Taxable Talk

A Lincoln Town Car is the top of the line for Lincoln.



It would be hard to confuse a Town Car with a Singer Sewing Machine:



Who could possibly confuse the two?

Well, Charles Edkins of Greenville, Michigan owned Baby Bliss, Inc. They made clothing for the popular American Girls dolls. Mr. Edkins pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion. He allegedly filed false tax returns in 1995 - 1997 and followed that up by not filing any federal tax returns from 1998 to 2003. Additionally, he didn't file corporate tax returns from 1995 - 2003. The indictment also alleged that he didn't file state tax returns from 1999 - 2003 after filing false state returns from 1996 - 1998.

And yes, Mr. Edkins allegedly wrote off personal expenses on his tax return. His Lincoln Town Car became five used Singer Sewing Machines (one for each tire, including the spare). The IRS wasn't as amused as I was.

On the positive side, Mr. Edkins did plead guilty and does plan on making restitution. He'll be sentenced later this year (he could receive up to five years and a $250,000 fine on each count).

You're on trial for tax evasion. Do you (a) hire a good defense attorney; (b) attempt to get evidence that exonerates you; or (c) file fake warrants and fraudulent liens, attempt to disrupt the court proceedings and attempt to "arrest" the judge?

Yes, Robert Beale, already awaiting to find out how long he'll be spending at ClubFed on tax evasion charges, did exactly that. As Joe Kristan reported, his insane scheme "missed it by that much."

Joe Kristan reports that tax evading psychic David Guardino has passed on. We wrote about him three times, most recently last February when he was sentenced. As Joe said, it's a sad way to go out.

Dr. Garland D. Miller was a successful physician in Zwolle, Louisiana. He even served as Sabine Parish's elected coroner. He went through an IRS audit in 1995 and then decided to take action.

Now, we don't have the results of the audit so we can only speculate as to what actually occurred. Suffice to say, it's unlikely it went well for Dr. Miller. So assume you went through a bad audit. Would you (a) Discuss with your accountant tax saving strategies, (b) Embezzle money from your employer, or (c) Purchase a publication from a foundation that argues that the income tax doesn't apply and then implement their strategies?

After the audit he purchased a publication from Save a Patriot Foundation that argued that you don't have to pay income tax. Interestingly enough, in 2006 a court ordered that a notice be put on their home page that states, "The District Court orders...That Defendants...are hereby permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly: ...Advising anyone that they are not required to file federal tax returns or pay federal taxes...." But I digress.

Dr. Miller then ceased filing tax returns. In 2000 he sold his office building to De Soto Regional Health System and became an employee. He was supposed to remit substantially all of his medical income to De Soto but didn't. There's a word for that—embezzlement.

After the local District Attorney investigated, the IRS joined in. Dr. Miller was convicted of tax evasion (it took the jury just two hours to reach a verdict). He'll be sentenced in October and will likely get to spend some time at ClubFed.

If someone ever hands you a publication that says you don't have to pay an income tax just laugh and note that it's good fiction. For if you take it as non-fiction you probably won't like the consequences.

I don't watch soap operas on television. I should add the caveat that I don't watch much television, period. But all Californians are going to get to watch the annual installment of As the Budget Churns.

California has a statutory deadline of June 30th for enactment of a budget. As usual, that deadline has come and gone. California's constitution requires a 2/3 vote in order for passage of a budget. That means that Democrats must get Republican support for a budget or it can't pass.

Democrats proposed last week to increase taxes (shock, shock). Two new brackets would be added: a 10% bracket and an 11% bracket. They also proposed a hike in California's corporation tax (from 8.8% to 9.3%). They also defeated Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts. Republicans vowed that the Democrats' proposals are doa.

The North County Times (of San Diego County) has an excellent editorial on the subject.

[Assembly Speaker Karen] Bass spoke after the Democrats presented their plan to fix the deficit: $8.2 billion in new money, primarily through tax increases. Bass said, in essence, "no more cuts" and fell back onto the controlling Democrats' long-standing line that California does not have a spending problem; "it has a revenue problem." (Republicans are holding firm to a no-tax-increase stance.)

And, in hyperbole at its lowest extreme, Bass asserted there was nothing left to cut except the pay of elementary school teachers, high school principals or firefighters.

Hogwash.

Any private business knows that one does not simply raise prices when facing a new year with projections of less income than anticipated. Instead, a business finds ways to maintain the core of its operations by cutting costs, doing without some things and, if need be, shrinking the work force, either by attrition, buyouts or layoffs.

Is that too much to ask our highly paid, full-time Legislature (now in another weeklong recess) to do, and on time?

Meanwhile, the economic development authorities in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Denver may have yet another opportunity to snag ex-California businesses in the near future.