April 15, 2025 • 35 mins
Hour 3 of A&G features...
- The stunt space events
- The rot in our education system
- Our tax attorney Steven Moskowitz talks to A&G
- Chicken jockey & teen slang
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio the George
Washington Broadcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Center, jack Armstrong and Joe, Katty Armstrong and Jackie and
he Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
The Ladies Only Blue Origin rocket launch, Katy Perry, Gail King,
and Jeff Bezos's fiance Lawrence Sanchez became the first group
of women ever to visit outer space. So then they
came out of the capsule and Katy Perry, this must
have been some ten minutes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You never know how much love is inside of you
until the day you launched.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Is it possible that Katie popped the mushroom ushers up there?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That is just so stupid. I was just thinking.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So this ended space explari exploration in the United States.
We were the leaders in space exploration, were the only
country they ever got to the Moon. And it ended
because of these stupid stunts, because NASA got so caught
up in the first woman, the first black person, the
first transperson of whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And nobody cares about that crap.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
They think people care about that crap, But nobody cares
about that crap. That doesn't inspire people. The actual, you know,
accomplishing something is what inspired. So that killed the space program.
Elon comes along and is all about actually doing things,
and people get jazzed up again.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
You got Bezos, the other guy he's following in NASA's footsteps.
Has Elon ever done a stunt launch of any kind?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I don't think he has. I don't remember he gives
his rocket it's funny names. But other than that, no, Yeah,
but I don't remember any of his launches being it
looks like there's no purpose for this other than the
first celebrity all female podcast or whatever thing.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Get off.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
A lot of people are taking this seriously. Give us
clip number twenty, Michael, Come on, This is David Muir
on ABC News. Many people watch this show.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Jack the star studded all female Blue Origin flight grew,
including Katie Perry and Gail King, lasting off headed to
the edge of space.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh for crying it, lift off. It's amazing to me.
Ohprah cried it, Lift off, you bully.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's amazing to me that mainstream media all these years
has acted like these stunt space things matter to people.
People don't care. They yawn at them. Big deal that
nobody's interested in. That drives me nuts. That clip that
Jimmy Kimmel had there. From Katie Perry.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You never know how much love there is on earth
until you lift off. What the hell are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You gotta play this clip twenty two Michael, listen to
this hogwash? Would you you are officially an astronaut?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
How do you feel? I still can't accept that word.
I just feel a renewed connection to everything in life
and where we are, and I can't wait to go
back out there.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It is the highest high, and it is surrender to
the unknown.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Trust.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yes, I want somebody to come back and speak the truth.
Sometime we went pretty high. We actually weren't in space.
It was a lot like an amusement park ride.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
But no, I feel exactly the same as when I
took off. I have no epiphanies or new view of
humanity or anything like that, because that view is astounding.
I mean, it's crazy. I knew the Earth was round,
but you can see it from up there. The views
are just gorgeous. No, you have to surrender to the unknown.
It's the highest high. It's trust. Okay. I love this
(03:33):
from Curtis Rotis and email. Uh, look, Kitty Perry is
no more astronaut than Ham the chimp we launched and
brought back live in nineteen sixty one. Just like riding
in seat thirteen A on a Southwest flight to Albuquerque
doesn't make an airline pilot.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
She was just a passenger. That's good. Yeah, when I'm
on a Southwest flight, I am not a pilot now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
And then, as you heard yesterday, it only seems right
that as they reached the peak of their space journey
and Earth was a beautiful marble in the distance, she
sang Katy Perry saying, what a wonderful world. Just like
ms King that brought me to tears. I guess I
kissed a girl and I liked it didn't quite fit
the moment. What a freaking clown show, writes Michael.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Hi, I'm Katy Perry. Let's go to space.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
When Elon had that rocket come back down and he
caught it with the big giant hands, you know, I mean,
that's freaking amazing and inspiring and wow. Sending Katy Perry
and Gail King up isn't a nothing. And why does
the media go along with it and act like it's
a big deal.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Embarrassing culture.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Michael writes, I'm no longer pushing my two daughters to
worry about the hard sciences. I told them just to
have a best friend who's the queen of media. Write
horrible pop songs are steal a millionaire from his wife,
and they too can get to the edge of space.
That's beautifully said. That's pretty snarky, beautifully said. Go ahead
play twenty three Michael.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Complete and utter joy and gratefulness. You can hear no
dream is too wild.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
The moon was so beautiful, and that was like, I
felt like that was a special gift just for me.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You can't go through what we went through to look
out for each other, to help each other and.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Not be changed by that. Oh, I will never be
the same. This experience is right, is second to being a.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Mom, other than the reference to being a mom. They
sound like high school girls. You can't go what we
went through together, helping each other, being there for each
other and not be changed by that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You two were.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Strapped into a seat, then you floated around for like
a minute, then you're get back in your seat. You're
too old to say that sort of stupid crap. If
you're a you know, a pop singer who's young. Okay,
Hen stoned. Oh geez, I'm embarrassed for y'all. Yeah, I'm
embarrassed for my kun.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You can't all the love in the world you can
feel at once when you play Oh.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Shut up, it's the highest high. It's surrendered to the unknown. Okay,
all right?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Can I get back to work now? Speaking of which,
Trump v.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Harvard the latest battle the US is freezed, billions of
dollars frozen, freezed, frozen.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Why isn't it freezed? What a crazy language English is?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Anyway, We the United States, froze billions of dollars in
funding after Harvard says no, we are going to fight
Trump's demands, and it's being portrayed on the left as
a battle in favor of academic freedom, even though in
our universities there is no academic freedom unless you're progressive.
We will outline the battle as it stands right now
(06:50):
for you in the next second. I think there were
five news articles or opinion pieces in the New York
Times today about what a horror this is that the
Trump administration is out too to kill higher education. Stop research,
is anti science's anti the free exchange of ideas. How
dare they I uphold our faculty, and ninety eight percent
(07:12):
of them, who're all progressives, agreed. We have the free
exchange of ideas. I've got a great example to fit
in with that that it just occurred to me yesterday too.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What do you get for a forty thousand dollars a
year gym membership? Not new thing is these very expensive
gym memberships that you get a lot for Now, none
of us are going to do a forty thousand dollars
gym membership, but there are other more affordable examples and
everything that comes with it.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
It might be the new thing. So stay tuned for.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
That interesting plus our favorite tax expert next segment to
talk to us about what's new, what common mistakes happen.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That sort of thing gets you learned up on your taxes.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
So Abraham Lincoln warn us that the United States will
never be destroyed by an outside force, or at least
not in the foreseeable future. And I agree with them
there if we crumble, it will be of our own doing.
