Second TV Advertiser accused of massive fraud

TV huckster Roni Deutch has had a $34million suit filed against her by California's Attorney General and wanabee Governor, again, Jerry Brown.  She is the second one in the last 30 days or so to be so accused.  The Texas Attorney General filed an injunction against TaxMasters of Houston for similar alleged offenses.

You might have noticed that our company, Jerry Slade & Associates, Inc., has de-emphasized the name "TaxMasters" which we had used since 1984 due to the fact that so many complaints were made against the Houston TaxMasters that began operations in 2004, using our name.  We don't want to be tarred with the same brush particularly since we have had no complaints filed against us and we mark the integrity of our dealings with beleagured taxpayers as our greatest aim.

We do not rejoice in their misfortune

Roni Deutch and TaxMasters of Houston followed similar complaints filed against JK Harris, also of TV fame.  JK Harris and TaxMasters of Houston have survived as I suspect Roni Deutch will also.  It is very difficult for our judicial system to shut down bad operators even if they were to be convicted of these charges.  Unfortunately, there are tens of thousands of victims of shady practices, only a small portion of whom we talk to subsequent to their seeking alternative assistance. Having sent several thousand of dollars to these type of firms, they usually have no funds left to have their cases resolved as they were promised. 

We are not the judge and jury

We cannot look into the hearts and minds of those who are accused of these misdeeds.  We can only re-double our efforts to provide a safe haven of support for taxpayers who need someone to represent them in resolving their tax problems with integrity and sensitivity.  Roni Deutch and TaxMasters of Houston and others like them may have their days in court.  In the meantime, they continue to operate and hopefully stop doing things which are detrimental to their clients interest. 

There is a great lesson to be learned by us all

Be very careful who you select to represent you in preparing your taxes and, even more importantly, those to represent you when you have issues with the IRS.  Don't try to represent yourself unless the issue is pretty basic; you don't know your rights and the person you talk to at the IRS will not assert those for you. 

August 24, 2010

California AG Jerry Brown Sues 'Tax Lady' Roni Deutch for 'Swindling Thousands of Clients'

California Attorney General (and Democratic gubernatorial candidate)Jerry Brown has filed a $34 million lawsuit against Roni Deutch, claiming that the self-described "Tax Lady" has swindled thousands of customers with tax problems with the IRS.  From the press release:

Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today filed a $34 million lawsuit against television's "Tax Lady Roni Deutch" for orchestrating a "heartless scheme" that swindled thousands of people facing serious and expensive tax collection problems with the IRS. "Tax Lady Roni Deutch is engaged in a heartless scheme that swindled people with tax problems," Brown said. "She promises to significantly reduce their IRS tax debts, but instead preys on their vulnerability, taking large up-front payments but providing little or no help in lowering their tax bills."

• Complaint
• Request for Preliminary Injunction)

Retire now? Or not?

Twenty or Thirty years ago I was gung-ho to retire as soon as I could accumulate enough money to do so. Bev and I bought our retirement home, on the golf course, near a lake in the foothills of California; the business side of my tax practice was going well and I thought I was just a year or two away from “retiring.”

Retirement struck me in the face when I was a mere 20 year old college graduate. No, I wasn’t a prodigy; I just went to a three all-around-year college. My parents both encouraged me to work for the government and when I reminded them I was draft bait and would have to go in the military, they replied “oh, great;” you only have to work 20 years then.

Eight years later, when I got out of the military, having figured out it’s not a great career when the war (Vietnam) is over and peace is forever, and having gone to graduate school at the same time and having a freshly minted MBA degree, I was ready to take on the world.

“Well, son, you need to take the Civil Service exam and get a good government job. You’ll be able to retire when you’re 55!” “No way, I replied.” I’m going to be CEO of a big corporation someday. This was in the last deep recession of 1970. At that time I though Chrysler or IBM would be lucky to have me! Man, was I wrong!

