I've seen a lot of tax articles come through. A lot of statists are running around sharing how you should immediately bend over and wilfully declare and depart with as much revenue from steemit as you can as quickly as you can to please your taxation overlords. I'm not sure that's necessary. It's also morally wrong. If you think murdering dark skinned people over seas for their resources "causes harm" then you have a moral obligation to resist.
Let's also be clear on another thing. Taxation is theft. That's pretty simple. Third parties engaged in my transactions to take a portion of my wealth to allow me the privilege of trading with another party under threat of violence is theft. Just cause it happens every day does NOT make it lawful or moral.
Well, what else could we do?
It's called the gift economy. We're giving gifts. It's not a transaction. You posted an article in a public place with no pre-arrangement for votes (unless you're a circle jerking colluder). Look if you use @booster or something that might be a little harder to claim, but if all you're doing is popping an article in a public place and people are upvoting you randomly pretty sure those are gifts. Pretty sure I'm going to call them gifts.
Why's it matter?
Cause tax law allows for up to $14,000 a year to be gifted tax free. So, unless the likes of @ned, @freedom, and @steemit start max upvoting muh blog every day I don't think I'm gonna hit that limit for any one individual person. Problem solved,
If you get votes from me they are gifts
So, I'm publicly declaring that any upvote from me is a gift. You're welcome. I love ya. It's not a transaction. It's not a tip for a service you directly provided me. It's a gift free and clear without any expectation back. If you think I'm missing something then pop your concerns in the comments. If you're going to tell me taxes are the price we pay for society then en garde.
img source-http://www.taxjustice.net/2014/10/08/money-taxation-isnt-theft/
This feels directly related to my series of articles, so I will respond.
First, the point of my series was correcting the thing you are discussing, for the record. Because I'm seeing a lot of overpayment too.
Second, this:
"So, I'm publicly declaring that any upvote from me is a gift"
Won't hold up for even a second in any court and is not a viable strategy. Do not use it. You don't get to decide what a taxable gift is. Otherwise, nobody would need to pay income tax as we'd all have such benevolence from our employers, gifting us all the time. The IRS can easily prove that "work" went into any comment that can be upvoted, if they choose to call this income.
The most obvious hole in your gift suggestion is YOU do not give the gift, the blockchain does. You can't declare something a gift that doesn't come FROM you. You are merely the assigner of value, you do not PROCESS the transaction.
You would literally be better off just declaring nothing and trying to tax evade than use this argument.
Now, a direct SBD transfer from your account, that could be argued to be a gift.
I'm not saying your LOGIC is bad, but the courtroom is not based on logic but on "precedent".
Philosophically, I agree with the majority of what you are saying. However, I continue to LOL at the idea of private roads.
Yeah, I totally want TimeWarner Cable running the toll booth on the GWB.
The changes you seek would be better sought with the sword than with the pen.
This wasn't at you direcctly. I had another in mind. I thought you had some sense in your articles at least.
The gift is made by my stake weighted vote. Giving you a vote is less work than writing you a check or giving you cash. Technically if I write you a check it's the bank that's giving you the gift not me. So, I'm not sure I agree with you there. It's my stake doing the work. So, it's my gift. Not sure you have to declare gifts either. So, I'm not planning on declaring gifts given to me unless that's absolutely necessary. To avoid threat of violence on me and my person.
As for courts they are kangaroo courts. They are administrating maritime law in an illegal fashion. I'd start by questioning their authority and jurisdiction before even talking to them about what constitutes a gift.
Philosophically, we are very closely aligned.
Practically, though, I can tell you that this won't work:
"Giving you a vote is less work than writing you a check or giving you cash. Technically if I write you a check it's the bank that's giving you the gift not me. So, I'm not sure I agree with you there. "
The bank is the custodian of your funds in your account which you have a legal claim to. Therefore, the gift is from you.
The blockchain is not your custodian. You do not own the Steem your vote gives out. The steem your vote tags for later payment doesn't even exist yet. It's literally impossible to be yours, so you cannot gift it. All you have done is vote for who should get disbursement in a stake-weighted fashion.
If you don't own it, LEGAL TITLE, you cannot gift it.
This is game over. There is no legal argument you can counter this fact with.