And around here we believe quite sincerely that while various
wars and negotiations are incredibly important, people are dying, it's
(08:22):
not going to end the United States the trade war thing,
the tariff thing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
It might screw up the economy, It might.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Be brilliant, might be a disaster, But either way, we
will muddle on, straighten things out, and go forward in
the future. I believe the rot in our institutions of
learning K through PhD, where it's become a progressive factory
to indoctrinate young people into hating their country and Western civilization.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I think that could undo us.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
If we have generation after a generation of Americans who
do not buy into the principles of this country and
do not love it, we will fall apart as a country. Anyway,
It's just a setting the scene headline. US phreezes billions
in funding after Harvard says it will fight Trump's demands.
You remember how Trump threatened Columbia and pen and a
(09:10):
couple of other places and said, look, you got to
follow federal law on hiring. You can't have these loyalty oaths,
these dei statements, et cetera, or we're not going to
fund your research anymore. And a lot of them came
around and said, yeah, yeah, we see your point. Okay,
we'll switch this around. We won't do this anymore, and
we won't admit people based on race, because that's the law.
(09:30):
Harvard has said, yeah, look at my well funded middle
finger and said absolutely no to the Trump Administration's interesting
that Columbia caved so quickly and Harvard is gonna fight it.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Part of what happened was, and I should have included this,
is that the Trump administration was horrified by the overt
anti semitism of the Up with Hamas crowd and how
they have been violating federal law over and over again
with impunity at these universities because Up with the Palestinians,
Up with Hamas is seen as a progressive cause and
(10:05):
so actually I think as a door to get into
the universities to force them to do what they ought
to be doing.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
It.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
It's kind of handy, but so Harvard said money it
would resist the Trump's administrations demands to change its governance
structure over campus anti semitism concerns. Seeing the governments it's
overstepping its authority. Hours later, the government announced a two
point twenty six billion dollar freeze of Harvard's multi year
grants and contracts, said Harvard President Alan Garber, one of
(10:36):
two out of ten ivy leaved schools, that's led by
a dude, because it's much more progressive to be led
by a woman, a gay woman, if you can a
gay black woman, if you can a black woman named gay.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
In the case of Harvard until.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Fairly recently, back to the text anyway, Harvard President Alan
Garber said, quote, the university will not surrender its independence
or relinquish its constitutione utional rights.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Trump administration said the school's response.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Quote reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in
our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges. That federal investment
does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.
It's so interesting, isn't it that? And that is absolutely
undeniably true. We're talking about civil rights laws. You cannot
beat a black man to prevent him from attending class.
(11:27):
You cannot threaten a Jewish girl to terrify her out
of the library. That is a civil rights enforcement issue,
and Progressive America is standing staunchly in favor of keeping
the Jews out in effect and conservatives out.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Did you see uh?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I don't want to get too bogged down on this,
but did you see that a ven diagram thing that
was making the floating around on social media over the weekend,
where you had the far right is a circle, the
far left is a circle, and fundamentalist Islam is a circle.
And the one thing all three circles converge on is
we hate Jews right in America, far right, far left,
(12:10):
unlike the Jews and fundamentalist Islam.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
That's a problem, yeah, if you're Jewish.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
So the Trump Administration Task Force on Anti Semitism wrote
to school earlier asking it to take nine actions quote
that we regard as necessary for Harvard University's continued financial
relationship with the United States government. Most of the demands
concerned how the university operates. The government is asking for
a comprehensive mask ban, as well as changes to governance, leadership,
and admissions, and an end to DEI programs. Notably, the
(12:39):
government is also seeking to reach into the classroom.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Gets a little controversial.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Here, demanding quote necessary changes be made to address bias,
improve viewpoint diversity, and end ideological capture which fuel anti
Semitic harassment.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
To task forces, letter said.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I would like that stuff to happen, but I don't
see how you can force that to happen without getting
into a real dangerous territory.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
That is such an interesting question.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
If you have a ninety four percent progressive faculty in
a school that gets any government funding whatsoever, conservative is
not a protected class, right, It's difficult to make that
into a civil rights issue with the teeth of the
law behind you. Well, and it's an interesting conundrum. And
(13:29):
you can see where if you allowed this, how out
of control it could get. Who's going to define, you know,
what the politics ought to be of the college at
what percentage?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And how do you enforce it?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Right, how do you define who's a conservative, who's a
moderate conservative, who's a far right person? Yeah, it's a
it's opening a Pandora's box. But at the same time,
something like that has to happen or it will tear
the country apartment. Don't you feel like market forces are
working at this right now? Where Yes, you know, a
degree from Columbia and Harvard. I think there's lots of
(14:05):
people in the country. They see that on a resume
and they think, oh no, they don't think, yes, Harvard
grad wants to work there. Do you think danger danger?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, Yeah, I do think that and other
schools are opening up and proudly proclaiming themselves to be
actual centers of the free exchange of ideas, whether it's
a University of Austin, North Carolina has got established a
brand new college within the university. That's all about free inquiry,
which is what the whole gd thing is.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Supposed to be doing. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
The headline in the New York Times, as Jack mentioned,
Harvard's decision to resist Trump is ament is of moments
momentous significance. Sorry, but a fight with the nation's oldest, richest,
and most elite university is a battle to President Trump
and is powerful. Ad Stephen Miller want to have I
think that's actually true.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yep. But Elizabeth bum Miller.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
From Washington is talking about how the Trump administration is
demanding all sorts of unreasonable things and controlling the university
and how significant this is and wonderful blah blah blah.
I thought it was interesting that she also mentions, just
point of interest, Harvard University is one hundred and forty
years older than the United States. Yeah, has an endowment
(15:21):
greater than the GDP of nearly one hundred countries. Yeah,
that's amazing and then finally, the Wall Street Journal was
describing how this battle is being waged, and it's kind
of interesting. It has to do with a Health and
(15:41):
Human Services official who's part of a little known government
task force that's shaken elite universities, targeted billions of dollars
in federal funding, taken on to Columbia and Harvard, et cetera,
et cetera. It's called the Task Force to Combat Anti Semitism,
and the group's stated goal is to root out anti
Semitic harassment at schools and on college campuses. But along
(16:05):
the way, the task Force is taking on university culture
more broadly in ways that echo the MAGA dreams for
remaking higher education, including racial ending, racial preferences, and hiring
and admission. But it's a very small part of the
HHS that is kind of the tip of the spear
doing this stuff. And I can't wait to watch this unfold.
(16:28):
As I've probably over emphasized, I think it's one of
the most important things going on in America today, even
though it's under most people's radar.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It' tosay, April fifteenth, It's tax Day.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
We're going to talk to our friend Steven Moskowitz tax
attorney about the kind of state of taxes today and
make common mistakes and things you should keep your eye on.
