Re: Houston Chronicle in-depth article on it
Posted by
Beachlover on 7/19/2010, 12:27 pm
Thanks very much, Chris. I hadn't seen it in that light, but it makes sense to compare someone sitting at home doing nothing, getting a full claim paid later, vs. someone working hard and earning money now but having those wages deducted from a future claim settlement. I knew I must be missing something. I guess the advantage to the guy out working for BP is that he at least gets a known amount of money now rather than an unknown quantity later. Still, as you've indicated, there are risks that the stay-at-home person doesn't have to take.
I'll be very interested to see how this all shakes out. I hope whatever is done will be fair and just.
Also potentially interesting (and very worrisome to some folks, I don't doubt) will be how the IRS situation turns out. Obviously the settlement monies paid are taxable just as the income they are meant to replace would've been. But there will be those in some of the largely cash businesses (charter boating, fishing) who may end up reporting large claims payments often exceeding their prior years' reported income....because they didn't fully report it in prior years. Puts them between a rock and a hard place. Not saying I condone underreporting income, cash or otherwise -- we should all pay our fair share -- just saying it's going to put some people in a scary spot, not knowing what to do or whether their acceptance of settlement money will put them on some kind of list for further IRS investigation of past years' taxes.
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7/18/2010, 8:46 pm Post A Reply
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