Create the Change You’ve Been Waiting For
Today our democracy does not work well, and is at risk of failing altogether. In the aftermath of the problems created by the 2008 Great Recession and the 2016 Presidential election, our banks are still too big to fail and our Congress too polarized to govern effectively. Extreme income inequality could undermine our democracy. The underlying purpose of the United States Constitution is to Make Our Democracy Work. Powerful Republicans and Democrats in Congress and on Wall Street have turned that purpose upside down by creating laws and practices that serve their narrow self-interests at the expense of the ordinary citizen and common good. Many conclude that such dysfunction is inevitable, and little can be done to Make Our Democracy Work better.
But I believe there is something we can do.
I choose to look at the world as divided into Goodheads and Greedheads. Goodheads believe as I do that our democracy can work if enough people unite around the common good rather than promote narrow self-interests. Goodheads are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, unaffiliated and of all ethnic, social, religious and economic persuasions. Goodheads do not agree on all issues, but their common attribute is a desire to participate in the discussion and effect the changes necessary to Make Our Democracy Work better. To read more about my rationale for and definition of Greedheads, Goodheads and related terminology, see Rationale for Offensive Terminology.
If enough Goodheads unite we can (at least begin to) Make Our Democracy Work. Join the discussion in the blog on issues like Politics/Business, Education and Health Care.
Tenants sue the Landlord over their 3.5-year-old daughter. O’Neal/Schultz v. McClung
Plaintiff’s lawsuit against Merle McClung regarding their 3.5-year-old daughter.
NOTE: This will be a review of all evidence relevant to the case. This is not the complete version. Updates will be added as available.
Minimizing U.S. Taxes
While the poor and most of the middle class have no choice but to pay their fair share of taxes under U.S. law, the rich have multiple ways to minimize their taxes. Minimizing taxes is legal, and most tax lawyers make their living legally by helping their clients minimize taxes. Avoidance of taxes, however, is not. The illegal way to minimize taxes for rich persons and corporations is to hide their income and assets from the IRS. See, for example, the tax inversion ploys of Walgreens as summarized in the Politics/Business section of this website. Hiding income from the IRS is the ultimate way to minimize tax as no tax can be collected on hidden income.
The U.S. Tax code includes multiple legal ways for wealthy persons and corporations to minimize their U.S. Taxes. I remember the first day of tax class at Harvard Law School, my tax professor, Frank E.A. Sander, stated his belief that the U.S. Tax code should not be used for social/political purposes. Unfortunately the U.S. Tax code is riddled with such which is the beginning of tax inequity in the U.S. Professor Sanders stated that if Congress wants to provide for some social/political purpose it should do so directly through legislation and therefore be held accountable by its voting constituency rather than use the easier and indirect method of using the tax code to do so. With direct responsibility to their constituencies for the social and political purposes they favor we might avoid a great deal of tax inequity in the U.S. For example, billionaire Warren Buffet would not be able to pay less than his secretary in annual taxes. Another inequitable loophole in the U.S. Tax code enables rich persons and corporations to pay less via the legal capital gains rate, which is capped at 23% compared to the rates the poor and middle class must pay.
The unfair U.S. Tax code provides hundreds of examples of tax-deductible incentives for its social/political purposes, and no attempt will be made here to create a comprehensive list, but it is not hard to identify questionable examples.
For decades, the rich have minimized their taxes by use of trusts, which legally skip generations who otherwise would be taxed. Of course, only the rich can afford the lawyers necessary to prepare the complicated paperwork.
The most common legal method for a corporation to minimize tax for its supporters is to create a 501 (c) 3 non profit corporation. This is the method that Fred Noyes is wisely using to preserve the legacy of his famous architect father Eliot F. Noyes. The Eliot Noyes Center is an incipient 501 (c) 3 organization which will steward the legacy of Eliot Noyes. The intent is to further Noyes’ ideas, educating the general public, architects, designers, and corporations. A masterpiece in Eliot Noyes’s work is his personal house, Noyes House II, in New Canaan, Connecticut. Frederick Noyes has spent his professional life immersed in architecture, biology, and education. After graduating from Harvard in 1966 with a degree in biology, he taught that subject at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama. He returned to Cambridge to obtain his M.Arch. from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1972. Mr. Noyes was raised in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he was literally weaned on the influences of the first generation of great modern architects like Marcel Breuer, Philip Johnson, and his father, Eliot Noyes.
Like Fred Noyes, I originally planned on creating a 501 (c) 3 non profit corporation to advance the civic standard and my legacy. Therefore, I created Make Our Democracy Work Institute (MODWI) as a 501 (c) 3 non profit corporation, but soon tired of the extensive regulations governing such corporations. So I decided to create a traditional will where most of my estate would go to my family. This, too, was unsatisfactory because a traditional will involves paying an estate sale company about 40% of all sales, which are then discounted about another 10% to attract buyers at the estate sale. Thus, about 50% of my estate would be gone before my family received a dollar. And the 50% net receipts in my case would go to my family, which is deeply divided over religious and political issues. I did not want my modest estate to go to right-wing siblings like my brother Mark, who is an Assembly of God missionary who supports Trump.
Therefor,e I thought “outside the box” and created Make Our Democracy Work Enterprises (MODWE) as a separate non-profit corporation. As explained in Changing My Will, MODWE will minimize taxes by not selling estate assets to the extent possible. No tax is due unless and until an estate asset is sold.
The extent to which U.S. corporations minimize payment of U.S. Taxes is depicted in the chart below:
Creating equitable taxation for U.S. Corporations and individuals obviously is a monumental undertaking, but should be the ultimate objective for all Goodheads.
The spirit of MODWE is reflected in Leonard Cohen’s inspirational song Democracy is Coming to the USA and in grassroots protests like the Occupy movement initiated in 2011. Such movements might fade from the spotlight, but can still be effective with your help. What else can we do to promote change? Join the discussion in our blog and let us know your ideas!