Oof death and taxes, man, only two things you can
count on on this planet. Can practically guarantee you'll get
some good advice out of it, something you'll want to
look into in your own finance. Maybe later we'll get
(17:01):
to that dude who set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
That's an interesting story. Total Toildren, Armstrong and Getty Pappy
tax today.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Everybody, good news is whatever money you're given the government
that you worked hard for, it's going to be spent
wisely and in a way better than you could have
spent it. Oh yeah, absolutely, you and your children and
your needs.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
So I didn't hear the latest update. Do we have
our guest or No?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Not as yet? Okay, still efforting that. So here's something
I don't know if we'll ever figure out.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So we have.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
A higher tolerance right now in the country for political
violence than we've had since the early seventies, I feel like,
and we're getting more of it. But every example of
it that happens, the person is crazy. So how does
that fit together? Because crazy people are crazy. So I
(18:03):
don't know how you fit that in with the zeitgeist
or whatever. Does the zeitgeist reach crazy people? But anyway,
the guy that set the Pennsylvania governor mansion on fire.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Was completely nuts.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yet it fits into a pattern of more political violence,
and we can talk more about that later. We'll get
into the details of this guy's background.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I mean, he's a nut.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Job, but first let's talk taxes with Steven Moscowitz, the
founder and tax attorney at moscow at'z LLP. Long time
a friend of The Armstrong and Giddy Show and advisor
on matters tax as well.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Steven, how are you doing great?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
My favorite day of the year.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, not mine.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, you're the only one, but sore. You're always brimming
with interesting tax talk. You love your job as much
as anybody in America. So what's the top of mind
for you today to communicate to the good folks?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
You know, there's so much haven't done your tax return
by now? Don't be like in the movies, work until midnight,
they get it out. Go on extension now, the extension
and extension of time to file, not an extension of
time to pay. But if you can't pay your taxes,
don't make the mistake of not final return file it.
Pay what you can and then you can do a
(19:19):
monthly payment plan. And you know, I know in the
movies the irs is portrayed as monsters, they're not. You know,
like any large group, there's always a bad apple and
there's always somebody great. But most of them are just
doing their job. If you're reasonable with them, they'll be
reasonable for you. You can work something out. You don't
have to be afraid of it. You can work something out.
(19:40):
That's what we do for people. But the bottom line
is these problems are fixable. And I've seen over the
years so many people. They go into hiding. They do
these horrible things. They punish themselves, way worse than the
government ever would, and there's no need for that. On
the other hand, there's so many tax benefits. If you're
(20:00):
a do it yourself or there's a lot of good
things to read, you might also want to consider talking
to somebody. There's so many advantages, especially if you're in business.
You take a look at the fortune five hundred and
that's one of the things that originally motivated me to
become a tax attorney because you know, I was a
CPA first, and then I watched these giant corporations making
(20:22):
billions of dollars and legally paying little or no taxes,
And how can that be? Our tax law is based
on two things. One getting money from us. We all
know about that one, but the other one. In a democracy,
the government can't order us to do things, but they
want us to do things because it's good for the economy.
(20:43):
So how they get to do it They pay us.
And that's the secret of all these tax deductions. There's
all kinds of tax incentives. We see some ones like
buying a house you get a tax deduction for mortgage
interest in real estate taxes. You set up a pension
for yourself, you get a tax deduction for that. There's
(21:04):
so many benefits where if you have depreciation on machinery
or buildings, there's ways to accelerate that and get way
more if these huge deductions. Another thing, to me, the
most beautiful words in the English language are a positive
cash flow with a tax loss. Isn't it in your life?
(21:32):
I mean, it brings it dear to the eye. It's
so emotional to me. And the bottom line is there's
so much there where you can you can benefit. And
I mean there's benefits for everything. It's not just for
its people, it's for everything. If you're on the lower
into the income scale, the government gives you all kinds
(21:53):
of benefits for you, for your kids, family members. If
you're on the other end, there's ways that you can
go up to your yachts and everything in between. The
tax law has something for everybody in it. It's worth
it knowing it's studying or going as somebody does. There's
just so much there, and yet so many people treat
it with despair and it's horrible. It's not you have
(22:16):
to take a look at all the good things they're there.
You just have to know about it.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So we talk a lot about You've talked a lot
about how the complexity of the tax code. I mean,
if we're starting the tax code today, nobody would want
to end up with what we currently have, even though
it's so hard to change. But like when you started
many years ago, how many pages or rules were there
compared to today?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
All you know, I remember when I was in grad school,
the professor actually went over that and he took it
even back further where he basically showed us with his hands.
He said, when he started in tax basically the tax
law was and he opened his fingers to show us.
Now he said today this is back when I was
in school. He opened his arms. He said, that's not
(23:03):
wide enough. And what happens is it's not just the law,
it's the interpretations. A lot of what we do is
we argue over what did the legislators and their infinite
wisdom provide for us? And oftentimes the judges can't agree,
and so many times will do a settlement because both
sides say, well, we don't really know what they meant.
(23:24):
So rather than have the judges aside, let's make a deal.
And again you see judges disagreeing. You say, appeals judges
disagreeing with trial judges. It's almost like nobody knows. It's
a grand mystery, one of the mysteries of life. And
going through this a cent that really is. I know
how excited I get about tax law, but it really
(23:45):
is that the mysteries of life, and in real life,
it's not a black and white mathematical one plus one
equals too, that's the right answers. It's like going into
the museum and looking at the paintings and say, what's
the most beautiful full painting here. It's a matter of interpretation,
and there's so much of a tax fall like that.
What the legislators mean. And when you argue TAXLW that's
(24:08):
one of other things too. You try to thro what
did they mean and you negotiate about it to try
and figure out what they mean. That's something people don't
realize about tax law. But that's part of the beauty
of it, or at least the way the system works.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So Stephen.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
In real life, the topic I've probably heard the most
from people being confused about is if they're working remotely,
part time or full time. They've got a home office.
I've got a home studio. Can you deduct the equipment
you buy? The chair you're sitting on? What are the
pros and cons of the your Wi Fi because you're
(24:41):
using it at home?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Yeah, you may be able to, and what you have
to watch out for. The most common is the home office.
People say, can I deduct the home office now? In
order to deduct it? The way you do it is
you say, okay, if you use a portion of your
home exclusively for business, you can deduct it. And even
(25:05):
if you're at a studio apartment that's one room. Company you
do that. The Taxkport has ruled is we use a
portion of that room exclusively for business. You can do it,
but you have to watch out. There's a downside to
doing it. And the downside to doing is it converts
that portion of your home from your principal residence, which
has all kinds of tax benefits, into business property, which doesn't.
(25:30):
So if you sell the house, then all of a
sudden you learn about things you have to give back,
like appreciation, recapture and other things. So if you're thinking
about deducting home office, you can do it if you qualify,
but you may not want to do that.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Then we've never thought about the end when you go
to sell your house and that that that's not a house,
that's an officer selling, and here's the everything that goes.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
With that exactly. So the bottom line is it's kind
of like medicine. This is a good medicine book as
a side of which may or may not affect you.
