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John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

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Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#491
post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would have been a very long con since he has been tweeting things like this since 2019.

Well, seeing as 2019 is when he fled the US to avoid prosecution for tax fraud, it's not like it took a lot of foresight to say "hrm, maybe the US government will catch me."

Still that’s quite petty motivation for such a long con.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top end, which kicks in at a bit shy of $520k is 37%. Top end Long-term Capital Gains max rate is 20% at about $440k. These are numbers for individuals, they differ for married couples and households filing collectively.

I think you're underestimating. There are Federal AND state taxes and that math quickly adds up.

[deleted]

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK U.S. is the only country that makes you pay tax even if you are tax resident of different country. Ironically it does not apply to corporations that fail to pay billions in tax.

The US and Eritrea. I knew this was a thing, but I had always assumed a US citizen living abroad only ended up paying tax to the IRS if the tax they paid to the foreign government was less than what they would have paid to the US, and only the difference is paid. But it seems that’s not the case, and you get an exemption for “only” the first $108,700 of your earnings. As with everything the IRS does, it seems complex…

Why person needs to go through the hassles and expenses to file tax return every year to the country where he/she doesn't not live in any longer?

What kind of state sponsored racket is this?

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#494
post #470

The sad thing is that our government seems to make a point of screwing with kooks. I don’t care if McAffee owed some taxes - leave the guy alone, he’s obviously unstable, has major problems with drug and alcohol addiction and all they can do is try to bring him even lower. Poor guy had major problems even before the “heroes” of the FBI or the IRS or whatever started screwing with him. Let the poor guy ride off into t…

To be fair, you can't really do that because then that lowly waitress who owes, say, 3 grand because her manager reported her tips will say, "Why do rich people get off?"

And she'd be right.

If you go after anyone, you have to go after everyone in my view. If anything, you should go soft on the low income people rather than the wealthy. But on the federal level, going soft on a famous and wealthy person when you have the exact same evidence is just not something you can do in a rule of law society. Particularly in today's environment. You can do that on a state and local level, but on a federal level the IRS, FBI and the prosecutors would be crucified.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#495
post #23

What a strange life he lived. I'm not going to make a value judgement about whether or not he was a 'good' person, but I do applaud the fact that he dared to deviate from the norm. "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." -- Hunter S Thompson RIP

It should be noted that this Hunter S Thompson quote refers to Oscar Zeta Acosta. Acosta made a big difference fighting for the rights of poor and marginalized mexican-americans in east LA. He did something more with his life than just take a lot of drugs and be weird.

This is true. But he did also do a lot of drugs and he was also weird. See Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas for examples where he was portrayed as Dr. Gonzo.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absurd to apply that to individual, or even social, judgement. We don't actually pretend to be ignorant and blind of a person's probable or apparent misdeeds if they haven't been proven in a court of law, nor should we. If, for instance, I notice a couple small, expensive items go missing each time my cousin visits, I'm not going to say "oh well, better not tell anyone else he's probably a thief and I'd better…

You shouldn't discount the possibility that your kid has been stealing from you all along, making things disappear when your cousin visited everytime to throw suspicion on him. ;-) (Allright, I'm just trying to lighten the mood).

You're absolutely right about this. Future-supervillain children framing others for their crimes must never be discounted when attempting to explain any phenomenon. That's just basic household safety. :-)

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK U.S. is the only country that makes you pay tax even if you are tax resident of different country. Ironically it does not apply to corporations that fail to pay billions in tax.

The US and Eritrea. I knew this was a thing, but I had always assumed a US citizen living abroad only ended up paying tax to the IRS if the tax they paid to the foreign government was less than what they would have paid to the US, and only the difference is paid. But it seems that’s not the case, and you get an exemption for “only” the first $108,700 of your earnings. As with everything the IRS does, it seems complex…

It seems quite unusual to be double taxed according to what I could understand from the relevant laws. The first X amount of earned income is exempt as you noted. The amount above that, if a tax treaty is in place with the other country of taxation (i.e. your country of residence), is generally subject to the rule of paying the difference, although the details on this may vary by individual country and tax treaty.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top end, which kicks in at a bit shy of $520k is 37%. Top end Long-term Capital Gains max rate is 20% at about $440k. These are numbers for individuals, they differ for married couples and households filing collectively.

I think you're underestimating. There are Federal AND state taxes and that math quickly adds up.

Not all states have income taxes.

State income taxes are usually pretty low.

Texas and Florida don't have an income tax.

Georgia ranges from 1% to 5.5%.

California goes all the way up to 13%.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#499
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He was a free man until the end. He literally died in jail.

its interesting to read reflections of people locked up. very often they talk of how we are all in our own forms of jail. freedom is a state of mind.

Hold on. I talk like this and I'm a free man with a good job, good friends, and a good life. Sure, it becomes even more apparent when you are in a cage. But it's true, everyone really is in a cage of their own making. Even worse, being in a cage of someone else's making.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#500
post #432
post #66

I met John in an Atlanta airport lounge years ago[1]. I recognized him immediately as I've always admired him, and I decided to go up to him and tell him as much. He invited me to sit down, and told him about when I was a teenager in the 90s learning about tech entrepreneurs at the time, I always thought he was pretty cool and had good ideas. I told him I respected him, and that I was sure he'd lived an incredible li…

My interaction with McAfee was in the pre-internet '80s. I was called when a nearby international school got hit by a computer virus spread on floppy disks. Looking for sources of info, found the "Computer Virus Industry Association". Called, got a little bit of generic advice, and he mostly asked me to send sample disks. Turned out that the "CVIA" was basically a pretext of McAfee trolling for people like me to send…

I'd argue that making those millions turned his life upside down, made his life drown in hedonism, eventually taking his mind and any shred of dignity. Still, RIP John
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