Zebulon said
That is a fine example of why we must avoid the politics of envy -- he has more than I do so tax him and not me.  History is replete with tax legislation enacted because it "will only affect the rich, who need to pay their 'fair share'."  
There are two uncomfortable truths about the "rich" and taxes.  
First, legislation allegedly enacted to tax only the "rich" inevitably is broadened to tax the semi-rich, then the almost-rich, then the would-be rich, and finally all but the truly poor. Historical fact, not opinion. 
Second, the "rich" -- high income earners - already pay the vast majority of ALL taxes in the United States. As California, New York, and New Jersey are finding out and as Washington State will discover if its Supreme Court has the chutzpah to redefine income as property (to avoid the Evergreen State's Constitutional prohibition of an income tax.)
The ever-creative California legislature is contemplating a "Hotel California Exit Tax" whereby the ungrateful wr
etches who flee California will STILL be liable for a tax on their income no matter where earned for ten (10) years, to compensate the State for having cradled them in Sunshine and other amenities. You can check out any time you like but your wallet stays behind. I don't know what Cali's legal fees amount to as a percentage of State revenues but I'd hazard a guess the number is not small. The Granola Bowl indeed. 
Moral: Don't fall for the bait-and-switch. 
  

Well said Zeb!

Zebulon said
That is a fine example of why we must avoid the politics of envy -- he has more than I do so tax him and not me.  History is replete with tax legislation enacted because it "will only affect the rich, who need to pay their 'fair share'."  
There are two uncomfortable truths about the "rich" and taxes.  
First, legislation allegedly enacted to tax only the "rich" inevitably is broadened to tax the semi-rich, then the almost-rich, then the would-be rich, and finally all but the truly poor. Historical fact, not opinion. 
Second, the "rich" -- high income earners - already pay the vast majority of ALL taxes in the United States. As California, New York, and New Jersey are finding out and as Washington State will discover if its Supreme Court has the chutzpah to redefine income as property (to avoid the Evergreen State's Constitutional prohibition of an income tax.)
The ever-creative California legislature is contemplating a "Hotel California Exit Tax" whereby the ungrateful wr
etches who flee California will STILL be liable for a tax on their income no matter where earned for ten (10) years, to compensate the State for having cradled them in Sunshine and other amenities. You can check out any time you like but your wallet stays behind. I don't know what Cali's legal fees amount to as a percentage of State revenues but I'd hazard a guess the number is not small. The Granola Bowl indeed. 
Moral: Don't fall for the bait-and-switch. 
  

Absolutely!  The super rich, by far, pay the most in taxes dollar wise, but not percentage wise.

These states that are groveling for tax dollars when the wealthy leave due to legislation are doing it to themselves.  These states also tend to be the most anti 2 A states out there.

There are two uncomfortable truths about the "rich" and taxes.  

First, legislation allegedly enacted to tax only the "rich" inevitably is broadened to tax the semi-rich, then the almost-rich, then the would-be rich, and finally all but the truly poor. Historical fact, not opinion. 

Second, the "rich" -- high income earners - already pay the vast majority of ALL taxes in the United States. As California, New York, and New Jersey are finding out and as Washington State will discover if its Supreme Court has the chutzpah to redefine income as property (to avoid the Evergreen State's Constitutional prohibition of an income tax.)

The ever-creative California legislature is contemplating a "Hotel California Exit Tax" whereby the ungrateful wr

etches who flee California will STILL be liable for a tax on their income no matter where earned for ten (10) years, to compensate the State for having cradled them in Sunshine and other amenities. You can check out any time you like but your wallet stays behind. I don't know what Cali's legal fees amount to as a percentage of State revenues but I'd hazard a guess the number is not small. The Granola Bowl indeed. 

Moral: Don't fall for the bait-and-switch. 

Jeremy P said
Same here. I use TaxAct for the last 25 years and one year paid a CPA to do them to see what I was missing out on...nothing, same result. Back to my 15.95 or whatever annual filing fee!
  

Yes, I paid a COA once about 10 years ago to see what I could save.  Nothing. Called him at the end of the year to see what I could do to lower my (excessive) tax burden.  Nothing.  When he sent me a $60 bill for that phone call, that’s when he got forever fired.

It’s still a great country we live in, but I object to my tax burden when you consider that when the income tax was instituted in 1913, it was created to go after folks like John D Rockefeller, who became the world’s first billionaire that very year.  In order to even have a Federal tax burden, you would have to earn at least $25,000 in 1913.  That’s the equivalent of almost $834,000 in 2026.  Needless to say, I would hazard to guess most of us on this forum earn nowhere near that much annually.