So we talk about that, and the bottom line is
another thing that's.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Really good for evil is if you're an independent contractor,
you set up your own business and then you take
pension deductions retirement, and there's so many benefits. You get
a big tax deduction, and one of the things with retirement,
like we're here, it is it's a POL fifteen and
you say, well, these are all good things for next year,
(26:27):
but there's some things you can still do. Suppose you
put your return on extension today. There's many different types
of pensions, most but not all of them provide for
an exceptional tax plan because most things with tax plane
you have to write the check by December thirty, first
twenty four deductor twenty four. Not with most of the
(26:48):
pension planets, so up to the time filing the return
plus extension, which means suppose you put your return on
extension today, that gives you half the year to set
up the tension in twenty twenty five, fund it in
twenty twenty five, and then you can elect to deduct
it from your twenty four taxes. So the bottom line,
(27:08):
think about you earned money last year, you have another
six months happy year to earn money, put it away
for yourself, and take a deduction for last year twenty four.
I mean, for me, this is just fascinating.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So that would be like a small business person and
had a really great twenty twenty four and is getting
hammered with taxes. It can in effect shield some of
that income from tax by putting it in a pension
plan like retroactively.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Ah. And when somebody gives you something nice, what do
you say, thank you? Well, lawyer says more, I want more.
And what happens is with the really great year you
talked about with the pension plans, if you had a
fantastic year, one of the things you can do they're
(27:56):
so flexible, is you can make multiple plan year contributions
in one calendar year and get a much much bigger
deduction for that year. So suppose you are salesman or
something else. You have big sale, you need a lot
(28:17):
of money. What you want to do is you want
to get looks that it was twenty four. He said,
I'm looking at these taxes. I hate all these taxes.
So you set up the pension plans. And by the way,
you can have multiple pension plans in the same year.
You set up multiple pension plans and then you make
multiple plane near contributions in one calendar year. You get
(28:37):
a gigantic deduction against that fantastic year, and that's one
of the ways you don't pay taxes on it. Say
this stuff really lives done.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And then you end up taking it out years down
the road when you're paying it a much lower rate.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Theoretically, all right, we've got it.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Like two more minutes, Stephen, anything else you want to
squeeze in before we let.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
You go, Yes, before where you send your taxes in.
You really want to learn as much as you can,
either on your own from reading or going to somebody
that does this, because most people cheat on their taxes.
They cheat themselves by not taking everything to which they're entitled.
(29:18):
And you know, there's just so much to the tax law.
I know it's really complex, but there's so many benefits
for you. So the bottom line is, like so many
other things in life, you get out of it what
you put into it, learn about it, or go to
somebody that does this for a living, and you can
really benefit. You See, there's so much difference in people's taxes.
(29:41):
And again my example is the fortune five hundred. Look
at all the money they make. Look at how little
or nothing to pay in taxes. That's not just for
the fortune five hundred, that's for everybody that knows about it.
It's there for you, it's alive, it's legal, and that's
what I do for a living and notating the stuff
fascinates me. And it's so great to be able to
(30:02):
legally do this.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Stephen Moscowitz Moscow is LLP. Longtime friend of the show.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Steven.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Always a pleasure to talk to you. It's always interesting
if you want to talk to Stephen. One triple eight
tax deal, one triple A tax deal.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Steven, thanks for the time, appreciate.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
It, Thanks so much. I had a great time, as always.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Got it now.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
So obviously he gets paid to do taxes, so you
know you would have an incentive to convince you to
have a guy. But I don't doubt that that's true,
absolutely true, that the majority of people cheat on their taxes.
The cheating is you cheat yourself by not taking advantage
of everything. Yeah, and this is again this is not
a commercial in any way. But and it depends on
your financial circumstances, where you are in your life and
(30:43):
one hundred other things.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
So you know, it's entirely up to you.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
But our experience Jack and me as individuals and as
business partners has been you spend hundreds and save thousands
by consulting professionals. And maybe your situation is you'd spend
thousands and save tens of thousands. You know, again depending
on your life circumstance. But that's been our experience. One
of my main takeaways from Noan Steven and I think
(31:06):
he brought this up at a lunch we were at
with him one time, is the idea of and it's
changed the way I think about things.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
But like would your I mean a basic question.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Of would you rather get would you rather have be
received fifty thousand dollars or eighty thousand dollars? Obviously I'd
rather receive the eighty thousand dollars. What are the tax implications?
How's the fifty thousand coming to you? How's the eighty
thousand coming? Is it coming through income? Did your grandma
live it to you?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
You know? Is it a prize you won?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
It's because there are different tax implications for all these
different things. You might be better off with the fifty
thousand than the eighty thousand. If it was a gift,
then if it was income, blah blah blah, And you
always have to look at that end of it.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
It should not be that dizzying, but it is right.
I hope you enjoyed that. I did. I always get
something out of it. More on the way stay here.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Shot of course.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Of a Minecraft movie.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Please no throwing pulps horn and also absolutely no.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Jockey. So you don't know, I haven't told you.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Jack wife was actually at the theater everybody waiting for
the Minecraft movie to start. He gets on the microphone
and then when they figure out it's actually him, the
guy who says chicken jockey in the movie, everybody went
burst our Oh I'm sure that'd be very exciting as
as a child.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
All right, innocent fun. Why not need more of that?
Not less?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
My son's super into Minecraft has been for quite a
few years. My youngest, my oldest for whatever reason, does
not like video games. Never has really, but my youngest,
and the chicken jockey is something that shows up like
almost never.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
It's incredibly rare. When you're playing the game.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
There's a different there's a chicken jockey. There's a cat
can't be camel jockey, Oh I doubt it, but there's
a different jockey that shows up now and then it's
more common. But the chicken jockey is like you never
see it playing the game, It'll just all of a
sudden be there and like it might happen once in.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Your life if you play a lot. Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
So that's part of the whole thing of the game.
It being in the movie is a very big deal.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
I started the show by saying, Finna die today, or
Finna gets some medicine, so I can make it through
this show. I've picked this up from my son, who
occasionally uses the very popular slang Finna. I hear it
in a lot of his hip hop music that he plays.
(33:51):
That's just gonna say. That sounds suspiciously urban hip hop
to me. Yeah, I guess the origin is fixing too.
But I've never any young person say fixing to, so
I think they skipped fixing to to just Finna, which
is basically short for I'm going to Finny get a sandwich.
I'm going to get a sandwich. So if you hear
(34:11):
that now, you won't be confused, or you can sprinkle
it into your vocabulary if you're around young people and
you'd like to sound more with.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
The times, I will pass. Thank you, though, fine.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
The desire of young suburban kids to affect the manner
of urban hipsters. Yeah, is well, it's eternal. I mean,
it's gone on forever. It's it changes, yet it stays
the same. It's an interesting phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Whenever I say Finnah to him, he he's disgusted by it.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Cringes.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yes, say that a lot, then he couldn't cringe more exactly.
Youthful dialects gets so annoying as you get old. Why
is there anyway we have a fourth hour of the show.
If you don't get the fourth hour, you gotta do something.
