The IRS has found a new way to give me a catastrophic aneurysm. As the Washington Post reports:
The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis.
The Internal Revenue Service on Friday issued an exception to long-standing tax rules for the benefit of Citigroup and a few other companies partially owned by the government. As a result, Citigroup will be allowed to retain billions of dollars worth of tax breaks that otherwise would decline in value when the government sells its stake to private investors.
Motherfuckers. So, before my head explodes, let me get this straight: we made an exception to the fundamental rules of our free market and gave a failing business lots of our money, cheap. Then we made another exception to the rules of the otherwise heartless IRS and let that business off the hook for its normal financial obligation to the government (and us)? Motherfuckers!
The article continues:
At the end of the third quarter, Citigroup said that the value of its past losses was about $38 billion, allowing it to avoid taxes on its next $38 billion in profits. Under normal IRS rules, a change in control would sharply reduce the amount of profits that Citigroup could shelter from taxes in any given year, making it much more difficult for Citigroup to realize the entire benefit before the tax breaks expired.
Now I'm really, really fucking mad. Show of hands: how many of you out there "took a loss" thus far in this recession? I'm sure it's safe for me to assume that there are a lot of hands in the air right now. Now, how many of you received a huge sum in low-interest loans to keep you afloat until you could recoup? Zero, I suspect. Lastly, how many of you have been granted, by the divine writ of the IRS, a massive exemption from the tax obligation ass-rape that you owe on whatever income you've managed to retain during this big fucking mess?
Silence.
Ah, but I'm such an ingrate! I forgot that Obama set us up with that sweet individual tax break — what was it, something like an additional $13 per week on average? If you've managed to not get laid off, of course. So maybe it's fair that Citigroup gets a tiny break, too. Let's see just how small that break is:
The precise value of the IRS ruling depends on Citigroup's future profitability and other factors, but two accounting experts said it was fair to estimate that Citigroup would save at least several billion dollars as a result.
Several. Billion. Dollars.
Mother. Fuckers.
Should have let 'em sink. This is what happens when you subsidize failure.
They're just failing more slowly.
And expensively.
See when I get mad about this shit, I'm told by the 'mainstream media', that I enjoy having a scrotum whacked about my head and face.
The only scrotum I feel smacking me is in the ass as I'm bent over getting fucked up it by the government and banks.
Too much overlay here Ali - isn't Geithner (also given a 'tax-break' the rest of us would never be eligible for) from Goldman Sachs?
Dirty, dirty, dirty, filthy, mother fucking thieves.
Posted by: Tracy | December 17, 2009 at 06:59 AM
Would you be so kind as to pick up my brain splatter on your way out...?
Posted by: Catt Tripoli | December 17, 2009 at 05:00 PM