We are bombarded with messages of the #1 goal of life:

Every financial planner in the world and every financial institution in the world talks nothing besides setting aside enough wealth to retire on; usually by some unrealistic, early age. Even though I wasn’t retired, I was spending three and four day weekends at our house up at the lake, playing golf 3-4 times a week, playing tennis a couple of times a week, and thinking this was a great life. Then, the 2 ½ hour commute turned into 3-4 hours with increases in the population in the area; but, most of all, I looked around and said “is this what retirement would be like?”

I am easily bored. I don’t care to sit in my easy chair watching television. I only do that when I’m too tired to do something else, which seems to be happening with more regularity these days, but I have found that not doing something else makes me more tired than doing something.

I will never retire, he says with finality:

We closed up the house, returned to San Jose full time and Bev and I both said we just weren’t built for retirement. I know the older I get, the less tennis and golf I can play and it already, at the young age of 70 years, takes a kick in the pants to get me out on the golf course, and, forget the tennis court. No siree! I would much rather work at my favorite thing which is to help my clients get out of and stay out of trouble with the IRS.

More later......

Should the "Bush Tax Cuts" be made permanent or should we tax the wealthy more.

I don’t care if you watch Fox News, MSNBC or one of the mainstream news network shows.  They are all yelling on one side that to tax the wealthiest 2% more will inhibit growth of the economy and cut job creation, while the other side yells about favoritism to the rich and famous.

What is the truth of the matter? It sure beats the heck out of me.  Neither side ever produces evidence to support their argument; they just rant and rave about the other side.

Let’s set aside ideology for a moment and look at things logically!

When the rich get a tax cut, they either invest the money in a business which will probably create more jobs, but probably not until the economy recovers.  Why would they immediately go out and put the money to use by investing in a start-up or hiring new employees in a contracting, or at best, no-growth economy?

When the upper middle class gets a tax cut, it would seem to me they rarely change how they operate financially.  They probably pay down credit cards, buy a larger TV, go a little further on vacation and maybe avoid laying off an employee.

When the middle class gets a tax cut, they probably spend most of it on necessities and an occasional night out; or, they pay down a credit card which means the money goes to the bank and sits there.

When the lower middle class gets a tax cut, they immediately spend it.

When the poor gets a tax cut, theyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy oh, yeah.  They don’t pay taxes, do they?  Instead, the tax laws allows them to get tax credits, such as Earned Income Credit which they immediately spend.

In looking at the above list, then, it seems to me that I have been thinking wrong for a long time, buying into the idea that we couldn’t increase taxes on the rich because it would hurt the economy and jobs.  Since the rich use their fat cat lawyers to help them avoid taxes means that the upper middle, the middle and the lower classes are my clients and they could always use more money to hang onto what they have and buy milk, bread, pay rent, mortgages, etc.   

Does this make sense to you?  If not, where have I gone wrong?

Jerry

Back from Uganda!
I have been gone for 11 days to Uganda, a fantastic experience.  I have now been to every continent, in the world, except for the Antarctic.  There are many places I’d like to go and many I’d like to go back to, but this one was truly worth going to.

Terrorist attacks!
Uganda is a very unique place.  I happened to drive past the Nelson Mandela Rugby Stadium the morning after the terrorist bombings and had lunch in a restaurant a few miles away that is allegedly owned by Al Queda interests.  I felt a little exposed but the people were so nice that I was quickly put at ease.

How would you like to get taxed this way?
In Uganda, small businesses dominate the cities, towns and villages.  I’m talking about small stores and shops teeming with people and children shopping for their necessities.  I was totally blown away by the activity.  After being there for 10 days, and seeing mile after mile of these shops, I asked my host how they are taxed.  Get this…..a Government Revenuer comes by the store periodically, looks around and declares the tax the shop owner must pay on the spot.  No forms, no tax advisors, no telephone calls to the IRS, just a man who holds out his hands and get paid or who shuts down the store.  Think our IRS agents would like to have that authority?  More later!