If he doesnāt know if theyāre accurate, then he should stop paying someone else to do them for him and do them himself, or even better, he could use TurboTax.
While I realize my AGI is probably no where near as high as his, it is high by most standards and we have a full range of deductions and investments, and I was still able to complete my taxes with a very high degree of certainty that they accurate. If he feels his taxes are not accurate, then I think it would imply that heās being ācreativeā with his taxes and attempting to claim exemptions that heās probably only qualified for, via loopholes.
And heās a scumbag.
So his tax return has known unknowns?
Well if his books are as accurate as his book<M/i>ā¦
" Even if full inspections were eventually to resume, which now seems highly unlikely, experience has shown that it is difficult if not impossible to monitor Iraqās chemical and biological weapons production my income"
You canāt know that.
Why am I too late to make any additional jokes about unknowns? Damn you clever people!
I agree completely on that point.
But the fact that a notorious, narcissistic, self-published scumbag is upset with the IRS, does not relieve that particular federal agency of its own brand of excruciating awfulness.
The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.
5/5 Rumsfelds, would parse incorrectly 
Who knew?!
Thatās interesting. Iām an amateur, as Iāve only had a couple of tax classes, and am just graduating with an accounting degree, so I donāt know everything, but this is my perspective.
The tax code is incredibly convoluted. I liken it to old AD&D 2nd edition rules. That said, itās more complicated for folks that have a higher income, and more assets, than those on the low to middle income spectrum. The vast majority of returns, if my textbook was to be believed, are a 1040. Thatās not exactly rocket science.
I have found the folks bitching the most about the tax code are those that make enough money that it doesnāt really mess with them to pay taxes. Also, the tax laws have amazing deductions, and exemptions that seem to only really apply to people and corporations that are already so rich that it doesnāt matter. The more money you have, the easier to use these deductions and exemptions.
The reason heās paying a freaking CPA to do his taxes, is to take advantage of these deductions and exemptions. Otherwise, it would be very straightforward.
Lastly, the guy is a douche canoe.
As much as I agree about the complexity of the tax code, the sheer lack of perspective takes my breath away.
Listen up, buttercup, you are the victim of a policy that makes it difficult to be certain whether your tax return is accurate.
The victims of your policies find it difficult to get receive information on why they are in an extra-constitutional torture dungeon, or just got reduced to a ābug splatā by one of our drones.
At least the tax code is merely byzantine, rather than byzantine and secret.
Rumsfeldās a shitty writer. He uses the word āthatā WAY too often.
What a pity he was never in a position to do anything about it. Say, at the heart of the US Government.
Quick question? In what was is Rumsfeld a war criminal?
He may have been an architect of the Iraq war, but it was a war that was achieved by the Chief Executive and with support from the legislative branch of the US government. The fact that he provided the plan for a war that eventually unfolded in an illegal way doesnāt make him a criminal.
I suppose you could call him a war criminal, but it is an insanely hollow charge. By the definition you are using, so many people would be war criminals that we wouldnāt be able to prosecute any of them.
I mean, if we want to discuss āwar crimesā then we need to get back to what we did to Japan. Tokyo was bad. A crime that was nearly unconscionable. If you want to start prosecuting American War crimes, start at Tokyo. I donāt even understand how you would start at Iraq, unless you believe there was some standing order in Iraq to shoot civilians on sight.
Double negatives too. That āI know that I cannot have any confidence that I know etc.ā sentence in his letter is right in that brand area, clear evidence to me that as Xeni surmises, he released this letter to drum up publicity for his book. Heās become a parody of himself, though he may have already been that back in the Bush days.
Yeah, so many people made a career out of selling weapons to Iraq, and then using the receipts to justify a war of aggression a generation later. His role in that was truly trivial, wasnāt it? No more involved than you or I. psssh
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/shakinghands_high.wmv
also too: his crimes against the English Language and Formal Logic.
I think that it is obviously a ploy to try to avoid charges against him and his wife for knowingly filing a false return, should discrepancies in his return be uncovered. Why else also mention his wife? Why else do it every year?
He might not be able to figure out the tax code, but his āaccountantsā should be able to, and if he canāt trust their advice, all he has to do is hire better ones.Ā Hasnāt he heard of the free market?
Exactly my thoughts! If only he had devoted his political capital, time and strenght to do it instead of coming up with ways to bomb people.
Iām going to disagree with youā¦ I live overseas, and my tax filing package is like 60 convoluted pages long with tiny numbers. I have salary in a foreign current (no expat package for me), basic brokerage, I donāt own a house, and thatās it. Nothing crazy. Not to mention the additional FBAR filing putting me in a category of Americans that has to send a report to a proprietorial āFinancial Crimesā department of the government to attest that Iām not breaking the law. Who else residing in the US has to do this? Ah, right, nobody.
This is contrast to my foreign tax filing that is 2 pages long, with large font. With literally only 2 numbers that required me to confirm with my accountant. The corresponding āwhere the fark did that number come fromā email to the US CPA was 2 pages long. Every year he tells me Iām over-thinking it and to not spend as much time as I do checking. I check every number and have come to the conclusion that Iām parroting the work, rather than actually validating it. I canāt actually provide enough meaningful oversight to catch errors.
We Americans are trapped into thinking that the current situation is ānormalā and āstandardā. Itās not. TurboTax my ass. Those guys are actively campaigning against tax simplification. Their business model depends on āImpossibleā.
Rumsfeld is a dickhead but right on this point. Why is nobody else saying the same?
TurboTax my ass. Those assholes are actively campaigning against tax simplification. Their business model depends on āImpossibleā.
Iām going to disagree with youā¦ I live overseas, and my tax filing package is like 60 convoluted pages long
with tiny numbers. I have salary in a foreign current (no expat package for me), basic brokerage, I donāt own a house, and thatās it. Nothing crazy. Not to mention the additional FBAR filing putting me in a category of Americans that has to send a report to a proprietorial āFinancial Crimesā department of the government to attest that Iām not
breaking the law. Who else residing in the US has to do this? Ah, right, nobody.
This is contrast to my foreign tax filing that is 2 pages long, with 1 high x 1 wide centimeter font. With literally only 2 numbers that required me to confirm with my accountant. The corresponding āwhere the fark did that number come fromā email to the US CPA was 2 pages long. Every year he tells me Iām over-thinking it and to not spend as much time as I do checking. I check every number and have come to the conclusion that Iām parroting the work, rather than actually validating it. I canāt actually provide enough meaningful oversight to catch errors.
We Americans are trapped into thinking that the current situation is ānormalā and āstandardā.
Rumsfeld is a dickhead but right on this point. Why is nobody else saying the same?