You ought to subscribe to our podcast, Armstrong and Getty
on demand.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Thanks for being here, Armstrong and Getty.
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio the George
Washington Broadcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Center, jack Armstrong and Joe, Katty Armstrong and Jackie and
he Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
The Ladies Only Blue Origin rocket launch, Katy Perry, Gail King,
and Jeff Bezos's fiance Lawrence Sanchez became the first group
of women ever to visit outer space. So then they
came out of the capsule and Katy Perry, this must
have been some ten minutes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You never know how much love is inside of you
until the day you launched.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Is it possible that Katie popped the mushroom ushers up there?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That is just so stupid. I was just thinking.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So this ended space explari exploration in the United States.
We were the leaders in space exploration, were the only
country they ever got to the Moon. And it ended
because of these stupid stunts, because NASA got so caught
up in the first woman, the first black person, the
first transperson of whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And nobody cares about that crap.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
They think people care about that crap, But nobody cares
about that crap. That doesn't inspire people. The actual, you know,
accomplishing something is what inspired. So that killed the space program.
Elon comes along and is all about actually doing things,
and people get jazzed up again.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
You got Bezos, the other guy he's following in NASA's footsteps.
Has Elon ever done a stunt launch of any kind?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I don't think he has. I don't remember he gives
his rocket it's funny names. But other than that, no, Yeah,
but I don't remember any of his launches being it
looks like there's no purpose for this other than the
first celebrity all female podcast or whatever thing.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Get off.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
A lot of people are taking this seriously. Give us
clip number twenty, Michael, Come on, This is David Muir
on ABC News. Many people watch this show.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Jack the star studded all female Blue Origin flight grew,
including Katie Perry and Gail King, lasting off headed to
the edge of space.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh for crying it, lift off. It's amazing to me.
Ohprah cried it, Lift off, you bully.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's amazing to me that mainstream media all these years
has acted like these stunt space things matter to people.
People don't care. They yawn at them. Big deal that
nobody's interested in. That drives me nuts. That clip that
Jimmy Kimmel had there. From Katie Perry.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You never know how much love there is on earth
until you lift off. What the hell are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You gotta play this clip twenty two Michael, listen to
this hogwash? Would you you are officially an astronaut?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
How do you feel? I still can't accept that word.
I just feel a renewed connection to everything in life
and where we are, and I can't wait to go
back out there.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It is the highest high, and it is surrender to
the unknown.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Trust.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yes, I want somebody to come back and speak the truth.
Sometime we went pretty high. We actually weren't in space.
It was a lot like an amusement park ride.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
But no, I feel exactly the same as when I
took off. I have no epiphanies or new view of
humanity or anything like that, because that view is astounding.
I mean, it's crazy. I knew the Earth was round,
but you can see it from up there. The views
are just gorgeous. No, you have to surrender to the unknown.
It's the highest high. It's trust. Okay. I love this
(03:33):
from Curtis Rotis and email. Uh, look, Kitty Perry is
no more astronaut than Ham the chimp we launched and
brought back live in nineteen sixty one. Just like riding
in seat thirteen A on a Southwest flight to Albuquerque
doesn't make an airline pilot.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
She was just a passenger. That's good. Yeah, when I'm
on a Southwest flight, I am not a pilot now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
And then, as you heard yesterday, it only seems right
that as they reached the peak of their space journey
and Earth was a beautiful marble in the distance, she
sang Katy Perry saying, what a wonderful world. Just like
ms King that brought me to tears. I guess I
kissed a girl and I liked it didn't quite fit
the moment. What a freaking clown show, writes Michael.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Hi, I'm Katy Perry. Let's go to space.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
When Elon had that rocket come back down and he
caught it with the big giant hands, you know, I mean,
that's freaking amazing and inspiring and wow. Sending Katy Perry
and Gail King up isn't a nothing. And why does
the media go along with it and act like it's
a big deal.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Embarrassing culture.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Michael writes, I'm no longer pushing my two daughters to
worry about the hard sciences. I told them just to
have a best friend who's the queen of media. Write
horrible pop songs are steal a millionaire from his wife,
and they too can get to the edge of space.
That's beautifully said. That's pretty snarky, beautifully said. Go ahead
play twenty three Michael.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Complete and utter joy and gratefulness. You can hear no
dream is too wild.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
The moon was so beautiful, and that was like, I
felt like that was a special gift just for me.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You can't go through what we went through to look
out for each other, to help each other and.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Not be changed by that. Oh, I will never be
the same. This experience is right, is second to being a.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Mom, other than the reference to being a mom. They
sound like high school girls. You can't go what we
went through together, helping each other, being there for each
other and not be changed by that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You two were.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Strapped into a seat, then you floated around for like
a minute, then you're get back in your seat. You're
too old to say that sort of stupid crap. If
you're a you know, a pop singer who's young. Okay,
Hen stoned. Oh geez, I'm embarrassed for y'all. Yeah, I'm
embarrassed for my kun.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You can't all the love in the world you can
feel at once when you play Oh.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Shut up, it's the highest high. It's surrendered to the unknown. Okay,
all right?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Can I get back to work now? Speaking of which,
Trump v.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Harvard the latest battle the US is freezed, billions of
dollars frozen, freezed, frozen.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Why isn't it freezed? What a crazy language English is?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Anyway, We the United States, froze billions of dollars in
funding after Harvard says no, we are going to fight
Trump's demands, and it's being portrayed on the left as
a battle in favor of academic freedom, even though in
our universities there is no academic freedom unless you're progressive.
We will outline the battle as it stands right now
(06:50):
for you in the next second. I think there were
five news articles or opinion pieces in the New York
Times today about what a horror this is that the
Trump administration is out too to kill higher education. Stop research,
is anti science's anti the free exchange of ideas. How
dare they I uphold our faculty, and ninety eight percent
(07:12):
of them, who're all progressives, agreed. We have the free
exchange of ideas. I've got a great example to fit
in with that that it just occurred to me yesterday too.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What do you get for a forty thousand dollars a
year gym membership? Not new thing is these very expensive
gym memberships that you get a lot for Now, none
of us are going to do a forty thousand dollars
gym membership, but there are other more affordable examples and
everything that comes with it.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
It might be the new thing. So stay tuned for.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
That interesting plus our favorite tax expert next segment to
talk to us about what's new, what common mistakes happen.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That sort of thing gets you learned up on your taxes.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
So Abraham Lincoln warn us that the United States will
never be destroyed by an outside force, or at least
not in the foreseeable future. And I agree with them
there if we crumble, it will be of our own doing.
And around here we believe quite sincerely that while various
wars and negotiations are incredibly important, people are dying, it's
(08:22):
not going to end the United States the trade war thing,
the tariff thing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
It might screw up the economy, It might.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Be brilliant, might be a disaster, But either way, we
will muddle on, straighten things out, and go forward in
the future. I believe the rot in our institutions of
learning K through PhD, where it's become a progressive factory
to indoctrinate young people into hating their country and Western civilization.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I think that could undo us.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
If we have generation after a generation of Americans who
do not buy into the principles of this country and
do not love it, we will fall apart as a country. Anyway,
It's just a setting the scene headline. US phreezes billions
in funding after Harvard says it will fight Trump's demands.
