I'm mad as hell and, well, you know the rest

I get hacked off every year about this time. No, it’s not the blood moon or frustration that the new season of 24 can’t come soon enough. It’s not that NCAA basketball is over or even Mother Nature slapping us with another ‘sprinter’ before real spring arrives. What’s got me all hot under the collar? I just did my taxes.

I know, I should probably let someone do this for me, put myself at arm’s length. Maybe if I don’t see all that money going out the door I won’t notice it. But I feel it necessary to see

where all my money’s going. That’s why I agonize over the tax forms every year.

This year was particularly brutal. I wouldn’t mind so much if I were able to choose where the money goes. For the second year in a row, we have more people getting food stamps than we have women working full-time. Think about that. Most of the food stamps go to women with children. Now we have about as many on government assistance as working. Talk about your war on women.

We have a national debt over $17 trillion. That number doesn’t even mean anything to most people anymore. It’s so out of control that we will never be debt-free in this country ever again. Well, then, why worry about it? Because we have to pay interest on the debt.

Right now we pay just under nine cents of every tax dollar to service the national debt. That’s more than we pay on government, education, agriculture and science combined. The experts tell us if we continue down the same road we’ll be paying about 30 cents of every dollar on interest by 2040. By 2050 it would be half of all money coming in. Think about that. No matter what your pet project is, there would be half the money to argue over because of the ballooning debt.

Here’s something else to think about. The Heritage Foundation estimates that, given the current road we’re on, by 2030 entitlements plus the interest on the debt will consume all tax revenue. We’re talking Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare plus interest on the debt and there’s no more money. That means no money for defense. No money for infrastructure. No money for science or natural disasters. No money for anything.

Don’t get me wrong about this tax business. I don’t mind paying taxes. Really, I don’t. What I mind is when my money is being wasted. What I mind is seeing all these people abusing food stamps and other government charities. What I mind is watching billions, if not trillions over the long run, thrown down a rat hole chasing a phantom like man-made global warming.

What I mind is seeing half of the people around me pay no taxes whatsoever and another 40 percent get money from the government they’ve never paid in through the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The liberals love to say the tax system isn’t fair and they’re right, only they think the rich should be paying more. I don’t know where I fit in as far as the rich go but I can tell you this. I’m one of the top 50 percent who’s actually paying taxes and I’m sick and tired of pulling this wagon while half the folks are riding.

If you’re making over $100,000 you’re in a group that’s paying 72 percent of all federal income taxes. That’s outrageous! Too few are working so that too many don’t have to.

And you wonder why I’m mad?

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

IRS misconduct no surprise to me

(This column originally appeared in Talkers Magazine)

The revelation that the IRS was targeting conservative groups came as a shock to much of America.  For me, it was all simply a confirmation of something I’ve been experiencing for some time. 

A couple of years ago I began getting inquiries from the IRS.  They wanted me to explain certain items I’d taken as deductions.  I had the same experience back in the mid-‘90s when I first moved to Philadelphia.  This was during the Clinton administration and I figured when I landed in Philadelphia to do talk radio I also landed on the administration’s radar.  Again, it was petty stuff like making me dig up receipts from prior tax years and fill out all sorts of annoying forms.  Once I satisfied the requests for one year another inquiry for another year would begin almost immediately.

So when this all started again with me a couple of years ago I decided to contact some of my friends in the talk radio business.  I e-mailed back and forth with some high profile talkers.  A couple of them admitted they were going through the same thing but told me in no uncertain terms that they did not want their names made public.  That’s how frightening the IRS can be.

I, on the other hand, was sick and tired of it so each time I got a letter I shared it with my listeners.  I knew I was running the risk of damaging my reputation.  After all, being investigated by the IRS puts all sorts of ugly thoughts in people’s minds.  I also knew I’d be inviting more ire from the IRS but I thought the story was important enough that I needed to tell my audience what was going on.

