Daily Archives: February 8, 2012


If this is accurate and I'm inclined to believe it is, it makes arguments about…

If this is accurate and I'm inclined to believe it is, it makes arguments about lowering both income and capital gains tax rates even more pointless. Clearly the system is slanted heavily in favor of the wealthy no matter which way you look at it.

Reshared post from +Tim O’Reilly

This slashdot post puts a couple of important points together about how rich folks can avoid paying tax simply by borrowing against the value of their stock rather than selling it. For example, the post notes that since Jobs never sold his stock, simply borrowing against it, his widow now has to pay no tax at all, even if she sells the stock, since she inherits it at its current value free and clear of tax. (I'm not a tax lawyer, and can't attest that every detail here is correct, but I have heard this same story from tax accountants as well as from very rich friends.)

It would be really good to have a simple tax system with lower rates and fewer dodges, IMO. Of course, that's not possible with human nature, since whatever simplification occurs will soon be gamed, which is why we need a complete overhaul of the tax system every once in a while….

Nice to see that Zuck at least appears to be planning to pay some tax (but the story might have that wrong too. Unless he's doing this with the intention to pay tax, I can't imagine why he'd sell the shares he exercised (which would be subject to ordinary income unless they were held long enough to get capital gains) rather than simply selling some of his founders shares, which he's held since the beginning, and replace them with newly exercised shares, to get the clock ticking for capital gains rate on those shares too.

I guess what I'm saying is that from a tax accountant's point of view, this story probably is as full of holes as swiss cheese, but the notion that the rich do have some very easy ways to avoid paying any tax at all is quite sound, and the technique fairly common among those with large company shareholdings.

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The Zuckerberg Tax – Slashdot
Hugh Pickens writes "David S. Miller writes that when Facebook goes public later this year, Mark Zuckerberg plans to exercise stock options worth $5 billion of the $28 billion that his ownership stake…

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How is bringing a lithium ion battery into the cabin any safer than having it in… 5

How is bringing a lithium ion battery into the cabin any safer than having it in a checked bag?

Reshared post from +Ben Canales

TSA Surprise- NO Lithium batteries in checked luggage!

Heads up Photographers and HDSLR video folks- on a recent job to Fiji, my coworker and I packed our DSLR batteries in our checked luggage. When we got to the job site (a remote island) we discovered our 13 DSLR batteries had been removed from our checked Pelican cases! Job was almost torpedo'd by this, but fortunately we had one battery in each camera that we had on carry on, so we weren't completely sunk.

But, beware- the rule is you have to carry-on those batteries on flights. Evidently they are a fire hazard. Take note and skip the surprise on your next travel shoot!

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/batteries.shtm

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TSA: Safe Travel with Batteries and Devices
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) protects the nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. TSA's regulations, restrictions, and job openings are l…

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How the Chrysler "Halftime in America" ad might have turned out if we had…

How the Chrysler "Halftime in America" ad might have turned out if we had taken Mitt Romney's advice in 2008. I'm sure the hundreds of thousands of Americans that work for Chrysler and its supplier network today would much rather have seen this result.

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Daimler shows the world how not to build a luxury automotive brand!

Maybach was perhaps the epitome of everything that Jürgen E. Schrempp did wrong as the CEO of Daimler from 1995 until he was ousted in 2005. The whole thing is an example of hubris on wheels and based on the estimated €1 billion that Daimler spent to develop the cars and establish the retail network, CAR estimates that the automaker lost an average of €330,000 on each of the 3,000 units sold over the past seven years.

Next year Maybach will again recede into the annals of history and it seems like it probably won't be missed.

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Why Maybach closed: Daimler lost €330,000 on each one | Car Blogs | Car Magazine Online
Maybach: soon for the scrapyard in the sky · The Maybach 62 is very l-o-n-g · There's no faulting the quality on a Maybach… but the taste? The double M badge for Maybach · Maybach will be axed f…

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