On Aug 8, 8:23*pm, "J. Clarke" wrote:
In article ,
"sjedgingN0Sp"@m@mwt,net says...







" wrote:

On Wed, 08 Aug 2012 08:56:41 -0500, jim wrote:

" wrote:

On Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:40:38 -0500, jim wrote:

Stormin Mormon wrote:

The difference is that I can choose not to shop at Walmart. I can't choose
not to pay US and state taxes.

Sure you can.

Simply live frugally and barter for goods and
services and you can legitimately avoid taxes.

Wrong. You still owe taxes on barter.

So if you trade firewood for eggs, what is
the tax you would pay?

Easy. *The market value of the transaction. *You owe both sales tax on one
side of the transaction and income tax on the other.

The IRS regards the market value to be zero if it is
not a commercial enterprise. For instance if I mow my neighbors
lawn but don't mow lawns for a living that is not taxable.
So if I give my neighbor firewood and my neighbor
gives me eggs and neither of us is selling firewood or
eggs then it is not subject to tax.

The discussion was of sales and use tax, not of Federal income tax, so
what does the IRS have to do with anything?

The discussion I saw here was about US taxes in general.




*And if your neighbor
compensates you for mowing his lawn you are required to report that
compensation as income, even if it is not done as part of a licensed
business. *What you are not allowed to do unless it is done as part of a
licensed business is deduct the cost of the gas and the depreciation on
the lawn mower.- Hide quoted text -


And who says you can't deduct the cost of materials unless
it's a "licensed business" Licensed by whom? Many businesses
are not licensed, particularly home based ones.