I was driving to work this morning and listening to FoXNews on XM Radio. There is a story about how the guy who caught Barry Bond's record breaking baseball (technicality here, I personally think they should banish the guy worse than Pete Rose)and how he is going to sell the baseball. I thought the story waould be intersting and maybe humorous. Was I ever wrong.
I have had a couple of "what if" conversations lately about this subject. Do you sell the baseball while the iron is hot or do you hold on to it in the hopes that it increases in value over the next few years? Maybe not even sell it and let your kids or grandkids decide. (Not an option. I don't plan on leaving them with anything except my carcass. After all, I am not running a tab for the cost of raising them and sending them to college. Why should I give them an inheritance based on longevity?).
But seriously, My opinion was to sell it right away before someone came to their senses erased his name from the record books.
But this guy says he MUST sell it because he does not have the financial resources to keep it. My thought was that surely he could round up $20 bucks for a glass case and a small brass plate. Better yet, $20 bucks a year for a safe deposit box. So Judge Andrew Napolitano explained that there is an income tax provision that upon coming into possession of an item of high value, taxes are immediately owed. Never mind capital gains taxes, where he pays taxes for selling it. Based on the estimated value of the ball, around a half million, this guys owed the IRS $150,000 the moment he caught the ball!
Talk about government run amok. How can you owe money for something you don't even have? The guy has in his hands a $10.00 baseball. A few ounces of leather and cork, and fifty sents worth of stitching. How can our government actually bill this guy for $150,000?
This is absurd. This is government that has lost its way. This is the reason that conservatives rebel against any and all taxes (or we should, anyway) because there is always a trap for the common man. Government has no business taxing this baseball.
Before you know it, the health department will shut down Grandma's kitchen because she didn't get a permit. One day we will miss those apple pies...
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Despite My Cynicism, Even I Am Shocked At This Tax law
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5 Posts From Readers:
Disgusting.
We are more taxed than ever before!
Time for another tea party, I say...
This is so outrageous, it's hard to fathom. That the government can do this is just so wrong! There is not one aspect in life that isn't involved in being taxed. We seriously need to stand up and start taking control of this country back where it belongs.....the people!
Oh, and I totally agree with the Barry Bonds comment. He is not deserving of his record and it should not count in the record books!
I looked into this and thought initially the same as you.
It turns out that the government was not the one who told him he owed the tax but a tax attorney who was selling his services to the guy who got the ball.
The only taxation that he has at the moment is Capitol gains which will not be taxed until the sale.
If he displayed the ball at Cooperstown for example he then would have to pay tax because of it being considered an asset.
I think he's been duped by a greedy tax attorney who wanted his cut of $600,000.
Thats good to hear! Thanks for the clarification.
I hate to post bad info, so thanks for the comment. I will have to check into this a little more. I presumed that a federal judge knew the scoop!
Maybe I missed some of the story. Still, capital gains is excessive.
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