Since Fred's (and my) basis in the stock was zero (meaning he had founder's shares), he could give away 100% of it with no tax consequence at all.
Bob is (and I'm sure he's grateful for the fact) not a tax specialist. It's true that you can only write off a maximum of 50% of your income as donations, but that doesn't mean you can't donate far more. Fred could have made $1,000 and donated shares worth $50,000,000. He could only have written off $500, but would not have owed anything on the donated shares. --- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > on 5/15/05 8:03 PM, bbrigante at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> on 5/15/05 5:52 PM, Vaj at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >>> > >>> Several parts of Earl's letter seem like reaction formations--but > > other > >>> parts ring true. One of the most disturbing was the report of Mahesh > >>> lamenting his inability to milk the Kaplan's entire fortune. It > > really > >>> paints a sinister picture of a greed-crazed avaricious man that has > >>> been heard again and again and again. Only this time you hear a > > clear > >>> source on this. I found it chilling in it's portrait of M. > >> > >> Fred Gratzon told a story of how he offered Maharishi all of his > > money, or > >> all of his stock in Telegroup, and Maharishi was angry at him. Then he > >> offered him half of it, and Maharishi was pleased. If Cliff is > > reading this > >> perhaps he can clarify or elaborate. > > > > ********* > > > > Under U.S. tax laws, you can only give 50% of your income and deduct it > > from your taxable income, so it's highly unlikely that Gratzon could > > possibly have made a offer which would have resulted in his owing large > > sums to the U.S. Treasury. > > Are you suggesting that for the reason you state, Maharishi knew that 50% > would be the optimum amount for him to give? To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
