No good
deed
goes
unpunished
is a
credo
I’ve
heard
for
years. I
call
your
attention
to the
plight
of a guy
whose
life was
changed
or is
about to
be
changed
due to
the
simple
fact
that he
went to
a
baseball
game.
Sound
intriguing?
It is,
consider
this
fellow
named
Steve
Williams
in San
Francisco.
Old
Steve
goes to
the
ballpark
with
some of
his
buddies
to just
hang out
and have
a good
time.
Nothing
wrong
with
that is
there?
Nope
lots of
folks do
this
every
year. Go
to the
park,
drink a
few cool
ones and
watch
the
great
American
pastime.
Only
this
time
Sept 17,
2007 was
different.
Barry
Bonds
steps up
to the
plate
and
knocks
one into
the
stands
for
another
home
run. The
700th of
his
career.
He steps
into
history
with the
likes of
Babe
Ruth and
Hank
Aaron.
Hooray
for
sports
history.
Our man
Steve
comes
along
and is
lucky
enough
to be
sitting
where
the ball
landed
and he
catches
it. No
problem
so far.
He gets
his
picture
in the
paper,
sits in
on a
couple
of local
news
programs
and
makes a
few
rounds
of the
morning
talk
shows.
Piece of
cake.
Now what
happens?
You
might
think he
gets to
go home,
put the
ball in
some
kind of
protective
box,
stick it
up on
his
mantel
or drop
it into
his
safety
deposit
box so
he can
show his
kids and
grandkids
in his
later
years.
Probably
have a
scrapbook
with his
picture
in it
holding
up the
ball and
smiling
for the
entire
world to
see.
That’s
what I
think he
would
do,
don’t
you?
Sure,
that
makes
sense…but
wait,
there’s
more to
this
story
isn’t
there?
You bet
there
is.
See, I
bet when
Mr.
Williams
caught
that
ball,
the last
thing on
his mind
was the
question…
“How
much is
a tax
attorney
going to
cost
me?”
Because
that’s
what Mr.
Williams
needs
the next
day. One
tax
attorney
says…
“When he
took
possession
of the
ball and
it was
his
ball, it
was
income
to him
based on
its
value as
of
yesterday.”
Basically
what
that
means is
that Mr.
Williams
jumps
into the
35% tax
bracket
whether
he likes
it or
not.
Most
sports
people
in the
know
estimate
that a
ball
like
this is
worth
about
$500,000
if it
was put
up for
auction.
So what
does
this
mean to
Mr.
Williams?
Well,
for one,
it means
at the
end of
the year
Mr.
Williams
is
looking
at a tax
bill of
about
$210,000
if the
ball
sold for
$600,000.
But
wait,
Mr.
Williams
doesn’t
want to
sell the
ball, he
just
wants to
keep it
and show
it to
his kids
and his
grandkids.
Too bad,
the IRS
says he
would
still
owe
taxes on
the
reasonable
value of
the
ball,
whatever
that
might
be.
So what
if he
doesn’t
have the
money
for the
tax and
just
wants to
keep the
ball….sorry
Charlie,
he
either
pays or
sells
it…no
other
option.
So I
guess if
my grand
pappy
dies and
leaves
me a
ranch
somewhere
then I
have to
pay the
tax
that’s
due on
it or
sell it?
Looks
that
way,
doesn’t
it?
I
suppose
if you
were
walking
down the
beach
and
stumbled
upon a
magic
lantern
and a
genie
popped
out
you’d
have to
pay tax
on this
as well,
wouldn’t
you? How
would
they
value a
magic
genie in
the
first
place? I
bet the
IRS
could do
it if
they had
to. I
don’t
think
they cut
you much
slack.
Years
ago I
heard
that the
IRS took
over a
house of
ill
repute
in
Nevada
and had
a hard
time
placing
a value
on some
of the
assets
that
were on
the
property.
Some of
the
assets
being
the
female
employees.
I don’t
recall
the
exact
outcome
of this,
but it
seems to
me that
the IRS
actually
did a
depreciation
schedule
based
upon the
ages of
the
assets
in
question.
Who
knows if
this was
true or
not, but
I
suppose
it could
have
happened.
Anyway,
I guess
the
lesson
to be
learned
here is
that if
you are
going to
the ball
game you
should
avoid
catching
the big
one…if
you want
to avoid
being
thrown
into a
higher
tax
bracket.
Of
course
you
could
just
tell
them
you’re
someone
else and
just
make up
a name….
