Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #423

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
some real, some perceived -- led to a surge in demand during Obama's tenure and manufac- turers leapt to keep up. Over the decade ending in 2015, the number of U.S. com- panies licensed to make firearms jumped 362 percent.
"The trends really almost since Election Day or election night have been that gun sales have slacked off," said Robert Spitzer, political sci- ence department chairman at State University of New York at Cortland. "When you take away Barack Obama and you give the Republicans control of both houses of Congress, which is extremely friendly to the gun lobby, then the political pressure subsides. And that surely is at least a key part of the expla- nation for the drop- off in sales."
The Washington Post reported that the FBI conducted about 500,000 fewer background checks in December 2016 then in 2015. Gun sales this year have reportedly dropped about 17 percent.
From 2004 to 2013, sales of all handguns -- pistols and revolvers -- increased nearly fivefold, according to industry figures. Sales of rifles tripled in that timeframe.
shape in the middle of that surge, formed in 2010 after its founder Chris Kurzadkowski ven- tured into his garage to build his police officer son a rifle from scratch.
"Our forefathers real- ized what tyranny does and if you don't have a way to pro- tect yourself from tyranny then you become a subject," said ammunition expert Jamey Spears, who spent five years in Texas law enforcement until he was shot during a raid on a Dallas crack house. The .45-caliber hol- low point bullet that went through a gap in his body armor remains lodged next to his spine, a noticeable lump reminding him of how close he came to dying that day.
"I have nothing but the most heartfelt adoration for people who serve so others can be safe," he said.
One reason for the surge in manufactur- ers of AR-platform firearms -- called "modern sporting rifles" by the industry -- is that they are not protected by patents or trademarks. That makes it an open field for anyone with the proper federal license.
Another has been demand helped by a
Battle Rifle took
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The government places limits on things that are good for people; for exam- ple, how much you can put in a 401(k) or IRA. But have you noticed the gov- ernment doesn’t limit things that are good for it? Consider the tax that is euphemistically called the “lot-
tery.” You can’t put more than $5,000 in an IRA, but there are no limits on how much you can spend on the lottery.
Isn’t it odd that you can create a trust where the trust assets are OUT of your estate for feder- al estate tax purpos- es, but included IN your income for income tax purpos- es? Weirder yet is that these trusts are often called “defec- tive trusts” by tax practitioners.
According to the Tax Policy Center, 46 percent of “tax units” (essentially families) don’t pay federal income tax. This has been a hot topic in the recent presiden- tial election, but the facts remain.
Another hot topic on the presidential scene has been health care. Two odd things that caught my eye:
A tax credit that Congress enacted in 2010for small busi- nesses providing health-care coverage was claimed by only about 170,300 employers. The eli- gible pool is between 1.4 million and 4 mil- lion businesses
Congressional budg- et analysts estimate that nearly 6 million will have to pay a tax
penalty for not get- ting health insurance once the Affordable Health Care law is fully in place.
Seven states have no state income tax, while eight states have a top marginal bracket of at least 8 percent.
The original 1040 form, first available in 1913, included only four pages total: two pages of work- sheets, the actual 1040 form, and only one page of instruc- tions. In contrast the current 1040 instruc- tions alone run 175 pages.
The U.S. Tax Court allowed the driver of a car to write off $33,629 of damage after he totaled it while under the influ- ence. While it's not unusual to deduct property damage, in
this case the driver was arrested for DUI.
What the govern- ment gives, it can take away. In the category of “Wait, didn’t I already pay tax on this?” the per- centage of Social Security payments that are income tax- able on a couple earning more
than $44,000, mar- ried and filing jointly is 85 percent.
Did you know that many items are sub- ject to the federal estate tax even if the decedent never had a chance to enjoy them? For example, the present value of deferred compensa- tion payable in the future to a deceased employee is included in that employee’s estate.
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