BTW, there’s a world of difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion, so it pays to keep the two terms straight.
Tax avoidance simply refers to using the provisions of the tax code to minimize the amount of tax you pay. This is perfectly legal - even the IRS is pretty up-front about the fact that they don’t expect you to pay more income tax than you need to. Anyone who fails to take advantage of the tax-reduction mechanisms provided to them by the tax code isn’t being ethical, he’s being a fool.
Tax evasion, on the other hand, refers to lying to the IRS, hiding income, inventing deductions out of whole cloth, and so on, and is illegal.
It appears that Rush was careful to use the right term, “avoid,” but then swung around and tried to make it sound as if there was something illegal or unethical about it.
Wrong. It depends on how accurate the estimation is -considering both *last year * and this. If it is a good-faith estimate and would have covered last years taxes, then there is no “estimated tax penalty”- and since the Estimated Tax penalty is basicly interest back-figuered and charged as a penalty, there’s no interest if you pay promptly.
I’ll bet a nickel that Mrs Kerry hires the very best Tax professionals, and that Estimate won’t incur her a dime in Penalties.
Debaser “It is a bit funny when something like this happens to a liberal, though. It’s somewhat hypocritical to be in favor of raising taxes on the people while at the same time taking steps to avoid paying taxes yourself.”- Like I said- I am 90% certain that Mr Edwards picked a Sub-S for Liability reasons, not for tax savings. Thus, there is nothing hypocritical about it at all, since you can NOT pay those taxes under that set up.
The whole tax avoidance/evasion thing is a strawman, that Limbaugh is trying to sneak in. Everybody uses whatever exemptions or shelters that are allowed. Edwards, Cheney, Bush, Kerry, Limbaugh, you neighbor, everyone. There is nothing illegal or unethical in doing it, as long as you are not violating any laws or deliberately misreporting. This whole issue is a non-issue, designed to keep the Ditto Heads in an uproar.