A note to the reader; those who own the assets still pay little in taxes. That’s why the wealthiest typically support the Democratic party.
Glenn H. Reynolds
Sorry, hipsters.
A recent tweet says it all. “Sam Bankman Fried: I don’t know where $10 billion went. The Pentagon: We don’t know where $2.2 trillion went. The IRS: You just sent $601.37 don’t forget to report it.”
The Biden administration is recruiting 87,000 IRS agents, allegedly to keep an eye on billionaires. But all appearances are that it’s aiming at the little fish of the gig economy instead.
Taking payments for a side hustle via PayPal or Venmo? Not only is the IRS reminding you those payments are taxable income, it’s deputizing those payment companies to snitch on you.
The federal government can lose trillions, as a recent Pentagon audit noted, and nobody goes to jail. Sam Bankman-Fried can lose billions and (so far at least) be treated as a darling by members of Congress to whom he donated. But you’re expected to keep perfect records, and the corporate/government machine that characterizes early-21st-century American governance will be sure to keep close tabs on you.
As Leona Helmsley once allegedly said, taxes are for the little people. And you, hipsters of the gig economy who probably voted for President Joe Biden, you’re the little people.
But wait — it gets worse. People get payments through these companies for all sorts of things, like gifts from family members, expense reimbursements from employers, even money from friends for medical expenses, etc. Venmo and PayPal may — and sometimes undoubtedly will — mischaracterize these tax-free gifts as something taxable.
Well, no problem, you can just tell the IRS that Venmo is wrong, right?
Oh, no. That would be too easy. According to the IRS: “Those who receive a 1099-K reflecting income they didn’t earn should call the issuer. The IRS cannot correct it.”
So if Venmo or PayPal mischaracterizes your nontaxable gifts as taxable income, you have to try to get Venmo or PayPal to change things. Good luck with that. You may wind up having to pay an accountant hundreds or thousands of dollars to straighten out the mess or face an IRS audit.
The threshold used to be $20,000 but was lowered to $600 as part of the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan Act. (No Republicans voted for this monstrosity.) The legislation tightened the screws on the little guy, and that was no accident.
As The Post editorialized in June, “Think about this the next time Elizabeth Warren and AOC whine about the wealthy not paying their share. Yet the legislation they passed goes after hobbyists and little folks trying to earn a few bucks in various side hustles. It’s only going to punish the US economy a bit more: Some will have to charge more to make the work worthwhile; others will quit now that it means more paperwork and taxes.”
Why would Democrats do this? It almost seems as if they’re hostile to self-employment and small business.
Well, it seems that way because in fact they’re hostile to self-employment and small business.
You may have noticed that in this era of social-media mobbing, people get fired from their jobs when spineless employers are threatened by angry online mobs.
But you can’t get people fired from jobs when they work for themselves. Self-employed people — and even people with a second income from a side hustle — are more independent than people who depend on an employer’s paycheck. (Historically, this is why minority groups, subject to bigotry and prejudice in the workplace, have started their own businesses. You can’t be fired for your race or religion — or, nowadays, your politics — if you don’t work for anyone to begin with.)
That kind of independence is anathema to today’s Democrats, who have made pretty clear they want everyone under their thumb. Since the pandemic, in which lockdowns gave preferential treatment to big-box stores while brutally punishing small businesses, it’s been a steady grinding down of small businesses and entrepreneurs. (Well, except for the Bankman-Fried sort of “entrepreneurs” who make six-figure donations to favored politicians.)
This new rule is just another tightening of the screws. If everyone works for the government or a big corporation that’s in cahoots with the government, everyone is controllable. And for Democrats, that’s not a bug but a feature.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.
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Read the original article on NY Post’s website here:
https://nypost.com/2022/12/05/team-biden-is-using-the-irs-to-attack-the-gig-economy/
CJ Evans , great article on the IRS and their 87,000 new agents. Clearly the IRS will NOT go after the top 10% of taxpayers because they have the money to hire powerful tax attorneys and CPAs to get them off the hook. In addition, the top 10% also have powerful influence over their congressional representatives and senators who can influence the IRS to keep their hands off. For this reason, I think Sam Banks Friedman won’t go to jail. Notice how they are treating him with kid gloves.
These 87,000 new agents are specifically directed at small businesses and sole proprietors. This is a plan from the top to bankrupt small business owners out of business as these are the last remaining independent people who don’t suck off the corporate and/or government tit.
