Sunday Letters to Bette: 'Tributes & Taxes' by Martin Sheil
Retired IRS criminal investigator Martin Sheil writes about the toxic impact of money in politics in his latest letter to Bette, written as billionaires were paying the vig to the incoming tsar of mar
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"Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society."—Oliver Wendall Holmes
Author’s Note: Bette friends have enjoyed many a Tuesday Happy Hour with our friend Marty, who has helped us follow the money behind the headlines of distraction. Today, over the last days of a jolly holiday before the consolidation of power by the Unloved and Undeserving Traitors to Democracy, Marty — a retired IRS criminal investigator — weighs in on those kissing the ring at the Tsar from Queens winter palace.—hsc
Sunday Letters to Bette: Tributes & Taxes
By Martin Sheil
H,
I can't talk about Taxes without talking about money in politics and its toxic impact, We can just start right in with Fortune 500 corporations lining up to make million dollar tribute payments to the King of Mar a Lago for his fast approaching Inauguration.
It seems American plutocrat corporate chieftains would rather pay tribute than taxes due to the expectation of a rather robust return on investment to said tribute. Besides - if the tribute is gaudy enough why worry about paying taxes because they will magically evaporate - like last time, doncha think?
Why would any self-respecting oligarch's expectation be any different from the last time Trump was inaugurated? (Note: I am being redundant here to make a point.)
Trump cut corporate taxes in 2017 with the help of Congress - yeah, the same Republican MAGA dominated Congress that constantly bellyaches about the expanding Federal Deficit - from 35% to 21% - costing the Federal Government over a Trillion dollars while never really trickling down to the everyman voter whose social issue buttons the grifter in chief masterfully pushed while rewarding the elites who paid/pay for his campaigns with a financial treasure that just never trickles down to the aggrieved working class voter that seemingly falls for the flash while missing the substance every time the Trumpster pulls out his bag of tricks and conducts his verbal maskirovka. (Author’s note: I made a grammatical exemption for this run-on sentence due to its meaty brilliance.—hsc)
Some of the largest and best known American corporations paid little to no taxes last year and some even got large refunds, which is even more galling.
Let me copy the key line from the embedded article above to save you some reading time and for emphasis:
"Some of America’s marquee corporations with billions in profits each -General Electric, General Motors, Meta (owner of Facebook), Tesla and T-Mobile - paid little in federal income taxes last year and in some cases even got big refunds."
Pop quiz time kids - who is the main honcho of Tesla?
Yes, you can buy a vowel, and I will throw in a consonant to give you his first and last name initials E. M.
Last clue - a lot of people, including important people in Congress, think he is the real president Elect...while some think him to be a space cadet... (lol.hsc)
Then there is Mark Zuckerberg - the Meta El Jefe who is highlighted in the first embedded article above for reference as bending the knee in Mar a Lago with his corporate checkbook in hand after the election, and he is not the only social media Titan to make the pilgrimage from Silicon Valley to South Florida looking to leverage further his information control quid for some untold quo...
Btw - has anyone ever figured out where all those fees and charges on your T-Mobile bill are actually for?
But T-Mobile is not the only phone company skimping on their taxes.
Check out AT&T on this linked list and Verizon a little further down. Both companies gross billions, but should really be embarrassed with regard to what they provide Uncle Sam.
If y'all take a little time to scan the above linked list of corporate tax scoundrels you might notice two of our favorite holiday companies, whose deliveries punctuated our every day run up to Christmas/Hanukah - I'm talking Amazon and Federal Express.
You just know that Jeff Bezos made it down to Mar a Lago - the temple of Trump - to pay homage and tribute to our leader elect, who is looking to wring even more out of the owner of the Washington Post. It wasn't enough the WAPO's editorial board stood silent before the election. It’s never enough for our greedy ascending Autocrat in training who craves more money and power as much of that power comes in the way information is controlled in terms of its dissemination.
Its a perfect marriage.
Our corporate oligarchs want less and the transparency could not be more apparent.
More tribute for less taxes and, oh, a little less corporate regulation if you please.
Note - let’s see how long the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lasts in the new administration. Over/Under starts at June 1, 2025. And then expect to see your credit score in flux and more not less fees on your telephone and utilities bills...and don't get me started on the oligarchs who honcho Big Pharma...
Another note - an American professor writing for the Moscow Times asserts that American Oligarchs possess a more powerful impact on American governmental processes than Russian oligarchs do on the Russian system - . Yikes. The truth kinda stings doesn't it.
Tributes and taxes are central to that impact.
It is important to remember that Congress plays a key role in legislating Tax favors to the corporations and the 1%, and it is not all on the Grifter in Chief looking to pay back his contributors..
The House Ways & Means committee and the Senate Finance Committees actually write the Tax laws that are so seriously unbalanced to favor the rich and the powerful who contribute so much to electoral existence of the Congressman and Senators who return the favors by adopting much of what is written by favored K Street lobbyists (most of whom ex-congressman or staff) served up to the Committees.
If you want to know why Exxon hardly pays any corporate taxes consider the enormous complexity of the Oil Depletion Allowance in our Tax Code.
Why don't any major Hedge Funds pay substantive corporate taxes you ask?
Let me answer with another question - why are all major Hedge funds located in the Cayman Islands?
Answer - because that is where the Taxes are NOT to riff off a famous bank robber.