You remember how Trump threatened Columbia and pen and a
(09:10):
couple of other places and said, look, you got to
follow federal law on hiring. You can't have these loyalty oaths,
these dei statements, et cetera, or we're not going to
fund your research anymore. And a lot of them came
around and said, yeah, yeah, we see your point. Okay,
we'll switch this around. We won't do this anymore, and
we won't admit people based on race, because that's the law.
(09:30):
Harvard has said, yeah, look at my well funded middle
finger and said absolutely no to the Trump Administration's interesting
that Columbia caved so quickly and Harvard is gonna fight it.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Part of what happened was, and I should have included this,
is that the Trump administration was horrified by the overt
anti semitism of the Up with Hamas crowd and how
they have been violating federal law over and over again
with impunity at these universities because Up with the Palestinians,
Up with Hamas is seen as a progressive cause and
(10:05):
so actually I think as a door to get into
the universities to force them to do what they ought
to be doing.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
It.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
It's kind of handy, but so Harvard said money it
would resist the Trump's administrations demands to change its governance
structure over campus anti semitism concerns. Seeing the governments it's
overstepping its authority. Hours later, the government announced a two
point twenty six billion dollar freeze of Harvard's multi year
grants and contracts, said Harvard President Alan Garber, one of
(10:36):
two out of ten ivy leaved schools, that's led by
a dude, because it's much more progressive to be led
by a woman, a gay woman, if you can a
gay black woman, if you can a black woman named gay.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
In the case of Harvard until.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Fairly recently, back to the text anyway, Harvard President Alan
Garber said, quote, the university will not surrender its independence
or relinquish its constitutione utional rights.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Trump administration said the school's response.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Quote reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in
our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges. That federal investment
does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.
It's so interesting, isn't it that? And that is absolutely
undeniably true. We're talking about civil rights laws. You cannot
beat a black man to prevent him from attending class.
(11:27):
You cannot threaten a Jewish girl to terrify her out
of the library. That is a civil rights enforcement issue,
and Progressive America is standing staunchly in favor of keeping
the Jews out in effect and conservatives out.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Did you see uh?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I don't want to get too bogged down on this,
but did you see that a ven diagram thing that
was making the floating around on social media over the weekend,
where you had the far right is a circle, the
far left is a circle, and fundamentalist Islam is a circle.
And the one thing all three circles converge on is
we hate Jews right in America, far right, far left,
(12:10):
unlike the Jews and fundamentalist Islam.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
That's a problem, yeah, if you're Jewish.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
So the Trump Administration Task Force on Anti Semitism wrote
to school earlier asking it to take nine actions quote
that we regard as necessary for Harvard University's continued financial
relationship with the United States government. Most of the demands
concerned how the university operates. The government is asking for
a comprehensive mask ban, as well as changes to governance, leadership,
and admissions, and an end to DEI programs. Notably, the
(12:39):
government is also seeking to reach into the classroom.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Gets a little controversial.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Here, demanding quote necessary changes be made to address bias,
improve viewpoint diversity, and end ideological capture which fuel anti
Semitic harassment.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
To task forces, letter said.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I would like that stuff to happen, but I don't
see how you can force that to happen without getting
into a real dangerous territory.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
That is such an interesting question.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
If you have a ninety four percent progressive faculty in
a school that gets any government funding whatsoever, conservative is
not a protected class, right, It's difficult to make that
into a civil rights issue with the teeth of the
law behind you. Well, and it's an interesting conundrum. And
(13:29):
you can see where if you allowed this, how out
of control it could get. Who's going to define, you know,
what the politics ought to be of the college at
what percentage?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And how do you enforce it?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Right, how do you define who's a conservative, who's a
moderate conservative, who's a far right person? Yeah, it's a
it's opening a Pandora's box. But at the same time,
something like that has to happen or it will tear
the country apartment. Don't you feel like market forces are
working at this right now? Where Yes, you know, a
degree from Columbia and Harvard. I think there's lots of
(14:05):
people in the country. They see that on a resume
and they think, oh no, they don't think, yes, Harvard
grad wants to work there. Do you think danger danger?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, Yeah, I do think that and other
schools are opening up and proudly proclaiming themselves to be
actual centers of the free exchange of ideas, whether it's
a University of Austin, North Carolina has got established a
brand new college within the university. That's all about free inquiry,
which is what the whole gd thing is.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Supposed to be doing. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
The headline in the New York Times, as Jack mentioned,
Harvard's decision to resist Trump is ament is of moments
momentous significance. Sorry, but a fight with the nation's oldest, richest,
and most elite university is a battle to President Trump
and is powerful. Ad Stephen Miller want to have I
think that's actually true.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yep. But Elizabeth bum Miller.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
From Washington is talking about how the Trump administration is
demanding all sorts of unreasonable things and controlling the university
and how significant this is and wonderful blah blah blah.
I thought it was interesting that she also mentions, just
point of interest, Harvard University is one hundred and forty
years older than the United States. Yeah, has an endowment
(15:21):
greater than the GDP of nearly one hundred countries. Yeah,
that's amazing and then finally, the Wall Street Journal was
describing how this battle is being waged, and it's kind
of interesting. It has to do with a Health and
(15:41):
Human Services official who's part of a little known government
task force that's shaken elite universities, targeted billions of dollars
in federal funding, taken on to Columbia and Harvard, et cetera,
et cetera. It's called the Task Force to Combat Anti Semitism,
and the group's stated goal is to root out anti
Semitic harassment at schools and on college campuses. But along
(16:05):
the way, the task Force is taking on university culture
more broadly in ways that echo the MAGA dreams for
remaking higher education, including racial ending, racial preferences, and hiring
and admission. But it's a very small part of the
HHS that is kind of the tip of the spear
doing this stuff. And I can't wait to watch this unfold.
(16:28):
As I've probably over emphasized, I think it's one of
the most important things going on in America today, even
though it's under most people's radar.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It' tosay, April fifteenth, It's tax Day.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
We're going to talk to our friend Steven Moskowitz tax
attorney about the kind of state of taxes today and
make common mistakes and things you should keep your eye on.
