I never liked Roger, especially after that video where he showed us the finger, but what amazes me is that he sold so many BTC for less than $1k - that's one.
That doesn't amaze me, no one has ever thought that Bitcoin would reach 70K. I remember how 1K was considered as something unimaginable.
I would not defend Roger in any matter, but this is just another confirmation of why anonymity is important.
Roger doesn't need defend, he is a liar, he lied to the people, he lied to the US government and now he got arrested. It's all fair. I think he should have been arrested years ago when he was trying (still tries) to lie to people and make them invest in Bitcoin Cash instead of Bitcoin.
But yep, taxes and all the laws regarding them are indeed crazy in the US. However, in other countries the actual tax rates are even higher (though I don't know how complex the laws are, or how fucking hard they make it for the average person to file their taxes without resorting to expensive software or hiring an accountant). I don't think the IRS is looking to put people in jail necessarily, but they just make doing your taxes unnecessarily difficult/costly as I just said. The amount of money involved in this case is huge, but for "little people" who owe back taxes or get caught up in tax issues, the IRS usually settles with them in the form of a fine, penalties, whatever and they don't end up in prison.
It seems that I live in heaven, self-employed people don't pay taxes, renters don't pay taxes, and e-commerce owners don't pay taxes. Only those who are officially employed pay taxes.
Well they both went to Spain.
Lesson, never go to Spain.
For 99%+ of the population of the US income taxes (the IRS) are actually easy. It's just that most people get caught up in the 'you need to have an accountant' or the 'you need a tax professional' For under $50 you can get software that will do it all for you. Even moderately complex things like crypto trading.
As for not paying your taxes most of the time there is no penalty if you don't not pay on a regular basis. Keep it up and they will nail you. Mess up here and there and you will own whatever you owe + interest. The flip side is also true, if you mess up and the government owes you money you get (minimal) interest.
Yes you can always get 'that guy' who works for the IRS who wants to nail you to the wall. But for the most part it's not that bad.
Stale / local / sales tax / property tax and all those other things are different but not really part of this discussion.
-Dave
What about illegal migrants? Many people go every day in the USA through Mexico from my country. I mean, literally too many people sell cars or houses just to reach the USA. I know a person who doesn't speak English, works on truck and has no idea about taxes. How is that possible? There are too many people like that from my country. Btw they earn lots of money there.