tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post741072254752119233..comments2023-10-09T04:11:47.358-07:00Comments on Not A Potted Plant: Time To Change My Job DescriptionBurt Likkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-60534279910059505112010-12-30T20:57:58.516-08:002010-12-30T20:57:58.516-08:00Good luck, Mark! I'm sure you'll do a good...Good luck, <b>Mark</b>! I'm sure you'll do a good job. Come on back when you can!Burt Likkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-21760584248484693862010-12-30T20:18:43.723-08:002010-12-30T20:18:43.723-08:00I gotta be honest, as a Christian and potential fu...I gotta be honest, as a Christian and potential future minister (I'm an elder candidate) I don't really understand the point of tax incentives to churches or ministers. I've also seen churches abuse the idea of housing allowances with stuff like, "Yeah, it looks like he's making way more than he probably should, but some of that is a housing allowance." <br />I've seen some pastors get in a tizzy about the potential lost of tax-exempt status. But I don't understand why they think they deserve it in the first place. Last I checked the state didn't treat the early church too well.<br />Anyway, I stopped by your site again because I've got my first scheduled sermon this Sunday, and because we're working our way passage by passage through Mark, I ended up with one of the passages you listed in your 10 most offensive passages in the Bible post. Maybe I'll post a link to it after the fact.<br />Cheers.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16934395011113767914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-28774583639489911372010-12-25T10:21:01.951-08:002010-12-25T10:21:01.951-08:00Your comments describe what is wrong with today...Your comments describe what is wrong with today's Income tax system. At best it is erratic and at worst it is psychotic. <br /><br />Inhabitants and businesses of this country spend billions of dollars a year and then spend billions of hours in attempted tax compliance. This just to figure out what they owe or don't owe in Income taxes. <br /><br />The Income Tax code itself is made up of 9,834 sections comprising more than 16,845 pages of arbitrary and contradictory laws and opinions.<br /><br />This plus an additional two-and-a-half million more pages of Income Tax Regulations, Income Tax Revenue Rulings, Income Tax Letter Rulings, Income Tax Memorandums, Income Tax Publications, plus Tax Court, Appeals Court and Supreme Court Opinions. These are all written in an effort to explain and/or argue about the mind-numbing Income Tax laws.<br /><br />Most personal, financial and business decisions all have to take into account this Income Tax system and generally require assistance from tax accountants and tax lawyers who all have different opinions on how to use and take advantage of the Income Tax legal code. <br /><br />Most government officials do not understand the Income Tax code (try calling them up and getting a consistent answer to the exact same tax question – good luck on that). <br /><br />If you are ever the victim of an Income Tax Audit based on the income and deductions you reported on your personal and/or business Income tax return, it could easily cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars to defend yourself. <br /><br />The Income Tax laws are written so that you are automatically guilty and you must prove your innocence. Thus you have to ‘prove your innocence’ against an Income Tax system that contradicts itself within its own code. <br /><br />Every single inhabitant of the country is required by law to keep an accounting of their yearly income and deductions (for the Income Tax) and is required by law to maintain ongoing lifetime balance sheet and net worth calculations (for Estate and Gift taxes)<br /><br />This accounting is subject to government scrutiny and must be proveable. <br /><br />So the psychosis of this Income Tax system is embedded in every single facet of your life, from the government to the courts to tax lawyers to tax accountants to financial advisers. <br /><br />Unless something is done to get rid of this “system”, the current Income Tax scheme is going to continue to wreak financial havoc on the United States economy and its inhabitants.scottgreenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13890076830959622167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-83759321340458778472010-12-23T18:17:35.139-08:002010-12-23T18:17:35.139-08:00Could you negotiate a similar compensation with on...Could you negotiate a similar compensation with one of the partners? Supposing you make $200k a year as lawyers out there in Californ-i-ay, why not see if the practice can change you from a current salary, to one where your salary is 50K and the other 150k is your housing and living allowance, which you can then bill back to them with various recipts for groceries, mortage payments, etc etc. That would lower your burden too wouldn't it?<br /><br />I just don't see where many employers, unlike a church, would want to get into keeping track of all that.Rob Ostermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07226679027078689566noreply@blogger.com