The fact of the matter is I'm not saying "don't use a professional". I'm against the very concept of how convoluted everything is in this world- and nearly everything is created in ways that benefit people who make up let's say the top 15% of earners.
I'm not oblivious to any of these things, I have an econ, accounting & M.S. finance degree. I have a CPA (never practiced).
And you know what? I see this shit all the time in my line of work. I've been lucky enough to do more of the technology/programming side of the industry I'm in so I don't kill myself on the meaningless garbage that the people I'm creating stuff for actually do.. but I see this shit all the time.
Structures or laws being set up constantly to avoid tax that your normal person has absolutely no way to use. Self employed people setting up S-Corps so they don't have to pay into social security because they will be rich enough they don't need it themselves so why pay into the system to help others. People in other countries setting up US structures so they can pay a lower tax rate here than their home country while they get to reap all the benefits. LLCs being set up in delaware so you don't have to pay state taxes when one could easily argue you operate there if anyone checked. People throwing money into dividend paying stocks just because of a low tax. Reducing long term capital gains to stupidly low tax levels.
I mean I can go on and on. Your average person GETS ALMOST NONE OF THESE BENEFITS.
I'm not saying all of the stuff is bad or not needed. But the vast majority is set up so people who already make way more than the average person don't have to pay their fair share.
So look- I'm more being general here. I'm not specifically talking about this case as much as I'm just bitching about how the world works. It just disgusts me at this point. What one calls "optimization", at this point in my life I call it taking advantage.
I'm not oblivious to any of these things, I have an econ, accounting & M.S. finance degree. I have a CPA (never practiced).
And you know what? I see this shit all the time in my line of work. I've been lucky enough to do more of the technology/programming side of the industry I'm in so I don't kill myself on the meaningless garbage that the people I'm creating stuff for actually do.. but I see this shit all the time.
Structures or laws being set up constantly to avoid tax that your normal person has absolutely no way to use. Self employed people setting up S-Corps so they don't have to pay into social security because they will be rich enough they don't need it themselves so why pay into the system to help others. People in other countries setting up US structures so they can pay a lower tax rate here than their home country while they get to reap all the benefits. LLCs being set up in delaware so you don't have to pay state taxes when one could easily argue you operate there if anyone checked. People throwing money into dividend paying stocks just because of a low tax. Reducing long term capital gains to stupidly low tax levels.
I mean I can go on and on. Your average person GETS ALMOST NONE OF THESE BENEFITS.
I'm not saying all of the stuff is bad or not needed. But the vast majority is set up so people who already make way more than the average person don't have to pay their fair share.
So look- I'm more being general here. I'm not specifically talking about this case as much as I'm just bitching about how the world works. It just disgusts me at this point. What one calls "optimization", at this point in my life I call it taking advantage.
/rant off