[fabsroman]

Trust me Val, it isn't just the immigrants. I have a born here American whose parents and grandparents were born here.

He has a rental house in Maryland and he is currently living in West Virginia because the "rent" is cheap. However, he works in Maryland and has put 180,000 miles on his truck in 3 years. Anyway, I am digressing, but you can already see how bright he is (i.e., gas and cost of new truck could have paid for a mortgage in Maryland, he would have saved several hours a day driving, and he would have built equity in the home).

So, he is thinking about selling the rental property, but he hasn't lived in it for any of the last 5 years. So, he would not get any capital gain exlcusion on it and after explaining capital gains to him, he thinks his would be $350,000 on the place. I told him that would equate to $52,500 in taxes. Then, he asks me how would the IRS ever know if we don't put it on the tax return. My answer, it is on prior tax returns as a rental property, his current mailing address is a PO Box #, the mortgage would suddenly be gone, the IRS has the ability to push a button and see everything you own, and I wouldn't prepare the return if I knew he sold the house and he didn't want to report it. Mind you, this guy hasn't filed tax returns or paid taxes since 2000. Granted, he might not owe anything, but he just hasn't prepared anything.

I have a personal injury client that I am trying to settle a case for, and while the offer is a good one as far as the length of treatment and dollar amount of medical bills, he doesn't think it is a good offer because he needs to be able to pay off his credit card bills with it. Since when did the amount of debt a person have determine the worth of a personal injury/auto accident case? This guy is 36 years old, the only thing he owns is a 1992 Chevy Beretta that might be worth $500. He just finished culinary school and has been working 2 jobs since September, yet he just cannot pay off two credit cards that he owes on. One is for $800 and the other is for $2,000. He pays interest on them at 20%. On top of that, he has never had health insurance, but he got sick right before Christmas and had to go to the hospital. These were no accident related injuries and he owes the hospital $3,500 for that. Well, I did his tax return this year for free, under the impression that he would take the $800 refund and pay off one credit card. Found out yesterday that he took the refund, took his sister and niece on vacation, and actually increased the balance on the credit card after spending all of the refund. Now I ask you, why did I do that tax return for free. I must have been out of my mind.

Both of these dicussions occurred yesterday, and made my Friday a miserable one.

Personally, I have no problem with the immigrants that want to come here, work, and obey our laws, but our country should limit the number or we will have way too many people in this country way too quickly (i.e., everybody from third world countries will be moving in). However, I think anybody on a Visa that is found guilty for any felony or crime of violence should be deported immediately. No questions asked. Plain and simple.

I have also come to the conclusion that I am down on society in general because I deal with some of the bad parts of society, but these people do not represent the majority. I have heard something like this about police officers. They deal with the dregs of society on a daily basis, but the great majority of the population obey the laws or the police would never be able to deal with it. Likewise, I think the majority of immigrants aren't bad people, it is just the ones that make the news that get us fired up. You won't hear much about the hard working, law abiding construction worker that built your house or the hard working, law abiding crop picker that picked the salad and vegetables you are having for dinner.

Since attorneys usually deal with the unsavory part of society, the stories they tell and the questions they answer usually will not be things normal people would do.