IRS wants to tax cell phones used for business

[HoldAndBuy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/06/13/2009-06-13_irs_new_hangup_proposes_taxing_25_of_business_cell_phone_use.html

[sellnbama]

Wasting $trillions has consequences,sad this is only scratchin the surface."those making under $250k will not see thier taxes go up one penny">>>add it to the other stack of lies. 

[Bluemoon06]

Wasting $trillions has consequences,sad this is only scratchin the surface."those making under $250k will not see thier taxes go up one penny">>>add it to the other stack of lies. 

You know that is disingenuous.  That is not what he was talking about. 

[PositiveOutlook]

What Obama said on the campaign trail (September 12, 2008, Dover, N.H.):

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see ANY FORM of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not ANY of your taxes.”

"you will not see ANY OF your taxes increase one single dime"

Of course that depends on your definition of "any" or "any form" is....   

[sellnbama]

Thanks pos,
What does it really take,HE'S JUST ANOTHER LYING POLITICIAN   ...maybe a little more time I guess,man some people are soooooo slow!

[Bluemoon06]

Ok kids let's bring our brains to the table this time. How long has this law been on the books…anybody…anybody?  I am sure if you can quote a couple months ago statement from your president but you can’t remember something that happened in 1980?  Is this reverse Alzheimers? 

He said that your taxes won’t go up.  Suppose you make personnel financial moves that increase your tax liability?  Are you saying that if that happens you interpret his words to mean that your tax bill won’t adjust to meet you new obligations?  That is why I say you are being disingenuous when you harp on that for this.  This is not a new tax, it has been on the books since 1980.  I have no problem beating President Obama up but I have a problem reading in problems where there are none.  I would rather use being able to swat files with his bare hand as evidence that he is the antichrist or that he is a secret Muslim before I jump on mindless arguments of not a penny, not a penny, not a single penny.

Your taxes will change but the structure won’t change to cause you to have to pay more.

[sellnbama]

Ok so if this is an old-reborn tax,can we agree that it's another shot @ small business(aka you & me) that NONE of us need at this economic time.Small business is in the crosshairs with "the rich" to this agenda of who should pay for all this experimental spending and "redistributing".I don't know about you but I know that washington,the banks,wall street are to blame for this state of the economy not me or"the rich".So how does expanding washington fix the problem when they were the root of it?Still not clear on why any small business would support this in any form.   

[PositiveOutlook]

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see ANY FORM of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not ANY of your taxes.”

Look, it really is plain and simple, Obama made the "firm pledge" not to increase "any of your taxes"... The cell phone tax is only a small issue, but EVERY tax hurts when you have to take it from your family and give it to the most corrupt, inefficient organization - the US government.

And when the Cap and Trade TAX hits, along with ALL the other INEVITABLE TAX INCREASES (you can only extract so much from the "rich"), which is REALLY going to hurt, because not only will people be paying MORE for taxes on this, but MORE for goods/services ACROSS THE BOARD..

Add to this nationalized healthcare, whereas Baucus said just last week that Obama is leaving on the table the TAXATION of health benefits (you know the thing he criticized McCain for?), and REQUIRING ALL employers to provide health insurance or pay a fine... two things will happen, both of which critically affect those "making under $250K per year" - 1) goods and services ACROSS THE BOARD will increase and 2) jobs will be HARDER to get AND keep...  if this goes into effect, just WATCH the job losses stack up before the implementation date... employers will do with less employees making those working for them WORK MORE...  We're not talking the multi-national corps here... we're talking the Mom & Pop shops, small businesses, who provide 70% of the jobs...

And you don't think this will make real estate investing MORE expensive or EXPAND the use of illegal immigrant JUST to survive?

Obama ALSO said that the small businessperson would not see tax increases...  Requiring provision of health benefits or paying a fine is ONE BIG TAX INCREASE for the electrician, the plumber, the pizza man, etc...  NEVER MIND the Cap and Trade Tax...