You will need the sword to effect the changes you want, not the pen or the courtroom.
PS - You have my sword, incidentally, should you choose to go that route.
I actually think you an error here. When you deposit funds the bank legally owns them. They don't tell you that, but that appears to be the way it works. That's why things like bail ins are possible and legal. So, the idea that it's a gift with a check but not a block doesn't seem to hold.
You're confusing the idea of having a counterparty with having a legal claim to your account.
Yes, the bank is your counterparty because they can spend your money without your permission (a separate problem).
No, because you still have a legal claim to the money. You can claim title. Having a legal claim is different than technically owning, but for our purposes here, it's the same.
There is no argument you can make that you own un-created rewards on a block-chain. You cannot own something that doesn't exist.
Whataboutism for your checking accounts is irrelevant.
I guarantee you that your argument would get nowhere in court, which as we have already established, is not a commentary on the validity of it otherwise.
PS - The appropriate tool for your grievances is the sword, as you cannot win with the pen.
And you think the state holds legal
Title to decentralized currency to grant them a jurisdiction in the first place?
Where's the split title occur?
No, I don't. As I noted, I don't agree with the state's argument.
What the state does have is guns, prosecutors, and immunity from the law. And they are the ones who decide if you can call something a "gift" or not.
Just facts, no philosophy.
Pretty sure I own the block chain. 22k/25M stake in this biatch. The island. She's mine. AHAHAHAHAHAH.
Well, no, you don't. Not anymore than you would own a company for owning well under 1% of the shares.
However, this does present an interesting tax question - what if you process the block on your own witness server that handles the disbursement? There may be an argument that if you actually own/process that block officially, the legal status of transactions within that block, for you, might change.
Also, oof, damned with faint praise:
"This want't at you direcctly. I had another in mind. I thought you had some sense in your articles at least."
If you know of a more aggressive and legally rational argument trying to reduce people's tax liability around these parts, I'd love to see it.
One of the more important reasons to resist the IRS.
That they get to decide, ex post facto, what gets to be a gift or a purchase, or a deduction .
The IRS is a terrorist organization.
In that there main job is to terrorize people.
The money that gets sent to the IRS, then get sent to the FED where it is thrown in a furnace.
It doesn't pay for roads or anything. It is a fee for having the joy of using US$s
You may even be charged with contempt of court if you tried to argue it after it was slapped down. And although @aggroed's logic is solid, I too know that it will fail so fast in court.
It's amazing what the American people put up with on a daily basis.
100% upvote from me on this one!!! Resteemed too! I hope you enjoy my gift to you . Have a blessed day.
:) Always happy to see you on my wall Mary. I think it's time I followed you.
Thank you. I have been following you for some time and have learned a lot. Here is a hug along with another "gift" lol
I've dealt with the IRS and taxes are wrong, but:
Which leads to the theoretical question of who would get to keep the Steem after the people with guns and prisons seize someones witness node for back taxes?
I once tore into someone for saying he "had your back" @aggroed.
I'm not sure what you can do to help someone who ends up in trouble with the IRS because you "publicly declared" they don't have to pay taxes on "gifts" from you.
I think ultimately we all have to stand up to our thieving overlords and declare non-consent.
Or vote with our feet.
I think ultimately someone has to volunteer to be the first one over the top and into no man's land then.
Being tricked into it makes someone a patsy, not a hero.
You've got a lot of people following you and I'd be willing to bet a certain number of them would do whatever you told them to.
That's a lot of responsibility on your shoulders, I hope you don't have to watch people get chewed up and spit out before you appreciate how much.
Taxation is worse than theft. A thief takes your property and leaves. The state takes your property and then invests it in ways to steal more and more, increasing the theft all the time. My taxes have never gone down, only up, up, up. Every single statist should be exiled from humanity, they are dangerous.
But seriously, voluntarism must involve the possibility of rejecting the contract. Since the contract is explicitly tied to location, and every location is under some sort of contract, it's no longer possible to pretend that these contracts are voluntary. Personally, I think the one in the US is the least terrible of the available options, but I don't argue with people that tell me about Belize.
