RAHM'S 'RENT' IS JUST THE TIP OF ETHICS ICEBERG

[El Nino]

http://digg.com/politics/RAHM_S_RENT_IS_JUST_THE_TIP_OF_ETHICS_ICEBERG

[hippifried]

Since when did not paying rent become an income source?

[El Nino]

Since when did not paying rent become an income source?

As the artice states, his freeloading is just the tip of the iceberg. Rahm was on the BOARD of Freddie Mac! Connect the dots
Freddie/Fannie bought these doomed mortgages that CREATED all these phony investments that went bad, dragging the whole world down with them.

And they lied about their earnings to jack up their phony bonuses!

How's that "change" and "hope" working out for you?

[trish]

By "tip of the iceberg", the article's author means, "I can't find anything else, but I'm still looking."

[El Nino]

Icebergs only show about 10% above the water.
How come everybody Obama knows is dirty.
Is this a Rahm iceberg or an Obama iceberg?
Don't even get me started with the rest of his 'cabinet'. Change and transparency..... two things we're still waiting to see from the Obama camp.

You ain't seen nothing yet! This is just the beginning......

[chefmike]

Since when did not paying rent become an income source?



How's that "change" and "hope" working out for you?


Much better than your paranoia and delusion!!

Nice of you to ask though!!

BTW, is that a tinfoil lined chapeau that you're sporting, zippy?

[BrendaQG]

In all honesty this is going to be a little thing. (Unless this is just the tip of an iceberg at who's bottom is Roland Burris, and Rod Blodgojevich)

Let me put it this way Hippie. Say I hire you for a job, and room and board up to X amount of $$ are part of the deal. That's income that's taxable.

Now suppose I won 250 Million in the lottery and decided to give everyone I know even by internet weather I like them or not $25000. ( I can be a very generous person) That too would be income, and would be taxed.

Now suppose instead I said I will just pay all of those peoples rent/mortgage up to $25000. That would still be income and yes it would be taxable just the same.

Understand.

But really this is a little thing. What could possibly be the real value of staying in a room in a persons house? $100-200/month?

Two weeks from now we won't even remember this shit. NEXT!

[trish]

Suppose I live with my BF and he pays the rent. So essentially I'm living rent free. Should I declare that as income??? Of course not. After all, the landlord should be claiming that income. Rahm's case is somewhere in between this and Brenda's analogy. Rahm lived with a friend. They didn't hire him to be their friend with the understanding that room and board would be part of the compensation. They merely invited him to live with them. So was it ethical not to claim it as income? If he wasn't a public official, I'd say, "Yes it's ethical." Since he is a public official, the arrangement seems rather imprudent. Brenda's right, nothing will come from it. There's not enough ice here to cool down a glass of hot tea.

[hippifried]

Now suppose instead I said I will just pay all of those peoples rent/mortgage up to $25000. That would still be income and yes it would be taxable just the same. No it wouldn't. It'd just be a savings. You don't get taxed for not spending money, unless you try to deduct it as an expense. Then it's fraud.

There's nothing untoward here at all. There's nothing unethical about inviting someone to stay in your home or accepting the invite.

This is a non-issue.

[BrendaQG]

Suppose I live with my BF and he pays the rent. So essentially I'm living rent free. Should I declare that as income??? Of course not. After all, the landlord should be claiming that income.

Your wrong. I'm not going to hunt for this specific kind of situation, but I think you will see why you are wrong if you read this from the IRS.

IRS Publication 17 chapter 12 "Other Income" (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch12.html)

You own a small apartment building. In return for 6 months rent-free use of an apartment, an artist gives you a work of art she created. You must report as rental income on Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss, the fair market value of the artwork, and the artist must report as income on Schedule C (Form 1040) or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) the fair rental value of the apartment.

Now I don't see Rham giving anyone any artwork. This would cover Rham's case. That's what the IRS says, they decide, based on our overcomplicated tax code what is and is not taxable income.

In your case living with your BF "rent free" would be taxable income..... And looking at the example the IRS uses, it seems that even if you get help with the rent the ammount of rent you would otherwise have to pay and don't on account of having a roommate could be called taxable income...or is that looked at as being a business venture like a company? :-? :-/

Think about this kind of BS happening next time a republican like me suggesst either a flat tax or a greatly simplified tax code. You know one that would make common sense. I agree with you that someone giving you free shelter ought not count as income, but the fact is the laws we have now say it does.

[trish]

The artwork is seen as payment for rent and and therefore the landlord must report it as having income equal to the monetary value of what he would usually charge for rent. In Rahm's case nothing is being offered as proxy for rent because he's merely living at a friend's house. So the owner's of the house don't have to declare any income. Neither does Rahm.

In the scenario I described, the landlord collects the rent from my BF. So the landlord must declare that. It's not my income, it's the landlord's income. My room and board are not payment for an article, nor for services rendered. I've looked through publication 17 and found nothing relevant to such a situation. I admit I may have overlooked it, but you'll allow me to assume I'm correct here until shown otherwise.

I agree one might think tax laws could be simpler. But they do have to cover, and cover fairly, a complicated mess of different situations. Whereas the flat tax is simple to apply, it's far from fair.

[hippifried]

Sorry Brenda.
There's nothing in that IRS publication that relates to this situation. There's no compensation involved here. It's just somebody letting somebody else crash at their place.