They began to target my mortgage interest deduction.  Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats had limited how much mortgage interest you could deduct.  The IRS disallowed all of my mortgage interest, not just what would’ve been above the limit set by Congress.  All of it.  And they sent me a bill for tens of thousands of dollars.  I knew they were wrong so I went through the pain of digging up the information they needed.  That wasn’t enough.  They wanted more documentation from the mortgage companies, one of which had been absorbed during the mortgage meltdown by another bank.  Once I provided the requested information they just moved on to another year and started the process all over again.

What’s amusing is after the third time they discovered that I had made a mathematical mistake to my detriment.  They sent me a check for several thousand dollars.  I could tell it was sent begrudgingly because the check arrived with no explanation, no note, no nothing.  At first I thought it was one of those tax scams since it came from out of the blue.  I called the IRS and, after working my way through the labyrinth of departments, finally got word that, yes, the check was real.

That was just a few months ago.  Now they’re on to another tax year, asking for the same information, asking me to fill out the same worksheets and the same forms.  To be clear, I’m not saying that Bill Clinton was behind my IRS harassment during the ‘90s and I’m not saying President Obama is behind it now.  What I’m saying is someone inside the IRS is misusing their power for political retribution, despite what the IRS is saying.  There are just too many examples of it.  We need to put a stop to this once and for all, no matter the political party in power.

The Internet sales tax - Why so complicated?

Once again government is making something more difficult than it has to be.  There’s a lot of talk about the Internet sales tax.  It’s not an “Internet tax” as some have tried to portray it.  It’s merely a tax on all sales made through the Internet.  As the laws stand now, you don’t have to pay a tax on an item unless the company selling the item has a physical presence in your state.  Lawmakers are wanting to force any retailer with sales over $1 million annually to collect sales tax for each state.

Opponents argue that it’s too burdensome and on that point they’re right.  But we do, in the name of fairness, need to close this loophole that allows some items to go untaxed.  Congress, as usual, is making this far too complicated.

Let’s say I walk into an antique shop in Kentucky and I see a little antique box that I just have to have.  Let’s say it’s $30.  I whip out my credit card and do the deal then pack the box into my car and drive off.  The store where I bought the item charges me Kentucky sales tax and sends the money to Frankfort.  Neither the store owner nor the state of Kentucky cares that I’m from Tennessee.  Why should a mail order or Internet sale be any different?  If I find that same antique box online and that store ships it to me then I should pay Kentucky sales tax, not Tennessee sales tax.

Some have argued that the tax is on the customer, not the business.  That’s true but it’s still on where the customer is doing business and, technically, the business is being transacted in Kentucky.  That computer program that I’m using to fill in the pertinent information and turn my credit card info over to belongs to the business in Kentucky.  The order is being processed in Kentucky and the item I’m ordering is in Kentucky.  Kentucky should get the sales tax just as if I were standing at their register.

Asking businesses to send tax revenue to 50 different states is asking a bit much. It turns businesses into tax collectors for states with which they otherwise have no connection.

If we do decide to go the common sense route and collect the money where the item is sold and send that tax revenue to the state where the business is located some argue that will drive businesses to relocate to states with lower or no sales tax.  Perhaps but I think that’s way down on the list of why businesses are in the states they’re in.  I would suspect the foremost reason a business is where it is is because the founder lives there.  Beyond that, businesses might relocate to states with no income tax since the CEOs will have to pay it but a sales tax is not a tax on the business or anyone else within the company.  It’s a tax on the consumer.

Most states are pretty close on sales taxes except for the handful that don’t have a sales tax.  Most states are in the 6 to 9 percent range.  That means if I buy that $30 antique box I’ll pay a sales tax ranging from about $1.80 to $2.70.  That’s probably not enough to discourage me from making the purchase.  On the larger items you’re as likely to be worried about shipping costs as you are sales tax.

I just don’t see it as a big deal but if we’re going to do it at least let’s make it simple for a change.