[lbo-talk] RE: Hummers

twright at ziplink.net twright at ziplink.net
Tue May 13 09:55:05 PDT 2003


Jordan Hayes wrote:
>> The appeal to "small businesses" (read "lawyers and doctors")
>> is, I submit, the only reason that the Hummer--or the Lincoln
>> Navigator or the Chevy Suburban--weighs as much as it does.


> So you're saying you'd like to see the IRS Enforcement Division have
> more power than it already does as an alternative?

No, not at all. I'd love to see, however, Congressional committees that pay attention to the loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code. (Although it would be nice if the Enforcement Division had enough staff to get the Section 861 crowd to start submitting payroll taxes.)

The deductions that I mentioned are completely legal for almost any business. (In fact, most businesses get an additional deduction that I forgot about--expensing up to $25,000--that also has a Hummer- sized loophole.) Many doctors and lawyers set up corporations for legitimate business reasons.

I wanted to point out that the tax breaks for "small business" often go to other than the nation's entrepreneurs. It may be craven for Marcus Welby, P.C. to buy a taxpayer-subsidized land yacht, and irresponsible for GM to make it, but it's the tax policies that encourage this behavior.

--tim francis-wright

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