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Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

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Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#11

Post by julienreszka »

swman wrote: post #5
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #2

A friend of mine from a farming family in Europe once told me a story that his family would wait until the year one of his siblings was due to go to college and then invest in new farm machinery. Their reported net income for the year would reduce or go negative and the sibling would get to college effectively for free on a hardship tuition grant.

[flagged]

why blame the player

Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#12

Post by jeffbee »

Xcelerate wrote: post #4

Haha, I recall seeing a similar plot with a "suspicious discontinuity" when I looked up data on home appraisal price vs sale price. I remember asking the loan officer why the contract was forwarded to the appraiser before they did the appraisal, because that might bias their assessment. She gave me a funny look and replied "that's kind of the point."

Yeah of course, the appraiser is a person who is paid to write down the predetermined number. The US federal government should nuke this industry as part of their crackdown on "junk fees". Either the appraiser serves a legitimate arms-length purpose or their whole line of business should go away.

Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#13

Post by generalizations »

swman wrote: post #5
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #2

A friend of mine from a farming family in Europe once told me a story that his family would wait until the year one of his siblings was due to go to college and then invest in new farm machinery. Their reported net income for the year would reduce or go negative and the sibling would get to college effectively for free on a hardship tuition grant.

[flagged]

This is following the rules and using the system the way it was designed. This doesn't even violate (probably) the intent of the law - it just violates the desired outcome of some parties involved.

Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#14

Post by bitcoin_anon »

swman wrote: post #5
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #2

A friend of mine from a farming family in Europe once told me a story that his family would wait until the year one of his siblings was due to go to college and then invest in new farm machinery. Their reported net income for the year would reduce or go negative and the sibling would get to college effectively for free on a hardship tuition grant.

[flagged]

From the article:

> Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.

Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#15

Post by IncreasePosts »

Simon_ORourke wrote: post #2

A friend of mine from a farming family in Europe once told me a story that his family would wait until the year one of his siblings was due to go to college and then invest in new farm machinery. Their reported net income for the year would reduce or go negative and the sibling would get to college effectively for free on a hardship tuition grant.

At least in America, they usually look at the past 2-5 years of income to avoid these types of shenanigans.

Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#16

Post by nullhole »

bitcoin_anon wrote: post #14
swman wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

From the article: > Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for…

If we all just followed the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, society would be a lot worse than it currently is.

Re: Suspicious discontinuities (2020)

#18

Post by JohnMakin »

I went to school at a relatively late age and started in community college. The school/state had a policy where any independent income earners making less than 35,000/year would not pay tuition. A single dollar over that would require paying full tuition of ~$60/unit or about $750 a semester. One year I worked a little more overtime during the holidays than usual and realized with a week to go in the year that I'd go a few hundred dollars over, so I called out of a few shifts and nearly got fired over it. I barely squeaked in under the limit, and if I hadn't, there was pretty much no way I would have been able to continue school. It's not like I could suddenly afford it now that I made $35,001 vs $34,999. I have never understood why things like this don't use some sort of sliding scale, rather than absolute dividing line.
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