quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
“It has nothing to do with governmental overreach and everything to do with the amount of people who were cheating on their taxes increasing rapidly.”

Sorry but that is a load of horse shit. If i buy something for $1000 and paid taxes on it at the time of purchase, then turn around and sell it for a loss at $700, the government has no right to tax the “income” when there is a proven loss. Yes people cheat on paying taxes but you’re paining with an overly broad brush.

Agree. And there is more horse shit than that. It's almost everywhere. Bernie Sanders has whipped up a bill to tax 'windfall profits' on corporations. Sweet right? What leftie wouldn't use their food stamps to buy ol' Berns for that one.
So the windfall is based on the profits of the last two years (in the latest form I read) which depending on your business, read 'big oil' as an example, was in the crapper for the last two years. Supply chain was a fiasco, nobody was commuting, nobody was taking the dream tour to New York or any other big shitty, they stayed locked down.
Now big oil is getting a rebound, UNFAIR they shriek. It was fair to watch business fold up their tent and fade away, but now if they make more than you do it's UNFAIER.

It is my patriotic duty to bitch about taxes, so I do. It is my right as a citizen to pay as little as I can under the law so I do. But the way the taxes are thrown into the mix without thought of consequence, the fact that most folks can't now do their own 1040 without help makes me shriek along with the libs.

My gripe, to be clearer, is not that I want to keep cheating, I don't, I resent being lied to about the reasons for the tax, the expected outcomes from the tax and the consequences of the tax.

quote:

Originally posted by hjs157:
So, an individual who occasionally sells used personal property and doesn't claim the proceeds as income is a tax cheat? Legions of Americans use various on-line auction sites to occasionally sell used and/or unwanted personal items - almost always at a loss. In this economy, it wouldn't take too long to reach $600 in sales. Before you explain Capitol Loss, may I suggest that retaining original sales receipts for inexpensive items one may elect to sell far in the future is most unrealistic. Further, Americans who are not engaged in a bonafide business for profit should be free to dispose of their personal property without burdensome regulation or taxation.

^^^This Right Here...Dammit!

How the hell is this taxable 'Income', especially considering that Income Tax was paid upfront for the funds used for the original purchase!

This ranks right up there with 'Unrealized Gains'...

I'm thinking tea party time. We are being taxed to death in every way the fuckers can come up with. Makes me sick.

quote:

Originally posted by wishfull thinker:
It is my patriotic duty to bitch about taxes, so I do. It is my right as a citizen to pay as little as I can under the law so I do. But the way the taxes are thrown into the mix without thought of consequence, the fact that most folks can't now do their own 1040 without help makes me shriek along with the libs.

My gripe, to be clearer, is not that I want to keep cheating, I don't, I resent being lied to about the reasons for the tax, the expected outcomes from the tax and the consequences of the tax.

I'm 100% with you.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
“It has nothing to do with governmental overreach and everything to do with the amount of people who were cheating on their taxes increasing rapidly.”

Sorry but that is a load of horse shit. If i buy something for $1000 and paid taxes on it at the time of purchase, then turn around and sell it for a loss at $700, the government has no right to tax the “income” when there is a proven loss. Yes people cheat on paying taxes but you’re paining with an overly broad brush.

You misunderstand how the Capital Gains tax works. If you buy something for $1,000 and sell it for $700, you have a loss, not a gain and it's not taxable, you just have to be able to prove what your basis was with a receipt of some kind. A pain in the ass, but worth it to avoid the tax.

.

quote:

Originally posted by wishfull thinker:

Agree. And there is more horse shit than that. It's almost everywhere. Bernie Sanders has whipped up a bill to tax 'windfall profits' on corporations. Sweet right? What leftie wouldn't use their food stamps to buy ol' Berns for that one.
So the windfall is based on the profits of the last two years (in the latest form I read) which depending on your business, read 'big oil' as an example, was in the crapper for the last two years.

And guess what? If they actually pass this new tax, the corporations will raise prices and thus pass the tax onto consumers rather than have to absorb it themselves.

quote:

You misunderstand how the Capital Gains tax works. If you buy something for $1,000 and sell it for $700, you have a loss, not a gain and it's not taxable, you just have to be able to prove what your basis was with a receipt of some kind. A pain in the ass, but worth it to avoid the tax.

Do you have receipts for everything you've ever bought? I don't.
The receipt has usually gone in the trash.
Some things are purchased second hand, without receipts to begin with.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

You misunderstand how the Capital Gains tax works. If you buy something for $1,000 and sell it for $700, you have a loss, not a gain and it's not taxable, you just have to be able to prove what your basis was with a receipt of some kind. A pain in the ass, but worth it to avoid the tax.

Do you have receipts for everything you've ever bought? I don't.
The receipt has usually gone in the trash.
Some things are purchased second hand, without receipts to begin with.

Wait, so it doesn't matter if it's a 'hobby business' or not? If you have a receipt proving your original cost for something, you just add the 1099-K info and then add more forms to make it balance out so you're only paying taxes on your profit?

If that's the case, most of the articles about this are BS then. That would be good in this case.

quote:

Originally posted by bryan11:

Wait, so it doesn't matter if it's a 'hobby business' or not? If you have a receipt proving your original cost for something, you just add the 1099-K info and then add more forms to make it balance out so you're only paying taxes on your profit?

If that's the case, most of the articles about this are BS then. That would be good in this case.

Oh for fuck's sake! NOBODY retains receipts for every item they own - especially shit they purchased years earlier. I'm certain this thread wasn't intended as a remedial lesson in capital gains/losses. The point of this thread was to illustrate the $600 exemption for selling personal items on-line is absurd. The goons at .gov may as well have set the limit at $6. No free American should be expected to indefinitely retain every purchase receipt in the event they may later decide to participate in what amounts to a virtual neighborhood garage sale. On a forum where the Second Amendment is regarded as sacrosanct and most posts espouse individual liberty, I'm somewhat surprised to discover there are members who would suggest we collectively bend over and become submissive "bottoms" for the IRS.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Do you have receipts for everything you've ever bought? I don't.
The receipt has usually gone in the trash.
Some things are purchased second hand, without receipts to begin with.

Nope, but I do have access to PDF summaries of my CC charges each month going back years, something Chase provides for free, and that's sufficient evidence.

And you don't submit receipts when you file, you only have to prove your basis if and when you're audited. If you're talking smaller amounts, that means you'll never be audited as it'll cost them more to audit you than they can get from you in taxes.

This isn't about getting more tax revenue. Whatever extra taxes they generate from this won't offset a damn thing with the out of control spending. This is nothing more than another control mechanism and a way to further weaponize the IRS so if there's someone who is a threat to those in power they can use this as leverage to find out about something that person did that wasn't 100% by the book so they can nail them for tax evasion, perjury, etc.

This is going to have big time effects on things like Facebook Marketplace and even Craigslist in addition to eBay and Etsy and all the rest.

And as usual there will be an opposite reaction to this crap with people either quitting, going cash only or going digital like bitcoin.

quote:

And you don't submit receipts when you file, you only have to prove your basis if and when you're audited. If you're talking smaller amounts, that means you'll never be audited as it'll cost them more to audit you than they can get from you in taxes.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Generally true unless you get a Taxpayer Compliance Audit. The IRS does not always use the money factor. I had a two day audit of my one person retirement plan. They flew an IRS agent from Saint Louis to exam the records. Nothing was amiss. She said it was part of a demonstration project.

quote:

She said it was part of a demonstration project.

Oh, Jewish folk called that a "pogrom" back in the old country.

^^^^^^^^^
It sure felt like it.