On Tue, 19 May 2009 06:42:05 -0500, "Leon"
wrote:

I do not know the infinite details of the tax laws.

Part of our tax confusion (U.S.) is that it's very doubtful that any
single person does "know the infinite details".

I can certainly verify your earlier statement about benefits in lieu
of payment being taxable. In college, during the late 1960's, I worked
in the Women's Dining Hall for my meals. No cash changed hands, but
that's where I met my wife. Every January, I'd receive a W-2 form from
the university showing that the value of my meals had been reported to
the IRS as taxable income. Of course, no withholdings had been made
since there was no money involved. Cash from other sources had to be
diverted to pay the taxes due.

I doubt the guy living at home would be subject to that particular
little quirk unless he was somehow employed by his parents and
receiving free lodging as payment for that employment. But, who knows,
some of those infinite details might be applicable.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

An armed society is a polite society.
Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
Robert A. Heinlein