I don’t mind having some tax burden, but it’s gotten to be the middle class/upper middle class is responsible for a disproportionate portion of the tax burden based on income levels because the poor don’t have the income to pay much more than a rudimentary amount and the rich have the means to avoid their fair share.

And I can relate this conversation to firearms.  By my rationale, what I pay in taxes annually and what I think that should be that is a fair & reasonable amount amounts to one really, really nice Winchester 1886 rifle annually, which means that I have “underfunded” my collection by about 40 quality Winchester rifles over the years.😄

Now, how do you deduct that really nice Winchester on your taxes, especially with the now relatively high standard deduction?

Steven Gabrielli said

mrcvs said
USPS forced me to go digital on my tax forms this year.  Mailed in February, never to be seen again.
So where did they go?  Did the USPS lose them, the IRS, or…???
BTW, the reason why you are filing tax returns, when the IRS has. OST, or all, of this information to begin with is because of H & R Block lobbyists.
  

Well the last part is not true at all.
The computer systems have all your income and other data, however The IRS has no idea what your deductions / business expenses /credits are going to be.
if you failed to file a return, the IRS will file one for you based on the computer data. Once the taxpayer receives this and he sees all the deductions that are missing that’s when they file a return and then the IRS will process that one.
I’m retired from the US Treasury. I’ve seen this for decades.
  

H & R Block spends millions on lobbyists each year to purposefully make it difficult to do your taxes, or at least more difficult than it should be.  Google it.

With the high standard deduction and most tax payers in this country having wages only and that’s it, it’s a simple math equation, and yet many low income employees, many of which I work with, pay $300 annually to have someone do that simple math equation for them.  They lack the knowledge or experience to do otherwise.

Other countries send you your tax return and you either agree with it, or don’t, and explain why.  You can add in deductions, rental property income and expenses, etc.

Even filling out your taxes on line is freefillableforms.com.  You would think it would start with irs.gov.

It’s one big massive SCAM.  Back when I was too stupid to realize this, I paid a few hundred to an accountant and found you can deduct that from your taxes.  So, you are saving the percentage corresponding to the tax bracket you are in.  Since you are having your taxes done to benefit the  IRS, I never understood why it doesn’t come off the bottom line (e.g., 100% deductible).

Mike

mrcvs said
USPS forced me to go digital on my tax forms this year.  Mailed in February, never to be seen again.
So where did they go?  Did the USPS lose them, the IRS, or…???
BTW, the reason why you are filing tax returns, when the IRS has. OST, or all, of this information to begin with is because of H & R Block lobbyists.
  

Well the last part is not true at all.
The computer systems have all your income and other data, however The IRS has no idea what your deductions / business expenses /credits are going to be.

if you failed to file a return, the IRS will file one for you based on the computer data. Once the taxpayer receives this and he sees all the deductions that are missing that’s when they file a return and then the IRS will process that one.

I’m retired from the US Treasury. I’ve seen this for decades.

So where did they go?  Did the USPS lose them, the IRS, or…???

BTW, the reason why you are filing tax returns, when the IRS has most, or all, of this information to begin with is because of H & R Block lobbyists.

JWA said

No, they are about 7.5 GB total but I can probably put them into a drop box (if I can figure out how to do that), or, if you have a drop box send me a link where to drag them.  Otherwise, I can put them on a memory stick and mail them to you (old school).  They range from between 50mb to 225mb per year if your email will handle that?
Best Regards,
  

For anyone wanting access to the electronically stored GD's, just PM me your email address and I'll add you.

UPS will happily ship ammunition but wants to pick it up. With a free online MyUPS account, I get a good discount on the charges and only pay $16 for a scheduled pickup. I've recently done that when getting out of my non-Winchester/Browning rifles. I was overinvested in Weatherby ammo and components. Bath time but it helped sell the rifles. 

UPS worked so well Ive been tempted to buy a ShipMyGun label from Bud's to ship a gun via UPS. But I would have to add in a pickup charge because there are no more Customer Service Centers in DFW. UPS has closed them. If I should decide to sell a handgun, that is the only practical way to do it. The only 01 FFL that will book and ship a gun wants $135 to do so, although that includes USPS ground mailing.  That is about the cost to do the 2nd Day Air Saver with pickup fee UPS would get by going with a Bud's label. For an expensive SAA or something, it works. 

I sold off my entire Gun Digest collection to Half Price Books a few years ago after I bought the DVD version on Amazon for twenty bucks. I keep selected volumes on Google Drive and the rest on an external hard drive on my office computer. I miss the paper editions but shelf space was becoming critical for my small library.  The DVD has everything from first issue in 1944 through 2009. They could have stopped sooner -- whenever Warner quit editing and he didn't hold a candle to Amber. The current editions are Delta Sierra.

Not a lot of info on the CFM letter... hmmm