[Bluemoon06]

Ok so if this is an old-reborn tax,can we agree that it's another shot @ small business(aka you & me) that NONE of us need at this economic time.Small business is in the crosshairs with "the rich" to this agenda of who should pay for all this experimental spending and "redistributing".I don't know about you but I know that washington,the banks,wall street are to blame for this state of the economy not me or"the rich".So how does expanding washington fix the problem when they were the root of it?Still not clear on why any small business would support this in any form.   

No this tax is not on small business.  Remember when a cell phone was the size of a gym bag and every call costs $5?  At that time only people with a need got them from their employers.  So If a person used one for personnel uses it was seen as an “executive luxury”  and they decided it need to be counted as income on your personnel income tax.  That is where the tax came from.  Now everybody is issued a blackberry and you either carry 2 or 3 phones or you just use the one your company issues you.

This is just like when you take a business trip and you put on your expense report $100 for meals.  The company is supposed to put on your W-2 60% of that cost as income.  Most companies don’t do that because the 2 systems (for examining and paying employee travel expenses and income tax) are not connected.  I doubt that the department for paying and examining cell phone usage is going to be linked to the income tax department either.

[sellnbama]

Yes I do remember those phones.So then it'll be on to other business expenses.My first response was that it's only the tip of the iceburg.They've already wasted $1trill(stimulous)that did'nt do anything,not to mention the omnibus waste.When do we all say enough,you don't know what you're doing and we are footing the bill in your guessing what may work?
  I don't know how anyone can get behind a guy who's only been a paper pushing politician,never had to run anything to make a profit,not even a lemonade stand.It's ridiculous to me and should be to us all on here who have struggled to make our business successful.

[christopher w]

bama,

I don't know how anyone can get behind a guy who's only been a paper pushing politician,never had to run anything to make a profit,not even a lemonade stand.It's ridiculous to me and should be to us all on here who have struggled to make our business successful.

How did you find a way to get behind the last President? He failed at EVERY business he was involved in other than the Texas Rangers and he had nothing to do with that payday. Tom Hicks just wanted a baseball team and price was not a concern.

He also wasted over a TRILLION dollars on the war in Iraq. So there several similarities between the two.

[Bluemoon06]

The problem is not how we tax or even if we tax.  It’s like when you are deer hunting and you get a really good shot through the heart.  The deer takes off running but he is dead already.  He doesn’t die all at once.  The rest of him is still working.  When America decided that we didn’t want to manufacture anymore, we decided that we wanted to be a “service economy” we were dead.  It is just a matter of time.  We can’t pay back our bills because we don’t have anything to pay them back with.  You can either sell raw materials or manufacture stuff.  That is it.  You can’t sell dollars.

In the 1980’s we didn’t trust the bankers in China.  I was listening to radio yesterday and there was a story on about how the banks in China didn’t want to believe the banks in the USA.

Every empire has a rise and fall.  When we read about the fall of America it will be a talk about how we gave away our ability to earn.

[sellnbama]

Christopher,
Good to see you're still at the blame game that the govt wants us all to be involved in.Look back at my post,did I say anything about how bush compared?This is the problem  people instantly assume you are a bush lover when you bring a case against obama.Since he's doing alot of the dumba$$ stuff bush done, should'nt bush lovers love him too?The only thing bush certainly done was keep our country safe,let's see if obama's first executive order of business does the same.Otherwise,I don't argue about bush.

[sellnbama]

Bluemoon,
I see what your saying.But do you honestly think that what obama is proposing in windmills,solar,etc is the answer??Try looking at spain who done this already and has been in economic turmoil way before us.Why can't the govt just let americans do what made this country great,,TRY AN IDEA,IF IT FAILS,IT FAILS!!

[christopher w]

Bama,

My posting was most earnest. I did not insunuate anything. I seriously was asking you how you have sucked it up for the last eight years. The current President has only been around for six months and this has been going on for the last eight years. I am sorry if I offended you.