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Title: 'Joe the Plumber' owes back income taxes in Ohio
Source:
Houston Chronicle
URL Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6062246.html
Published: Oct 16, 2008
Author: RYAN J. DONMOYER
Post Date: 2008-10-16 18:10:26 by bush_is_a_moonie
Keywords: None
Views: 235
Comments: 13
"Joe the Plumber," the Toledo, Ohio, man whose complaints about Barack Obama's tax plan were featured in the final presidential debate, owes the state of Ohio almost $1,200 in back income taxes. According to records on file with the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, the state filed a tax lien against Samuel J. Wurzelbacher for $1,182.98 on Jan. 26, 2007, that is still active. Wurzelbacher was thrust into the national spotlight this week when he told Obama he worried that the Illinois senator's proposals to roll back Bush administration tax breaks for Americans earning more than $250,000 would prevent him from buying a plumbing business that would earn between $250,000 and $280,000 a year. Republican John McCain, the Arizona senator, pointed to the exchange during the debate last night when he turned to the camera and said, "I will not stand for a tax increase on small- business income." Directly criticizing Obama, he added, "what you want to do to 'Joe the Plumber' and millions more like him is have their taxes increased and not be able to realize the American dream of owning their own business." Today, at a rally in Downingtown, Pa., McCain said that "the real winner last night was 'Joe the Plumber.'" Wurzelbacher's home telephone number is unlisted, and efforts to reach him by calling his neighbors and family were unsuccessful. Attempts to reach Wurzelbacher at the plumbing company where he works were also unsuccessful. The address on the lien and other records for him matched the address published by the Toledo Blade, which also noted the lien. The state of Ohio places a lien on real property after several steps to try to collect a tax debt, according to John Kohlstrand, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation who said he couldn't discuss any specific case. If a delinquency notice goes unheeded, the Department of Taxation issues a billing notice, Kohlstrand said. If that is ignored, a more formal assessment notice is sent. Failing to appeal an assessment or losing an appeal puts the debt into the hands of the state attorney general for collection. The attorney general typically sends a collection notice and simultaneously files a lien. "The taxpayers may not necessarily know about the lien," Kohlstrand said, although they would receive other notices. In Wurzelbacher's case, the lien indicated that the notice was sent to a previous address in Toledo. Under Obama's proposal, Wurzelbacher would face about $900 more in taxes if he netted $280,000 of income from his new business, said Gerald Prante, a senior economist at the Tax Foundation, a Washington research group that is examining both candidates' plans. "His average tax burden, the final bill he pays to the IRS isn't going to go up much if he's just making $280,000 a year," Prante said. He would face higher marginal tax costs to expand the business beyond that, he said. Also, Wurzelbacher told the Associated Press earlier today he doesn't have a plumber's license and doesn't need one. Wurzelbacher said he works for a small plumbing company that does residential work. Because he works for someone else, he doesn't need a license, he said. But the county Wurzelbacher and his employer live in, Lucas County, requires plumbers to have licenses. Neither Wurzelbacher nor his employer are licensed there, said Cheryl Schimming of Lucas County Building Regulations, which handles plumber licenses in parts of the county outside Toledo. Wurzelbacher, who voted in the Republican primary and indicated he backed McCain, said he was surprised that his name was mentioned so many other times. "That bothered me. I wished that they had talked more about issues that are important to Americans," he told reporters gathered outside his home. Wurzelbacher, 34, said he doesn't have a good plan put together on how he would buy Newell Plumbing and Heating in nearby Toledo. He said the business consists of owner Al Newell and him. Wurzelbacher said he's worked there for six years and that the two have talked about his taking it over at some point. "There's a lot I've got to learn," he said. Wurzelbacher said he started his day with an early morning workout and came back to his suburban Toledo home to do live interviews with TV networks. Reporters camped out by his house overnight and by midmorning there were 21 people on his driveway surrounding him, holding cameras and notebooks. Wurzelbacher said he's feeling overwhelmed. "I'm kind of like Britney Spears having a headache. Everybody wants to know about it," he joked. As he leaned against the Dodge Durango SUV parked in his driveway this morning, Wurzelbacher indicated to reporters who crowded around that he was a conservative, a fan of the military and McCain. He said meeting McCain would be an honor but said he hadn't been contacted by the Republican campaign. Still, the plumber wouldn't say who he was voting for and brushed off a question about whether he could influence the election or other voters. "I don't have a lot of pull. It's not like I'm Matt Damon," Wurzelbacher said. "I just hope I'm not making too much of a fool of myself," he added.
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#1. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
this whole thing was contrived. ok, so joe's/mccain's 15 mins are up.
Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com
Why any American even participates at all in the fed scam is beyond me.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Joe the Plumber? Nope. Joe the Tax Dodger. Joe the Relative of Charles Keating. Hilarious theobfuscationreport.blog...-nope-joe-tax-dodger.html
He's one of those guys that wants tax welfare. He wants the rest of us to pay HIS taxes.
contrived? CONtrived? NEOCONtrived?
Obama picked "Joe the Plumber" as a posterboy who turns out not to be a plumber and not an Obama supporter. Reminds me of the movie Wag the Dog, where the Presidents PR spin team needs a phony "war hero" as a posterboy. They wind up getting some lunatic out of an institution who runs amok.
I have a cousin might be able to get Joe a job delivering beer.
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
Deliver Beer? Study for a drug test? Deliver to the urinal? That's probably his idea of work.
Does he have a Truck Driver license? These are the things both campaigns should be asking themselves.
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
He says he doesn't need one. He is too busy laying pipe.....
If he's got a $1200 tax bill that he can't pay, there's no way he's going to buy a plumbing businesses that GROSSES $250,000 much less NETS that.
http://theobfuscationreport.blogspot.com/2008/10/joe-plumber-nope-joe-tax- dodger.html
P.S. Turtle is a more cost-efficient sole proprietor than your signature suggests according to his latest offer:
#2. To: bush_is_a_moonie, Christine (#0)
#3. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
#4. To: Itisa1mosttoolate (#3)
#5. To: christine (#1)
#6. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
#7. To: christine (#1)
#8. To: Dakmar (#7)
#9. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#8)
#10. To: Dakmar (#9)
#11. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
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#12. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
Lots of good "Joe" reading here. Funny how he and Palin have a link.
#13. To: Indrid Cold (#11)
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
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