Comments on: To Owe or Not to Owe: Tax Time 2019

By: Matthew Hoh

Matthew Hoh — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:07:13 +0000

Thank you Ruth, Ed, David and Larry for this discussion!
Peace,
Matt

By: Larry Bassett

Larry Bassett — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 19:44:31 +0000

The idea of converting to a Roth IRA and then not paying is a fascinating one. In the real all days resistors would sometimes claim a war tax deduction to eliminate a tax debt. We occasionally heard of someone getting a refund based on that deduction! My dilemma for 2018 taxes is that I withdrew funds from accounts that had mandatory withholding. But my deductions for charitable giving were so large that I will supposedly get most of that money refunded. But I expect the IRS to capture that refund and apply it to past due resistance!

By: David Gross

David Gross — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:08:33 +0000

Here’s a solution for some people who find themselves in this dilemma… if you catch it early enough:

If you have put money into tax-deferred retirement plans like an IRA, you can transfer some of that money into a Roth IRA. When you do, it counts as taxable income (for the tax year in which you make the transfer), that you can then refuse the taxes on. (As a bonus, if the IRS fails to retrieve that refused tax, the money you put into the Roth is money you can withdraw tax-free during your retirement.)

By: Ed Hedemann

Ed Hedemann — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 15:12:17 +0000

Yes, an interesting dilemma for those of us who are not content with just refusing to pay war taxes but also want to openly RESIST war taxes in order to put additional pressure on the machinery of war. I never want to be in a position of not owing taxes, even if that means resorting to claiming enough extra income so that I’ll show a tax due that I then can refuse to pay.

If the IRS ever got wind of this, I wonder whether they’d dare prosecute someone who altered their tax forms to claim more taxes than actually owed and, of course, didn’t pay them?

As to the new forms, this brings to mind Russell Baker’s “A Taxpayer’s Prayer,” which was quoted in yesterday’s NY Times obit of him: “O mighty Internal Revenue, who turneth the labor of man to ashes, we thank thee for the multitude of thy forms which thou has set before us and for the infinite confusion of thy commandments which multiplieth the fortunes of the lawyer and accountant alike….” If Baker were still alive, he would have no need to update the “prayer” (aside for broadening the scope of laborers).