I am updating the course materials for my 2012-2013 CalCPA course “Tax Planning and Compliance for Multinational Families.” In doing so, I went to Rev. Proc. 2011-52 in order to confirm the latest gift tax exclusion amounts. ($13,000 for 2012, $139,000 for gifts to noncitizen spouses, if you care).
Serendipity
Immediately below the provision I am interested in (Section 3.31), I found the following update to tax. I bring you, in all of its glory, Section 3.32 of Rev. Proc 2011-52:
Tax on Arrow Shafts. For calendar year 2012, the tax imposed under § 4161(b)(2)(A) on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used in the manufacture of certain arrows is $0.46 per shaft.
USA = loser
I am embarrassed for the United States of America. Chicken-shit stuff like this is not what winners do. Tax on arrow shafts, FFS.
Save yourself, _______
Those of you at the Service who are tasked with the enforcement of this tax–you are wasting your life. Quit and go do something productive.
At Chief Counsel’s office, there is a lawyer who is assigned to this Code Section. I won’t mention your name here. We’ve never met. I found you listed as responsible for Section 4161 as part of the Office of Chief Counsel Telephone Directory.
No offense meant, and I’m not picking on you. I’m not saying you are doing a bad job. The lawyers I have dealt with at Chief Counsel’s office have been on the ball and on top of their subject area. You probably are, too.
I’m just saying that you’ve been assigned an utterly worthless task, and tolerating this in your life will destroy your soul.
Quit. Or get re-assigned to something that matters. You only live once. Make it count.
Reader comments (10)
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I’ve said before all these minor taxes is like holding up people by their feet and shaking out the loose change. Losers don’t want to admit they need the money. (like California and the Federal Gov’t).
Winners don’t resort to such measures. If you’re going raise taxes – raise them and make a real impact like the US implementing a national VAT that will slash the federal deficit by at least 25%.
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Please vote: http://stopunconstitutionaldoubletaxation.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/who-is-in-
favor-of-the-us-instituting-residence-based-taxation/ -
If it’s any consolation, this is a worldwide problem.
The varying level of tariffs on imported goods is just a jungle. Everywhere. A few years ago, I was down at the customs office in Germany, trying to help the poor customs officer figure out what category the gloves in a package sent to me belonged to. His list had about 37 different categories of gloves, each with a different tariff level. Not huge differences, but different. And civil servants aren’t allowed to make mistakes and charge the wrong amount. So this is tedious.
The US’s import tariff tables are just as complex.On the other hand, professional exporters who are trying to to avoid tariffs set to counter dumping (like India’s export subsidies), often just happen to make labeling “mistakes” that shift shipments to significantly lower tariffs.
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@sally You should refer to the Harmonized tarrif codes, and international system: http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/
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There’s a glorious amount of detail in the Form 720 instructions about precisely what is an “arrow shaft” — length, diameter, type of wood finish. Those “5/16 inch or less in diameter… not suitable for use with a taxable bow” are exempt from tax. Bow taxability is defined elsewhere, with similar verve. Vaccine taxes are also worth a read. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
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“I’m just saying that you’ve been assigned an utterly worthless task, and tolerating this in your life will destroy your soul.”
I laughed out loud at that. Well said.
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Here’s the one we use: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/taric/taric_consultation.jsp?Lang=en#
(Hit “browse” to begin starting to drill down.)
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Yes.
Oh, sorry… never mind. I thought you asked “Is this what whiners do?”
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Wow! Maybe you should take shorter flights! Thanks for doing this, it is a wealth of information.
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Oops, posted the above on the wrong thread. Will try again. LOL