US trade gap narrows as exports rise

Financial Times (FT.com) ^ | 10. November 2004 | Christopher Swann

[1rudeboy]

BTW, did you miss a decimal point?

[Toddsterpatriot]

Why, of course I do ;)

Thanks for the link. I have a sneaking suspicion that taxes withheld is only a small part of taxes paid. What do you think?

[general_re]

I'm sure. Obviously, that doesn't take into account state and local income taxes, property taxes, gross receipts taxes, capital gains, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I'll give you a concrete example - if you buy a piece of real property from a foreigner, theoretically you're supposed to withhold 10% of the purchase price and mail it to the IRS as a down payment on the capital gains tax for them. But the minimum tax on such a capital gain is 26%, so obviously the withholding accounts for less than half of the tax due in many cases. QED.

[general_re]

BTW, did you miss a decimal point?

I don't think so, but as the Toddster points out, withholding is not the sum total of all taxes paid. That's just the tax that was prepaid, not the total due on filing.

[Toddsterpatriot]

I'll give you a concrete example - if you buy a piece of real property from a foreigner, theoretically you're supposed to withhold 10% of the purchase price and mail it to the IRS as a down payment on the capital gains tax for them. But the minimum tax on such a capital gain is 26%, so obviously the withholding accounts for less than half of the tax due in many cases.

Maybe. The 10% is of the entire purchase price. The 26% is only the capital gain. Gain could be zero or there could be a loss. I thought your original $1,320,828,000 sounded low, but at least you had data. Too many on this thread and others post what they "feel", not what they can prove.

[general_re]

Is it? I seem to recall that it's 10% of the estimated capital gains, but I haven't looked in a while...

[Toddsterpatriot]

Is it? I seem to recall that it's 10% of the estimated capital gains, but I haven't looked in a while...

How would the buyer know what the sellers capital gain is? Your previous post said 10% of sale.....

[general_re]

Yah, good point - this is what I get with not enough coffee in me ;)

[1rudeboy]

Yep, this was the thread where some yob was "explaining" to me that foreign corporations don't pay income taxes. Whatever happened to him, apart from his modified claim that foreign corporations do not pay "enough?"

[Toddsterpatriot]

Whatever happened to him, apart from his modified claim that foreign corporations do not pay "enough?"

Like Willie, when he loses an argument, he runs away and pouts.

[1rudeboy]

That's what gets me, though. The sheer level of ignorance . . . foreign corporations don't pay income taxes.
Yeah, whatever . . . back to elementary school.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Yeah, whatever . . . back to elementary school.

Elementary school dropouts are people too.