Beto O'Rourke appears to have underpaid taxes in 2013, 2014

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke and his wife, Amy, appear to have underpaid their taxes for two years, according to a new report.

The couple appear to have underpaid their 2013 and 2014 taxes by more than $4,000 because they made a mistake in the way they reported their medical expenses, according to an accountant who looked over the returns for the Wall Street Journal.

O’Rourke and his wife, who released their tax returns Monday, took medical expense deductions that were only permitted for medical and dental expenses above 10% of income for people their age. Their taxable income would have increased had they not taken nearly $16,000 in deductions.

“After becoming aware of this error, the accounting firm that prepared the filings was immediately informed and will file an amendment as appropriate,” an aide to O’Rourke said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/beto-orourke-appears-to-have-underpaid-taxes-in-2013-2014/ar-BBVZB56?li=BBnbcA1

Looks like Beto did the right thing when this error was discovered. Just putting this out there FYI.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Oh boy. Repigs will have a field day with that.

[murielm99]

2. They can have a field day after

45 shows us his taxes.

[WeekiWater]

4. Pretty solid if this is what they have to come after him with. NT

[jalan48]

3. Oops.

[Tiggeroshii]

5. The tax system is stupid. The government knows what you owe.

They should just send us the bill or refund instead of having us report what we think we owe in complicated forms and then penalizing us if we are wrong.

[bigbrother05]

7. That would only apply without itemization or adjustments

Clearly as business owners, Beto and his wife have a fairly complicated return and the error was on their accountants.

[Tiggeroshii]

13. Still something you can do a lot easier if you didn't have to calculate everything else.

We tried many times to get return free filing, but (surprise) tax software companies lobbied to make sure it doesn't happen every time.

[oldsoftie]

10. Huh?

[Tiggeroshii]

11. here

[oldsoftie]

16. He's way wrong on this one. Most of my income isnt be reported to the govt.

Most income of about 50 people i know well are similar to me. No W2; no 1099. TONS of people fall into that group.
But i do enjoy the "Adam ruins" videos

My favorite is the one about what a scam & ripoff diamonds are & have been.

[Tiggeroshii]

18. The propublica report is far more detailed.

https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-block-intuit-lobbying-against-it

As far as what is reported, I think your employer and the banks still pass on deposit information to the government, no?

[oldsoftie]

21. Thats just it, the banks dont know whats income & whats not. They just report interest.

My "employers" aren't typical employers; i don't get W2s or 1099s from anyone except 1 from the state.
And thats the thing; DOZENS of types of jobs dont get reported. For those people, you tell the govt how much you made.

[Tiggeroshii]

24. I think you might be in a very unique situation. In the cases where the government already has the

income reported by the employers, they are able to do the work for us. It is just people like H and R block who get in the way of it. You however, would probably be doomed to file your taxes on your own even in a free file system.

[oldsoftie]

30. Exactly. And there are a TON of people just like me. Which is why i support a sales tax.

Even though i would end up paying more, i'm willing to because i know all these other people like me who make a helluva lot more would finally be paying what they should be

[Ruby the Liberal]

19. How is the g'ment supposed to know what we paid

in medical expenses, charitable deductions, student loan interest and SALT (etc etc etc) and apply it appropriately to the correct taxpayer EIN with the correct dependents?

Theres a reason TurboTax and H&R Block are wildly successful at selling tax prep software.

[Politicub]

26. Yes. I agree.

It will take a major revision of the tax code -- basically rewriting it -- but it's quite doable.

Is it Switzerland where the tax form is about the size of a postcard?

The only reason it is so complicated is so wealthy people can hoard more of their wealth and not pay their fair share. The deductions for the middle class -- SALT, for one -- seem to be on the GOP's chopping block so they can lower the tax rate for billionaires.

[Freethinker65]

6. Sounds like the accounting firm made the mistake. It happens.

Interesting that the IRS did not notice it. It looks like a pretty easy thing to catch.

[yaesu]

8. This is very common, our tax system is horrendously complicated

and the mistake is rectified via amending the return, no sweat.

[oldsoftie]

12. You are correct. Too many stipulations written for cronies. Get rid of it & get a consumption tax.

Then the rich WILL pay a lot more.
Send everyone a check to cover tax on a minimum ammount and be done with this BS.
WAY too much income goes unreported & untaxed; likely trillions. And its VERY easy to get away with it.

[TexasTowelie]

17. A consumption tax is considered to be regressive.

Poor people would find most of their income being taxed, while people with higher wages could keep most of their income non-taxable by keeping money in savings or other financial instruments.

[oldsoftie]

22. Which is why i covered that in the second sentence. Either we want to raise money or not.

Nothing is perfect. But in europe the consumption tax is a large part of funding the programs they have that we WANT to have.
The rich will not avoid a sales tax. The rich people i know spend a ton of money doing whatever they like. Tax it. They're not gonna stop spending. And raising their income tax is the EASIEST way to avoid paying. There's ALWAYS a loophole or a shelter & there always will be
If we want to fund the things we want, its gonna hurt a little. There simply arent enough people who qualify as "rich" to raise enough money for what we need.
I know its not a popular point of view here, but i'm dealing with reality and what will work

[BlueFlorida]

9. Beto rocks! nt

[Caliman73]

14. So did I. Paying for that now.

Taxes are complicated, especially if you have a business. Some times you under pay sometimes you over pay. It isn't about whether it happens, but about what you do to correct it...or in Trump's case, Not.

[Indygram]

15. I wonder who paid the accounting firm to look for a problem in the returns

and how much they pay their cleaners to tend to their soiled undies from being that afraid of Beto, lol.

[Indygram]

20. While silly articles like this try to attack Beto he's campaigning his but off...in Charlottesville

Just a few miles from where Heather Haier was murdered by a white nationalist terrorist. Bigger overflow crowd than the people that can fit in the room. Watch for the live stream thread! <3 Beto!

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

31. +1

[ecstatic]

23. Not their fault. nt

[Politicub]

25. An accounting firm makes and error and corrects it. News at 11.

Not sure what the point of WSJ's article is. Maybe to cast asparagus?

[Indygram]

27. Meanwhile Beto is busy doing this....

Link to tweet

[rzemanfl]

29. With Hollandaise, it's the WSJ, after all. n/t

[VarryOn]

28. Having just gotten returns from my accountant on Saturday...

I have no idea if he did them corrcectly. My wife and i signed them, scanned and sent back.

Point being...I can easily see how O'Rourke doesnt know if his taxes were done correctly or not.