Oof death and taxes, man, only two things you can
count on on this planet. Can practically guarantee you'll get
some good advice out of it, something you'll want to
look into in your own finance. Maybe later we'll get
(17:01):
to that dude who set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
That's an interesting story. Total Toildren, Armstrong and Getty Pappy
tax today.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Everybody, good news is whatever money you're given the government
that you worked hard for, it's going to be spent
wisely and in a way better than you could have
spent it. Oh yeah, absolutely, you and your children and
your needs.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
So I didn't hear the latest update. Do we have
our guest or No?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Not as yet? Okay, still efforting that. So here's something
I don't know if we'll ever figure out.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So we have.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
A higher tolerance right now in the country for political
violence than we've had since the early seventies, I feel like,
and we're getting more of it. But every example of
it that happens, the person is crazy. So how does
that fit together? Because crazy people are crazy. So I
(18:03):
don't know how you fit that in with the zeitgeist
or whatever. Does the zeitgeist reach crazy people? But anyway,
the guy that set the Pennsylvania governor mansion on fire.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Was completely nuts.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yet it fits into a pattern of more political violence,
and we can talk more about that later. We'll get
into the details of this guy's background.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I mean, he's a nut.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Job, but first let's talk taxes with Steven Moscowitz, the
founder and tax attorney at moscow at'z LLP. Long time
a friend of The Armstrong and Giddy Show and advisor
on matters tax as well.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Steven, how are you doing great?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
My favorite day of the year.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, not mine.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, you're the only one, but sore. You're always brimming
with interesting tax talk. You love your job as much
as anybody in America. So what's the top of mind
for you today to communicate to the good folks?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
You know, there's so much haven't done your tax return
by now? Don't be like in the movies, work until midnight,
they get it out. Go on extension now, the extension
and extension of time to file, not an extension of
time to pay. But if you can't pay your taxes,
don't make the mistake of not final return file it.
Pay what you can and then you can do a
(19:19):
monthly payment plan. And you know, I know in the
movies the irs is portrayed as monsters, they're not. You know,
like any large group, there's always a bad apple and
there's always somebody great. But most of them are just
doing their job. If you're reasonable with them, they'll be
reasonable for you. You can work something out. You don't
have to be afraid of it. You can work something out.
(19:40):
That's what we do for people. But the bottom line
is these problems are fixable. And I've seen over the
years so many people. They go into hiding. They do
these horrible things. They punish themselves, way worse than the
government ever would, and there's no need for that. On
the other hand, there's so many tax benefits. If you're
(20:00):
a do it yourself or there's a lot of good
things to read, you might also want to consider talking
to somebody. There's so many advantages, especially if you're in business.
You take a look at the fortune five hundred and
that's one of the things that originally motivated me to
become a tax attorney because you know, I was a
CPA first, and then I watched these giant corporations making
(20:22):
billions of dollars and legally paying little or no taxes,
And how can that be? Our tax law is based
on two things. One getting money from us. We all
know about that one, but the other one. In a democracy,
the government can't order us to do things, but they
want us to do things because it's good for the economy.
(20:43):
So how they get to do it They pay us.
And that's the secret of all these tax deductions. There's
all kinds of tax incentives. We see some ones like
buying a house you get a tax deduction for mortgage
interest in real estate taxes. You set up a pension
for yourself, you get a tax deduction for that. There's
(21:04):
so many benefits where if you have depreciation on machinery
or buildings, there's ways to accelerate that and get way
more if these huge deductions. Another thing, to me, the
most beautiful words in the English language are a positive
cash flow with a tax loss. Isn't it in your life?
(21:32):
I mean, it brings it dear to the eye. It's
so emotional to me. And the bottom line is there's
so much there where you can you can benefit. And
I mean there's benefits for everything. It's not just for
its people, it's for everything. If you're on the lower
into the income scale, the government gives you all kinds
(21:53):
of benefits for you, for your kids, family members. If
you're on the other end, there's ways that you can
go up to your yachts and everything in between. The
tax law has something for everybody in it. It's worth
it knowing it's studying or going as somebody does. There's
just so much there, and yet so many people treat
it with despair and it's horrible. It's not you have
(22:16):
to take a look at all the good things they're there.
You just have to know about it.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So we talk a lot about You've talked a lot
about how the complexity of the tax code. I mean,
if we're starting the tax code today, nobody would want
to end up with what we currently have, even though
it's so hard to change. But like when you started
many years ago, how many pages or rules were there
compared to today?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
All you know, I remember when I was in grad school,
the professor actually went over that and he took it
even back further where he basically showed us with his hands.
He said, when he started in tax basically the tax
law was and he opened his fingers to show us.
Now he said today this is back when I was
in school. He opened his arms. He said, that's not
(23:03):
wide enough. And what happens is it's not just the law,
it's the interpretations. A lot of what we do is
we argue over what did the legislators and their infinite
wisdom provide for us? And oftentimes the judges can't agree,
and so many times will do a settlement because both
sides say, well, we don't really know what they meant.
(23:24):
So rather than have the judges aside, let's make a deal.
And again you see judges disagreeing. You say, appeals judges
disagreeing with trial judges. It's almost like nobody knows. It's
a grand mystery, one of the mysteries of life. And
going through this a cent that really is. I know
how excited I get about tax law, but it really
(23:45):
is that the mysteries of life, and in real life,
it's not a black and white mathematical one plus one
equals too, that's the right answers. It's like going into
the museum and looking at the paintings and say, what's
the most beautiful full painting here. It's a matter of interpretation,
and there's so much of a tax fall like that.
What the legislators mean. And when you argue TAXLW that's
(24:08):
one of other things too. You try to thro what
did they mean and you negotiate about it to try
and figure out what they mean. That's something people don't
realize about tax law. But that's part of the beauty
of it, or at least the way the system works.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So Stephen.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
In real life, the topic I've probably heard the most
from people being confused about is if they're working remotely,
part time or full time. They've got a home office.
I've got a home studio. Can you deduct the equipment
you buy? The chair you're sitting on? What are the
pros and cons of the your Wi Fi because you're
(24:41):
using it at home?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Yeah, you may be able to, and what you have
to watch out for. The most common is the home office.
People say, can I deduct the home office now? In
order to deduct it? The way you do it is
you say, okay, if you use a portion of your
home exclusively for business, you can deduct it. And even
(25:05):
if you're at a studio apartment that's one room. Company you
do that. The Taxkport has ruled is we use a
portion of that room exclusively for business. You can do it,
but you have to watch out. There's a downside to
doing it. And the downside to doing is it converts
that portion of your home from your principal residence, which
has all kinds of tax benefits, into business property, which doesn't.
(25:30):
So if you sell the house, then all of a
sudden you learn about things you have to give back,
like appreciation, recapture and other things. So if you're thinking
about deducting home office, you can do it if you qualify,
but you may not want to do that.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Then we've never thought about the end when you go
to sell your house and that that that's not a house,
that's an officer selling, and here's the everything that goes.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
With that exactly. So the bottom line is it's kind
of like medicine. This is a good medicine book as
a side of which may or may not affect you.
