Showing my age a bit, I remember a GOP presidential debate from back in 2011. I wasn’t interested in actually voting for any of those candidates, but I was curious to see how Congressman Ron Paul would do. Despite being a Libertarian, he was in the GOP debate to actually have access to the American viewing public.

The record scratch moment of the debate occurred when the moderator asked what should happen if an uninsured 30 year old had a debilitating accident, requiring care that they could not afford. Ron Paul did not explicitly say that the person should die - although the crowd certainly said so. No, instead, Ron Paul simply stated that the person had used their freedom to make the choice to not have insurance. When pressed, he said the person made their choice, with the inference being that they had made the choice to die.

Oof. Ever the Libertarian.

That was a long wind-up, but it brings me to my latest video on Amazon Vine’s tax implications. Quite the turn, eh? The first video wasn’t very popular, but it’s been picking up the views and watch time as we get closer to tax season. Certainly, it’s possible that first-time Viners may be freaking out about the 1099-NECs they’ve been getting from Amazon. Someone posted a link to my video on Reddit, and I got some views - and a couple messages from trolls.

The common theme was that I presented a “simple” tax approach, where alternative approaches were possible. And here’s where we get to the Ron Paul thing - you can do nearly anything you want on your federal tax filing. It’s sort of like speeding on the interstate. Sometimes you can get away with things you shouldn’t, and other times you’ll get clipped for relatively minor infractions. One of the ways the analogy fails, though, is that the IRS can get you years down the line for things you’ve done wrong.

Want to play around with FMV tricks to lower the reported income on your 1099-NEC? Ok. Want to mess around with hobby income or business income? Also, ok. Will you win in the event of a dispute or audit? Maybe? As Ron Paul said - they made their choice.

Check out the video here

FAFO

I’m a video editor now (albeit a bad one)

And so it continues…