I cannot opt out, therefore it is not voluntary. Q.E.D. I can only exchange one contract for another. I cannot write a new contract and ask for voluntary subscribers, like I could by forming a service organization to compete with Rotary or Lions. I cannot even alter the terms of the contract by refusing to comply, buying out, and writing a new one. If I don't like the contract--written by others, without my consent--that's too bad. I get it anyway. If that's not outright theft, I don't know a better word for it.
Ginsberg's Theroem.
You can't win.
You can't break even.
You can't get out of the game.
I'm pretty sure there are going to be those people that disagree with you, but I believe what you're saying is true. if there were a gift economy in national governments, the nation's citizens would have more control too. They could show their support or disapproval of policy and other government actions.
Just like on Steemit. If I receive more upvotes on a certain post than another, I'm more likely to keep doing those kinds of posts than the least favored ones.
Just a thought....
Yes, anyone with any knowledge of tax law will disagree, because this is faulty logic that will get you audited. Do not try to claim your rewards as a gift. They do not come from a user but from the blockchain. Upvoting users DO NOT GET TO DECIDE what is a gift.
Note: This is simply reality, I do not endorse the logic that leads to this result. In fact, I am writing a post attacking that very logic.
Dude, stop with your rational, logical and real world applicable info, you've sucked up my entire days worth of VP.
Yes taxes are gifts to goverments.
Sound of sirens* Pull it over buddy...I am from the spelling enforcement department...Do you know what you did back there? You spelled the word "my" wrong...There is no "UH" in the word "MY".
Let me see your drivers license and registration please...(pulling up belt)
My 100% upvote is a gift to you, you are free to declare it for tax purpose(or not), it is up to you:)
good point of view from your side .
and still be enough good thinking .
@kings-empire
I gifted you nine cents. I'm sticking it to the man.
YEEEEEAAAAHHHHSSSSSS!!!! Fine work!
great article i salute your thoughts sir awesome.
Have 0.3 of a cent from me lol. Sorry, joys of being a noob!
Nice post dear friend @aggroed
I 100% agree. Every upvote is a gift.
You're so right and I appreciate every gift I recieve :)
If the IRS does demand taxes be paid on steem earnings, I bet they will demand payment in US$.
So, I would have to set up an exchange and a bank account just so that I could pay them. That is completely onerous.
Also, why is a corporation out of the City of London demanding payment in US$?
Well, it's for sure morally correct, probably not court wise ^^
I am pretty sure I have gived a Gift few seconds ago ;) Like the way you think, I also think Tax is a theft...
Giving the IRS any credibility in this situation will only serve to empower them. In my opinion, they have no jurisdiction on the blockchain and since the internet is not a navel vessel as we are considered, only we have jurisdiction. This is our blockchain if we own one or if we own 2billion vests, that makes us the owners of it. Anyone letting the rats on our steemship should be tossed overboard. I do not consider what I get from here as income, I do not tell people I am a professional blogger. I am an Uber driver and I don't share that with the feds either. They earned nothing from me so they get nothing from me. Hang the law! I be a pirate!
And we always love and appreciated the gifts of the PAL president :-)
very nice topic ................................................like it
hahaha yes!!! I'm also declaring all my upvotes as gifts to you! :) Taxes suck. :( Every year when it hits tax time, I always have to pay so much! It's crazy to me.
Great post, great read!
Theft or not, gifted or not, free or not, we will eventually have to answer to the IRS for it in some shape or form. It's good to start talking about it and debating because we're not in court yet. However, if and when that day comes I will gladly allow you to make the opening statement. Enjoy my .2 cents in the mean time :) love ya, thanks for 🎁
Lots of gift you are spreading today hehe ;)
Yeah this is an interesting topic. Roads can totally be built and maintained without huge corporations or forced taxation. The truth is that people have become entitled and lazy, expecting all things to be magicly done for us. For examlple, why do we have school janitors for high schools in America? I know this will seem funny, but tons of resources can be saved by making these punk ass kids clean up their own shit. They would respect it more, but instead we under pay poor souls who get cracked on for only amounting to being a janitor. Just my two cents. I just put out a new article, totally not related to this but I would love some honest feedback, thanks! https://steemit.com/writing/@paulie2coins/midnight-sirens-ep-1-the-sudden-stop-at-the-end