That's right - the IRC aka the Internal Revenue Code was manipulated by the House Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to make the Cayman Islands ‘tax neutral’ as DC lobbyists like to say.
And Hedge Funds are not the only corporate entities to find their way to de minimus taxes via offshore entities. Ask Caterpillar why they book so much of their gross revenue to a dinky building housing a small subsidiary on paper located in Switzerland…
Speaking of offshore - let’s talk about how Plutocrats and 1%ers escape the clutches of the Tax Man. Seriously - how is it that someone like Warren Buffett pays less income taxes than his secretary? One possible answer -
Trusts.
More than that - Think Caribbean Trusts. Not too far, of course. The rich don't want to take their yachts from Florida more than say a half a day's excursion to the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Nevis St. Kitts and we already referenced the scuba diving heaven of Grand Cayman Islands.
The uber wealthy hate a long commute.
Salt water just havoc when one wants to wear Givenchy on board to pair with those Jimmy Choos.
If yachting in the Caribbean to a tax free trust maintained in the island law offices of well paid financial facilitators like lawyers, accountants, and financial consultants, is perceived to be a bit gauche, well then - set up a Trust, or pay your favorite financial facilitator to set up a dynasty trust in the hinterlands of South Dakota right here in good ole USA to minimize your exposure to Uncle Sam not just now but for generations and for your children's generations.
You read thqt right.
Not many farmers in South Dakota own a Trust. And not many factory hands in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin are associated with a Trust.
Texas however has a fair number of Oil Men, who find their way with regularity to Sioux City to check on their finances and those of their children via Trusts tended over in South Dakota. Russian oligarchs also know their way to Sioux Falls.
Oy vey!
So what is a Trust you ask?
A Trust is several things including a document, but to animate it a bit a Trust is a relationship.
Confused?
A Trust is a legal arrangement or, more to the point, a fiduciary arrangement as well as a document. Here is a good definition - A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries.
Trusts as a rule are controlled by state law so if you are thinking about setting up a trust besides giving careful consideration to whom you select as Trustee to empower over your wealth, assets and property, it is critical to give careful thought to what state your Trust is placed, particularly if you possess income producing assets or property within the Trust.
Sure you want to protect your estate from Uncle Sam but State Revenuers are on the prowl also so beware!
My intention here is not to get into the weeds as to how a Trust works, but to enlighten the reader as to the existence of Trusts and their availability to everyone not just the 1%. Many regular folks have benefitted from the prolonged ascent of the stock market and through patience have become 401K wealthy. You are behooved to reach out to a trusted financial advisor to protect your wealth for yourself and your inheritors by placing your assets in a Trust overlooked by a trusted Trustee.
I don't do a lot of behooving so please take note.
While I am behooving, let me behoove y"all to avoid a type of Trust, which IRS considers an abuse area. These Trusts are called GRATs short for Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts. ProPublica did an expose on GRATs and noted that a large percent of the uber wealthy make use of GRATs and I draw your attention to this link.
Stay clear of GRATs if you want to transfer your wealth legally to your heirs and don't want to deal with the IRS. You are officially behooved.
And then there exists another tax dodge recently highlighted in the media by NVIDIA co founder and CEO Jensen Huang alleged to be the 10th richest person in the U.S., who makes use of something called DAFs - Donor Advised Funds, which is just another mechanism for the entitled and enriched to pass on their ultra wealth to their heirs with a minimum of taxation as the NYT noted in Huang's case - $8Bn in Estate & Gift taxes. Can we say that Jensen went a bit daffy?... I know I know but I could not resist... (lol.-hsc).
Then there are Irrevocable Trusts, and I fear this piece is getting too weedsy as one of my erstwhile editors is fond of saying...
Before summing up, let me note that there are in fact legitimate reasons to set up an offshore shell company. And yes there are perfectly legitimate Trusts out there to make legal use by upstanding taxpayers.
This piece is stopping here in case you were wondering. (giggling.—hsc).
The connect between money and politics has been demonstrated, and the intersection highlighted here is the U.S. Tax system which has been gamed to near death by the ultrawealthy elite who condition their monetary support of elected politicians, on looking out for, or creating legislative loopholes in our Tax system to protect and enable the massive untaxed wealth of the elites and therefore consign the middle class (the little people) to shoulder the bulk of the cost of support of the government.
Before anyone can start to even begin discussion on correcting the inequality that exists in our society - 500 individuals control well over 90% of all American wealth - we all need to recognize the simple unfairness that is reflected in our Tax system that is spawned by our paid for politicians who proclaim poll tested messages to the Middle while secretly collecting payoffs from the upper 1% to pay for their campaigns that sustain their veritable political existence thereby protecting the tax privilege of the entitled few. (again, run-on exemption.-hsc)
Please note that the above message is made in honor of Senator Bernie Sanders - a proud standard bearer for the little people - who retires within the month.
Someone needs to pick up his mantle - the Bernie mantle, because at this rate, only the little people pay taxes (thanks Leona).
Signed,
Marty
A very proud Bernie Bro writing from my little cage because I'm a little people
“Before equal justice can be had, fairness everywhere must be secured.”—Martin Sheil
“The problem isn’t government waste. The problem is that billionaires don’t pay taxes.”—Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
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Photo courtesy Martin Sheil
Thanks for all parts of this Letter! I'm especially chuckling at the quip attributed to Leona; we felt equally justified bashing her back, in that era.