Thursday | February 09, 2012
Wrap It Up: hookers, tax write-offs, Nigerian fundraising, money and satisfaction
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By
YOUNG MONEY Staff
26 September 2008
Hookers Are Not a Tax Write-Off
William Halby, a 77-year-old Brooklyn tax lawyer tried to deduct over $322,000 for hookers, sex surrogates, porn, sex toys, and rub and tugs (aka erotic massage). Arguing that the write-offs were necessary medical expenses to fight depression and erectile dysfunction, he documented everything in a “Tax Journal” notebook. Guess what, guy? You can’t write off illegal activity. The state auditor argued that "in addition to being illegal in New York State, these expenses are not substantiated with receipts." The libidinous deductions were rejected—leaving Halby with a $24,271 state tax bill.
Halby, in his defense, told the Post, “I live a solitary life. I have no social life. I needed that release.”
2002: $111,364 deducted for "therapeutic sex" and massages "to relieve osteoarthritis and enhance erectile function through frequent orgasm” and $2, 173 deducted for porn “in lieu of taking Viagra”
2003: $101,930 deducted; including $162 for lubes, condoms, and nipple clamps
He’s facing similar action by the IRS but this is one thing Halby won’t take lying down—he’s rising to the challenge and plans to appeal.
Fundraising tips from Nigeria
By now almost everyone on earth has been contacted by a cash-strapped official from Nigeria. Seems like someone in our government took the same “Get rich quick,” course. Maybe Matthew Lesko will lend the Secretary of the Treasury his newest book: Free Money for Government Bailouts.
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson
Money over career satisfaction? Should we be surprised?
Experience, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of career services for college students and young alumni, surveyed current college students and recent graduates to determine the impact student loans have on their career decisions. In its 2008 Student Loan Survey, completed earlier this month, Experience found that half (50 percent) of college students polled would be more likely to accept a job that offers higher pay, but less career satisfaction, in order to repay their student loans.
With higher education expenses on the rise, debt piling up and the current credit crunch, college students have been forced to seek alternative means to pay for school:
• 31% have applied for scholarships and grants
• 28% are already saving money to repay their loans
• 13% are accelerating their graduation date
• 11% are going to school part-time while working
• 10% are living at home while taking classes
High student loan balances are also a factor in post-college decisions. Recent grads report that:
• 40% took a job offer that offered higher pay, but less career satisfaction, in order to help pay off their student loans;
• 47% say that their student loans impacted their decision to pursue a particular career
• 88% said they had to make sacrifices in their budget because of their student loan payments; 23% sacrificed continuing education or graduate school
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