261–268 of 268 posts
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I don't know who you are or what your agenda is, but any sane person would argue that citing something that happened in early 1800s does not make the same thing OK in 2019.
Please make your arguments on HN without making dark insinuations about agendas. Also, please drop name-calling language like "any sane person". https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
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I get it, but let's see: don't declare it and you may get a pass. Declare it and you're certainly going to jail for longer than tax evasion.
> Declare it and you're certainly going to jail for longer than tax evasion. The lines you include it in are general income lines, no explanation of the income is expected or required. It's not like there is a separate line item for illegal activities. So, no, you aren't certainly going to jail if you report it.
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Well, he got sick but for average Capone it beats doing 20 to life for other stuff. Edit: are you really suggested that people like John Gotti and El Chapo declare income from criminal activities and detail how they made that once audited? Stop engaging in criminal activities, I get as advice, but confess to the feds, I don't.
>Edit: are you really suggested that people like John Gotti and El Chapo declare income from criminal activities and detail how they made that once audited No, I'm suggesting one of the examples used in your premise is wrong. The legality of income has nothing to do with paying your taxes from the IRS's perspective.
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So far the only major international espionage scandal that was proven (unless you consider Snowden a liar) was the NSA scandal, which showed how American companies were involved in an international scheme (willingly or not, it doesn’t matter) to spy on both allied nations and enemy countries. Nothing like that has ever emerged about China.
That’s because it isn’t a story. People are routinely arrested in China for things they share on the very-much-not-encrypted WeChat. Anything that goes through any chinese tech company can be assumed to be have been read and processed by the government.
Has it been proven that America did that? YES, unless you choose to dismiss Snowden's revelations.
Has China ever done that? NO, or at least it has never emerged.
These are the facts.
Is China a repressive regime controlling the digital comms of its citizens? sure thing, but what has this to do with what we were discussing above?
Basic logic, damn, basic logic.
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> Declare it and you're certainly going to jail for longer than tax evasion. The lines you include it in are general income lines, no explanation of the income is expected or required. It's not like there is a separate line item for illegal activities. So, no, you aren't certainly going to jail if you report it.
So IRS is just gonna accept that you made $241,000 and just that dealing drugs? Tax return is step one, if red flags are raised, it's audit time with explanations, witnesses, ledgers etc. If you got caught or want to leave the profession, it's another thing, come clean. No doubt in my mind that agencies talk to each other, formally or informally.
No, they are going to accept that you made $241,000 in regular income from sources that do not provide W-2s, 1099s, etc. The “dealing drugs” part is not part of the filing.
> Tax return is step one, if red flags are raised, it's audit time with explanations, witnesses, ledgers etc.
Red flags are more likely to be raised by living beyond the means suggested by your reported income as by reporting income with no apparent source; IRS audits and investigations are looking for evidence of concealed income or other evasion of tax liability, not satisfying curiosity about the sources of reported income otherwise, and the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination applies.
It's true that laundering money so that you can avoid both reported income with no apparent source and living beyond the means of your reported income is a common technique (though still technically usually tax evasion, since it usually involves concealing some part of the gross income which is expended in the scheme, and that income is taxable and you cannot deduct illegal expenses against illegal income, so the cost of laundering is not deductible.)
> No doubt in my mind that agencies talk to each other, formally or informally.
Well, they certainly coordinate in the direction that gets criminals who conceal the details of their other crimes well enough to complicate prosecution but evade taxation busted for the tax offenses. The direction you are concerned about is less evident, though.
Does anyone remember if HP was punished for allowing a reseller to send millions of dollars of computers to Iran? I also saw HP logos on the monitors during footage of a North Korean missile test.
"HP today announced a resolution of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). HP will pay approximately $108 million to these two U.S. government agencies. HP also has agreed to undertake certain compliance, reporting and cooperation obligations." https://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-releas…
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I think the idea behind intellectual property is to encourage people to take risks associated with developing something new and profit through their innovations. If all new discoveries were the property of the state/public then there wouldn't be a high incentive to be inventive for any given individual. It's like if everyone was a farmer but everything harvested was immediately taken from the farmer. Why would any fa…
Its unfortunate that out economical system discourages sharing and rewards those who act selfishly. If the farmers needs were taken care of, they would push to make better tech to make their lives easier and provide more food for the rest of their country.
The farmers needs are more than met under capitalism than under any other economic system people have thought up (to date). That’s why innovation happens more in capitalist societies.
Communism, as a counterpoint, is pinned on selflessness. Think of your brothers and your sisters! Work hard and freely give away your labor, for everyone will give you their labor. Think about the good of the nation! The irony is that this system minimizes innovation and maximizes a cruel society.
Why should a capitalist society, whose individuals act for the good of themselves, have a stronger societial fabric than a communist society, whose individuals act for the good of society?
Who knows, but I certainly am not willing to throw out such a proven system just because it’s raw “selfish” focus at the micro level makes people a little queasy.
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The choice of what to communicate in a public forum is, itself, a form of communication. This is obvious to everyone with a working social sense. People don't just tell random anecdotes apropos of nothing. Here, you're telling the anecdote because you wanted to establish that there is a culture of dishonesty among Chinese people, isn't that right?
Establishing the culture of dishonesty among the entire Chinese population isn't even remotely my job or prerogative, but if I have stories of systemic cheating within some of the Chinese culture at my University, then that seems reasonably apropos. I suppose you think I should just pretend like my experiences didn't happen, and not mention it to anyone? I never said the Chinese people as a whole are one way or anoth…
If you had tried to enlighten a discussion of e.g. an African-American executive at a tech firm with a similarly bizarre anecdote, you would have gotten far more complaints. The excuse you've given here, "I just haven't known many black people!", wouldn't count for much either.