issued a ruling to the effect that during the crisis people would be treated as continuing to work wherever they had been working. Under this legislation, employers could treat people working from home in New Hampshire as being in New Hampshire. New Hampshire does not tax wages.
I am sure there are other pairings of high and low tax states that I am not thinking of. And the high tax states tend to be blue, so maybe there is some politics to this measure, which overall is pretty reasonable.

How QAnon Candidate Marjorie Greene Used Conservation Tax Scandal To Help Win Congressional Nomination
GA-14’s GOP primary has turned into two millionaires throwing corruption charges at each other instead of fighting for their constituents. This ugly infighting among ethically challenged, extreme candidates is exactly what’s wrong with today’s Republican Party

When In Rome – Conservation Easement Scandal Enters Congressional Race
I do believe that there are well-to-do Romans within the power structure of the community and people are reluctant to go on the record in opposition for fear of retaliation

Paycheck Protection Moving In The Senate
There is nothing in either of the two pieces of HEALS that have been released on deducting expenses that are funded by forgiven PPP loans. The IRS in Notice 2020-32 ruled that the expenses were not deductible, which seemed to contradict what Congress intended when it deemed the forgiveness not taxable.
Clearing that up one way or the other would avoid a lot of litigation in the coming years.

Paul Hansen And Kent Hovind Go To A Bridge Tournament To Play Crazy Eights
I prefer board and card game analogies. Litigation is like a duplicate bridge tournament. There are strict rules about when you can bid and you have to be open about what your bids mean. There are also strict rules about how you play. And there is the etiquette on top of that. I like to say that Hovind and Hansen go into court and play crazy eights because that sounds funny. What they actually play is TEGWAR – The Exciting Game Without Any Rules, which ironically is explained in a baseball movie Bang The Drum Slow (go to 0:46)

My Hovind Posts As Youtube Stars
Three very clever, somewhat snarky people read two of my posts making comments as they went along, They only had two hours, so they did not get to the third posts. It was very gratifying that the remarks on my work were quite positive.

IRS Misdated Notices – Some Mystery Remains
It would seem that unless I have a very bad sample, the percentage of misdated notices that went out without explanatory inserts is substantially more than the minuscule percentage reported by the IRS. Something tells me we will be reading a TIGTA report about this. Well, I’ll probably read it. Whether I report on it or not will be determined by my mood and what else is going on.