I think a lot of small businesses will close down if the IRS gets their audit hooks on them. Many small businesses just cannot be profitable if they have to pay all the taxes required of them and especially if they get hit for back taxes and penalties.
I think small landlords will be vulnerable for the same reasons as small businesses.
The plan is to get everyone working for the government or big corporations as these people are much more dependent and much easier to control.
Here was an email I just sent to my senators.
________
I’m very concerned about Section 1075 of the NDAA FY 2023, as it is an obvious attempt at laying the ground work for an anti-gun program. As a member of Gun Owners of America, I fully support their decision to score against anyone who votes for gun control in any bill. Even if it is in a “must-pass” bill like the NDAA.
Please make sure you push to remove this pilot gun storage program from the final version. Gun Owners of America will tell me if you prioritize my rights.
Many gun owners own guns, because they fear government tyranny. It is amazing looking at the bills you vote on and get passed. Look at the covid scams you helped perpetrate on humanity. The injected people around me are getting sick. I feel sorry for the average working stiff who now has all sorts of IRS monitoring because of recent legislation you helped get passed You stand by and let it all happen.
You couldn’t care less about your constituents, only to the extent they believe your disingenuous rhetoric and vote for you. Both of my senators are either blatant liars or they are lazy and don’t read the legislation they sign. Either way, tyranny rains down, which is why the government doesn’t want us owning guns anymore. You won’t be satisfied until the citizenry are left with peashooters.
The people are waking up as they get sicker and poorer. They are tired of the backed up toilet in Washington DC pouring the sewage all over them.
Interesting – I’m Canadian and I have a very very small side gig making teaching resources for a US site. I mostly made these for myself but I put them out on the market and surprisingly sold some. I wondered how I would get paid for them and the money showed up in PayPal. PayPal tried to get me to link my bank account, but when you do that, you give up a percent of your earnings. So I left it, the amount was so minimal, I didn’t think it was worth giving away my banking info. (BTW our bank accounts are linked to Canada Revenue). Then I discovered that I could use what was in the PayPal account to purchase things in the US. Well well well, that’s like getting myself a little US bank account, in a way, without banking fees. So I was going to put a little more effort into my product over Christmas. But now this. I wonder though – would my earnings get tracked? I’m not a US citizen. I guess I’ll forge on while I can until they figure this out. No wonder Catherine Austen Fits said to stay away from PayPal.
I don’t know how this will affect you.
I only use Zelle to transfer money to my contractors and such. Things less than 1000, though I now have a few tenants who pay rent with the service. It works more seamlessly with my bank accounts. I never use PayPal, or the other cash apps.
As an asset owner, this doesn’t affect me. I am the one sending money, and my rent receipts are counted to the dollar on my tax returns anyway.
Last night’s Rense and Erica Khan program. Rapid onset cancers exploding 🤯💥💥💥
https://knowyouradversary.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/rense_120522_hr2.mp3
I know a lot of people now affected.
https://twitter.com/search?q=Bob%20Rathbun&src=typeahead_click
Holy moly. Watching it gets me sick. So many loved ones will be gone. Only one of my sisters and one of her sons did not take it. 20 immediate people around me did. That’s 90% who did and at least half are starting to get sick or now have peculiar medical conditions that are not improving. A business partner and good friend has a bad cancer that was diagnosed in April. No one in her family ever got cancer. I have been fixing up two homes I own with her in case she dies.
It is sick and I see it getting closer to home. People who were healthy now coming down with Aggressive Cancer.
I noticed my family members around me who got vaccinated have recently been a lot more lethargic and have much less energy in addition to new health issues. My dad is now having chest aches and shortness of breath for the same activities he use to accomplish without issues two years ago. These are symptoms of heart issues. My mother just does not have the energy to do things that she did a couple of years ago. My uncle who was up to date on his Covid shots got a stroke a couple of weeks ago and just died last night. He had health issues before but after the shots those issues got alot worse.
I have also noticed friends and family before the Covid shots who had small health issues before the vaccine become much worse after the Covid shots.
The deadly side effects of these Covid Vaccines are coming very close to home to people around us. I had a big hunch that this would start to happen in a couple of years after the rollout. They trusted the “science “ because those who created these vaccines from the depths of hell had “PhD’s”
At this point I would stay away from ALL vaccines. Who knows what they put in today’s non MRNA flu shots or the smallpox vaccines.
Another one. Sports writer dies while covering a game.
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/us-soccer-journalist-grant-wahl-dies-covering-world-cup-1.6681457
Not even attempting to hide this anymore. Are the jabbed all just whistling past the graveyard at this point?
