Skip to content

The Liberty Tax

Published by digby on March 23, 2014

The Liberty Tax

by digby

I guess he still rules their world:

Of course the penalty isn’t in effect until you’ve been uninsured for more than 9 months but Drudge claims that he’s doing this as a small business so he has to pay.

Was Drudge lying or misinformed? Or, did he actually pay the penalty and is being unfairly criticized?

Conservative outlets including Breitbart and The Washington Times jumped to his defense, echoing a later claim from Drudge himself that he was actually paying a small business or self-employed tax as part of his quarterly 2014 estimated tax payments.

As with so many other tax laws, it turns out there might be varying degrees of truth for each argument.

The H&R Block Tax Institute told The Wire that Drudge is likely overpaying his tax debt now and that the overpayment will be deducted once the health insurance penalty is assessed early next year. However, H&R Block also said there is no formal payment calculation yet in place by the IRS for the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision. What’s more, when individuals make estimated tax payments, they cannot specify which government program their payments are going to, i.e. building roads, fighting wars or healthcare.

So, if H&R Block is right, Drudge’s literal claim is probably not exactly true, either. At best, he’s overpaying his taxes and assuming that extra money will go to his eventual penalty for not getting health insurance.

I don’t have to pay the “Liberty Tax” because … I bought insurance through the exchange and got better coverage and saved money. Just like Drudge, I did just send in my estimated taxes for the second quarter though. But I’m calling it THE MILLIONAIRE SUBSIDY!

.

Published inUncategorized