January 25, 2015
Ron Klein, Esq.
Holland & Knight
515 E. Las Olas Blvd
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

RE: “tax reform and tax fairness” and your oh so painfully typical plea for moving the horizon on command as you set it forth in today’s unlinkable Sun Sentinel.

Mr. Klein,

Is it fair to tax profits at the corporate level and then again on the individual level when shareholders get dividends?

[I think I may be the first person to tell you that corporations don’t pay taxes. Taxes become an expense item, much like salaries and benefits, power and light, and plant and equipment. As such they are borne by the shareholders. Look it up.]

Why is the interest paid on corporate debt taxable while the interest paid on municipal bonds is tax free?

Do you know any poor people who own municipal bonds? Do you know any poor people?

If it is “fair” for home owners to deduct interest on their mortgages and property taxes why can’t renters, particularly women and minorities, deduct some or all of their rent?

If it is “fair” to depreciate commercial property why can’t I depreciate my car, my smart phone, my wide screen TV, and my underwear?

While you ponder the above could you give me a one sentence, preferably declarative, definition of “fair”, as in “fair share” or “fairness”? No “fair” using what isn’t “fair” as a definition.

If you are looking for a tax rock labeled “unfair” to turn over how about the trust created by Papa Joe Kennedy, an American corsair who thought Hitler was an OK guy, to provide for his layabout, wastrel son, Senator Lard Kenned?. No one knows what is in it, how much has been paid out of it, or how much it is worth. It now belongs to his youngest son Patches Kennedy, a pill popping Brahmin One %er. How “fair” is that?



Kevin Smith