So we talk about that, and the bottom line is
another thing that's.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Really good for evil is if you're an independent contractor,
you set up your own business and then you take
pension deductions retirement, and there's so many benefits. You get
a big tax deduction, and one of the things with retirement,
like we're here, it is it's a POL fifteen and
you say, well, these are all good things for next year,
(26:27):
but there's some things you can still do. Suppose you
put your return on extension today. There's many different types
of pensions, most but not all of them provide for
an exceptional tax plan because most things with tax plane
you have to write the check by December thirty, first
twenty four deductor twenty four. Not with most of the
(26:48):
pension planets, so up to the time filing the return
plus extension, which means suppose you put your return on
extension today, that gives you half the year to set
up the tension in twenty twenty five, fund it in
twenty twenty five, and then you can elect to deduct
it from your twenty four taxes. So the bottom line,
(27:08):
think about you earned money last year, you have another
six months happy year to earn money, put it away
for yourself, and take a deduction for last year twenty four.
I mean, for me, this is just fascinating.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So that would be like a small business person and
had a really great twenty twenty four and is getting
hammered with taxes. It can in effect shield some of
that income from tax by putting it in a pension
plan like retroactively.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Ah. And when somebody gives you something nice, what do
you say, thank you? Well, lawyer says more, I want more.
And what happens is with the really great year you
talked about with the pension plans, if you had a
fantastic year, one of the things you can do they're
(27:56):
so flexible, is you can make multiple plan year contributions
in one calendar year and get a much much bigger
deduction for that year. So suppose you are salesman or
something else. You have big sale, you need a lot
(28:17):
of money. What you want to do is you want
to get looks that it was twenty four. He said,
I'm looking at these taxes. I hate all these taxes.
So you set up the pension plans. And by the way,
you can have multiple pension plans in the same year.
You set up multiple pension plans and then you make
multiple plane near contributions in one calendar year. You get
(28:37):
a gigantic deduction against that fantastic year, and that's one
of the ways you don't pay taxes on it. Say
this stuff really lives done.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And then you end up taking it out years down
the road when you're paying it a much lower rate.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Theoretically, all right, we've got it.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Like two more minutes, Stephen, anything else you want to
squeeze in before we let.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
You go, Yes, before where you send your taxes in.
You really want to learn as much as you can,
either on your own from reading or going to somebody
that does this, because most people cheat on their taxes.
They cheat themselves by not taking everything to which they're entitled.
(29:18):
And you know, there's just so much to the tax law.
I know it's really complex, but there's so many benefits
for you. So the bottom line is, like so many
other things in life, you get out of it what
you put into it, learn about it, or go to
somebody that does this for a living, and you can
really benefit. You See, there's so much difference in people's taxes.
(29:41):
And again my example is the fortune five hundred. Look
at all the money they make. Look at how little
or nothing to pay in taxes. That's not just for
the fortune five hundred, that's for everybody that knows about it.
It's there for you, it's alive, it's legal, and that's
what I do for a living and notating the stuff
fascinates me. And it's so great to be able to
(30:02):
legally do this.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Stephen Moscowitz Moscow is LLP. Longtime friend of the show.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Steven.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Always a pleasure to talk to you. It's always interesting
if you want to talk to Stephen. One triple eight
tax deal, one triple A tax deal.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Steven, thanks for the time, appreciate.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
It, Thanks so much. I had a great time, as always.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Got it now.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
So obviously he gets paid to do taxes, so you
know you would have an incentive to convince you to
have a guy. But I don't doubt that that's true,
absolutely true, that the majority of people cheat on their taxes.
The cheating is you cheat yourself by not taking advantage
of everything. Yeah, and this is again this is not
a commercial in any way. But and it depends on
your financial circumstances, where you are in your life and
(30:43):
one hundred other things.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
So you know, it's entirely up to you.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
But our experience Jack and me as individuals and as
business partners has been you spend hundreds and save thousands
by consulting professionals. And maybe your situation is you'd spend
thousands and save tens of thousands. You know, again depending
on your life circumstance. But that's been our experience. One
of my main takeaways from Noan Steven and I think
(31:06):
he brought this up at a lunch we were at
with him one time, is the idea of and it's
changed the way I think about things.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
But like would your I mean a basic question.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Of would you rather get would you rather have be
received fifty thousand dollars or eighty thousand dollars? Obviously I'd
rather receive the eighty thousand dollars. What are the tax implications?
How's the fifty thousand coming to you? How's the eighty
thousand coming? Is it coming through income? Did your grandma
live it to you?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
You know? Is it a prize you won?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
It's because there are different tax implications for all these
different things. You might be better off with the fifty
thousand than the eighty thousand. If it was a gift,
then if it was income, blah blah blah, And you
always have to look at that end of it.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
It should not be that dizzying, but it is right.
I hope you enjoyed that. I did. I always get
something out of it. More on the way stay here.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Shot of course.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Of a Minecraft movie.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Please no throwing pulps horn and also absolutely no.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Jockey. So you don't know, I haven't told you.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Jack wife was actually at the theater everybody waiting for
the Minecraft movie to start. He gets on the microphone
and then when they figure out it's actually him, the
guy who says chicken jockey in the movie, everybody went
burst our Oh I'm sure that'd be very exciting as
as a child.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
All right, innocent fun. Why not need more of that?
Not less?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
My son's super into Minecraft has been for quite a
few years. My youngest, my oldest for whatever reason, does
not like video games. Never has really, but my youngest,
and the chicken jockey is something that shows up like
almost never.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
It's incredibly rare. When you're playing the game.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
There's a different there's a chicken jockey. There's a cat
can't be camel jockey, Oh I doubt it, but there's
a different jockey that shows up now and then it's
more common. But the chicken jockey is like you never
see it playing the game, It'll just all of a
sudden be there and like it might happen once in.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Your life if you play a lot. Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
So that's part of the whole thing of the game.
It being in the movie is a very big deal.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
I started the show by saying, Finna die today, or
Finna gets some medicine, so I can make it through
this show. I've picked this up from my son, who
occasionally uses the very popular slang Finna. I hear it
in a lot of his hip hop music that he plays.
(33:51):
That's just gonna say. That sounds suspiciously urban hip hop
to me. Yeah, I guess the origin is fixing too.
But I've never any young person say fixing to, so
I think they skipped fixing to to just Finna, which
is basically short for I'm going to Finny get a sandwich.
I'm going to get a sandwich. So if you hear
(34:11):
that now, you won't be confused, or you can sprinkle
it into your vocabulary if you're around young people and
you'd like to sound more with.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
The times, I will pass. Thank you, though, fine.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
The desire of young suburban kids to affect the manner
of urban hipsters. Yeah, is well, it's eternal. I mean,
it's gone on forever. It's it changes, yet it stays
the same. It's an interesting phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Whenever I say Finnah to him, he he's disgusted by it.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Cringes.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yes, say that a lot, then he couldn't cringe more exactly.
Youthful dialects gets so annoying as you get old. Why
is there anyway we have a fourth hour of the show.
If you don't get the fourth hour, you gotta do something.
You ought to subscribe to our podcast, Armstrong and Getty
on demand.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Thanks for being here, Armstrong and Getty.
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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