<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 9:38 AM <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com">spike@rainier66.com</a>> wrote:</span><br></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> </p></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span style="font-size:14pt">>…If the wealth tax didn't kick in until it reached the billion dollar range then that wouldn't be much of a problem for the average taxpayer…</span></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>Ja, but how would you determine if you are an average taxpayer?</i></p></div></div></div></blockquote><div> </div><div><div class="gmail_default" style=""><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"></font><font size="4" style=""><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">I have little difficulty in figuring out that I am not a billionaire, if its hard for you to determine if you are that rich or not then I envy you.  </font></font></div></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><i><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>Couldn’t those who are in the billion dollar range just claim to be an average taxpayer?</i></blockquote><div><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">Certainly you could claim that you have few assets just as you could claim your income is less than $10,000 a year, but if you have a private jet and a 200 foot yacht the IRS might start getting suspicious.</font></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span><i>How would they get to be identified as not average taxpayers? </i></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">Everything of value has a document associated with it declaring ownership and somebody's name is on that document.</font></div><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">></span><i> </i></span><i>those average taxpayers who think they might be approaching non-average status would dump their wealth into gold, BitCoin, things which cannot be declared </i></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">If you ever plan to use the gold or Bitcoins to actually buy something then you'd better declare them or the IRS will put you in jail. And then watch out for those pitchforks because even today billionaires who cheat on their taxes don't get a lot of sympathy from Joe Sixpack, unless you're Trump.    </font></div></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>or whose value is arbitrary.</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">The assessed value of property is somewhat arbitrary but we do it anyway, that's how property taxes work;  just expand the idea to cover stocks, bonds, yachts, private jets, gold, Bitcoins etc.  </font></div></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span><i>If you hold BitCoin and a lot of people know, they will steal your children to get it from you.</i></p></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(66,66,66);font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:18px"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></span></span><font size="4">It's well known that the Winklevoss twins <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">h</span>ave about a billion dollars worth of bitcoins and I haven't heard of their children being stolen<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">; </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I don't <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">quite </span>understand why wealth in that form is more dangerous than wealth in some other form, <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">but</span> if it is then it would be wise not to hold </span><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">bitcoins<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">.</span></font></font></div><div><font size="4"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">John K Clark</span></font></font></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_5102502448601562935WordSection1"><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div>