From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 13:40:58 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Tax silliness
In-Reply-To: <199809080254.TAA05443@cyberpass.net>
Message-ID: <v03130300b21a7226574d@[209.66.100.138]>
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Folks, I generally restrain myself from passing on all the various news
stories I see or read.

But tonight Fox News is reporting that the IRS has said it may seek to
assess "gift taxes" if the guy who recovered Mark McGwire's 61st home
baseball gives the ball back to Mark McGwire.

(The ball is said to have a street value, to museums or collectors, of
$250K or so. The 62nd home run ball, the one which breaks Maris' record,
will supposedly be worth more than a million bucks.)

So, the shmuck who got this ball faces taxes on an unrealized gain if he
never sells the ball. And he gets taxed if he hands the ball back to
McGwire.

He makes no money, but pays 30-40% of some theoretical value in taxes.

Those fuckers in D. C. need to be put out of our misery.

--Tim May

"The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of
tyrants...."
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist              | black markets, collapse of governments.