When I joined the Air Force...the finance guy there in Texas tried to convince me to list Texas as my home of record...thus avoiding any state taxes for the remainder of my life. I didn’t grasp the argument and just stuck with my home state. Four years later...I’m in Washington state and get the same lecture again (Washington has no state income tax), and this time I understood the discussion and argument. For the remainder of my career with the Air Force....I paid no state income tax.
I view this mess in the same fashion. It’s a personal choice, and unless some idiots make a law forbidding the tactic, I don’t see a problem with it.
I worked with a gal who bought a horse ranch while stationed in Montana. Upon selling it and assuming she’d have to pay some taxes on the profits (over $70k in profits)...she found this local tax accountant who knew of a federal law dealing with Montana horse ranches sold within a certain year period (she fell into the category) that voided all profits for taxation purposes. It was singularly written for Montana, for a limited year period. Obviously, some senator worked the deal for a friend and others benefited from the deal. There are countless deals on the books which Congress put into the system...pretending to be tax experts and writing their own code.
So much for “equal protection under the law”, eh?
“I worked with a gal who bought a horse ranch while stationed in Montana. Upon selling it and assuming she’d have to pay some taxes on the profits (over $70k in profits)...she found this local tax accountant who knew of a federal law dealing with Montana horse ranches sold within a certain year period (she fell into the category) that voided all profits for taxation purposes. It was singularly written for Montana, for a limited year period. Obviously, some senator worked the deal for a friend and others benefited from the deal. There are countless deals on the books which Congress put into the system...pretending to be tax experts and writing their own code.”
Yet another reason the USA should replace the income tax with the FairTax and abolish the IRS!
Congress writes tax law but they always write in an escape clause. So they know how to avoid the very tax they get put in place.
Find out how congress critters avoid taxes and follow their lead. Or get to know a good tax accountant.