08-22-2007, 06:13 PM
[quote billb]Estimated income.
and don't be wrong by much because there is a penalty for that, too.
Yes, I know it's ESTIMATED.
My quarrel is with how they arrive at that "estimate." (if that's what they do. that seems to be up for dispute.)
IMO, they are taxing him on potential appreciation -- which may or may not happen -- not the actual value of the ball as he caught it. If he keeps the ball, it has only the nominal market value of Rawlings official MLB balls plus his own sentimental value. Only when he sells it does one realize what real monetary value that sentimental value takes.
And if he never sells it, that presumed will fluctuate, ie: when some future event like Bonds admitting steroid use or A-Rod or another future player hits a ball that surpasses this one, the market value will change.
To me that's like taxing the assumed appreciation on one's house every year even if you don't sell it. A good analogy would be that if you sell your house today, they tax you on the highest price your house would have sold for during this recent bubble.
and don't be wrong by much because there is a penalty for that, too.
Yes, I know it's ESTIMATED.
My quarrel is with how they arrive at that "estimate." (if that's what they do. that seems to be up for dispute.)
IMO, they are taxing him on potential appreciation -- which may or may not happen -- not the actual value of the ball as he caught it. If he keeps the ball, it has only the nominal market value of Rawlings official MLB balls plus his own sentimental value. Only when he sells it does one realize what real monetary value that sentimental value takes.
And if he never sells it, that presumed will fluctuate, ie: when some future event like Bonds admitting steroid use or A-Rod or another future player hits a ball that surpasses this one, the market value will change.
To me that's like taxing the assumed appreciation on one's house every year even if you don't sell it. A good analogy would be that if you sell your house today, they tax you on the highest price your house would have sold for during this recent bubble.