Comments on: We Don’t Care if You Kill Anybody, Just Don’t Cheat on Your Taxes

By: John Galt

John Galt — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:30:26 +0000

Kelly – Thanks for responding. Can’t Blackwater simply claim relief under Section 530 safeharbor? Also I am curious does the Comm. on oversight and goverment reform, which Congressman Waxman heads, have authority on this issue. Shouldn’t this matter be for the IRS to handle Dept. of Justice? I just find it odd!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:01:30 +0000

First of all, the company is responsible for paying its share of the withholding, so in that regard, even if the tax is being paid, it is being paid by the wrong party. Blackwater is shifting its tax burden to the employees – that is evasion. The big case on this matter involved Microsoft, in case you’re interested in background info about why it’s inappropriate and against the law.

Second, there are other taxes that do not get picked up by independent contractors but would be paid for by an employer – state unemployment compensation taxes, for example. By misclassifying personnel, a company would avoid those additional taxes.

By: John Galt

John Galt — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:47:27 +0000

Kelly,
I don’t understand if I received a Form 1099 like the Blackwater personnel, I would have to file a US tax return and pay the appropriate federal and state tax plus 15.3% social security tax. So if each person who received the Form 1099 did that what tax is being evaded?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:10:22 +0000

As the sister of military personnel, I know our soldiers receive fewer perks, far less money and not the sort of *gratitude* that you imply the State feels for Blackwater employees. I find it hard to muster up much sympathy for the company (not the employees). The folks there are making lots of money and not facing any consequences – tax or otherwise.

By: Diego

Diego — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:16:32 +0000

The government’s apparent softness on Blackwater’s wake of dead bodies may be related to the fact that Blackwater has lost several of its own people in Iraq without losing a single one of the diplomats it was hired to protect. State is too busy being thankful they are alive to judge too harshly. The Beloved IRS, on the other hand, fears not the insurgents!

By: Write a post for taxgirl - and you might get an “A” in school!

Write a post for taxgirl - and you might get an “A” in school! — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:32:55 +0000

[...] We Don’t Care If You Kill Anybody, Just Don’t Cheat on Your Taxes Fund children’s insurance on the backs of smokers? Go Directly To Jail. Do Not Pass Go. [...]

By: Blackwater Leaks

Blackwater Leaks — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 11:35:55 +0000

[...] Senator John Kerry (D – MA) wrote to the Senate Committee on Finance regarding the possibility that Blackwater has misclassified employees for tax purposes. The letter follows: October 26, [...]

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:11:39 +0000

And you know what should scare the GOP? That comment was written by a lifelong Republican…

By: R. Wayne Phillips

R. Wayne Phillips — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:04:32 +0000

Amazing how the government has turned its head away from the facts on this matter. Blackwater just didn’t appear on the horizon, but was the scheme of pretty smart guys, ready to “steal” some of the US Treasury that has been shipped to IRAQ courtsey of Bush / Cheney.
It took an act of Congress to bring this to the surface. Wonder how far the smoke is from the source of the scheme?