And which particular topics should I look for?
Read my prior comment to you. You are so young. Your whole life is in front of you. God bless.
Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, was interviewed earlier today on CNBC and he was asked about his observations regarding inflation on the items in his stores. He says many items have not been rising as much lately, and this includes produce and dairy and other items. Where he sees the highest rates of inflation are in the processed and packaged foods. These are the items that are sold by the huge multinationals and they keep raising prices, because they believe they can. I suspect that we’ll continue seeing inflation ebb, unless for some exogenous factor like war.
New cycle low print on WTI just a little while ago. 73.50.
GME: If all I had to go on was the weekly chart and nothing else, I would be saying that the price will eventually move lower. That descending triangle does not look good.
The ER wasn’t that good either, still has a high short %. BBBY has a very high short %, with possible real bad news on the wire. Definite gamble there, yet I think it pops one more time.
Pot stocks had a triple top in a short time frame then was rejected so I doubt anything will happen with the HR 3617 bill this month. Since so much effort detail went into it and it already looks like a passed bill, I think early next year cannabis will have it’s day. I’m not in anything long at the moment.
It’s the very reason fleabay, paypal, and the like were created. To track and collect a fee for every purchase. The road to hell is paved with comfort and convenience.
In the old days one would go to the the flea market or swap meet and pay cash for used items with no sales tax. While that still exists, fleabay turned the flea market “good deal” into a business model with all purchases taxed. And at one point ebay bought paypal? What a surprise! So now taxes and fees are collected.
What ebay has done is standardized the price for an item. Take vintage car parts. Years ago one might find the same part priced differently depending where in the country you are. Now all the parts have a median price – plus tax and fees.
A buddy of mine sells about $80K worth of vintage car parts a year on ebay and got a notice from the IRS. He’s not in jail but had to add it to his income tax. This was a few years ago.
MR. Evans,
I love your blog and value your insight. Please don’t stop.
What should someone with little money in their early 20’s be doing to begin to survive this modern day insanity? Some of us are awake and want to live free. If I had the resources, I would dive right into SFR’s. I just don’t have the means yet. What can we do.
I sent you an e-mail I wonder if you got it?
Thank you sir
I will look for your email in case you ask anything else….
I will sound fatherly here and assume you are a male.
If you abhor multiculturalism like most of the other readers do, since it doesn’t work, and I were in my early 20s, the first action; pick a place that suits you and move with the intention of staying and settling. Sample some places that may interest you.
Second action; learn how money works. I am not saying to get a college degree in business or economics, but if you are to ever get ahead in life, you MUST learn about the concept of how our money system works. Most alt-followers do not, thus don’t rely on the ZeroHedge charlatans and other wannabes. That relegates them to enduring a tougher life. Apply it to your life activities. If you do not, you will make many more important personal decision errors.
Our financial lives are primarily determined by 3-4 major life choices. For instance, whatever your race happens to be, marry a like kind. You should get established and then find a younger woman of like kind and marry. If you are a woman, find an older like kind man who is more established. Remaining single isn’t such a bad idea but if you do, don’t entangle yourself with nutjobs, especially if you start building a mini empire.
You are the only one who can ultimately figure all this out.
With that said, pick a place that is relatively homogeneous, has decent and moderate weather, and offers investors opportunities. There are many places in the lower 48, like the areas I mentioned previously, plus other ones I didn’t.
If I were young and had your energy (and hopefully your health and stamina), I would look to find a place that is closer to a city in a homogeneous place that offered good deals for SFR investors just starting out. Learn to do the work yourself and as you get older and more established, hire others like I do.
There are tons of 100k houses in the southern and Midwest areas. You could buy several over the next few years. With some sellers desperate to sell in a buyer’s market, I would look for sellers that would accept seller financing or “contract for deed.” Outside the major centers, there are some potential deals.
Don’t listen to the MSM and tiktok influencers, which tell you to travel and move about and sample life and enjoy. Our adversary just wants you to chase your tail and waste your life away. Settle in a place that you choose. You can always go on vacations and come back to the place where you live.
I highly recommend that wherever you choose, plan on remaining and establishing a life. So many 20-30s roam around, looking for something and somewhere. Don’t waste your youth chasing your tail. I did for almost a decade and regret it.
Mr. Evans,
Thank you for your reply. I will heed your advice. I am a 23 y/o guy.
Where do you recommend I learn how our money system works? With so much information out there, what websites/institutions are the best to learn from?