Taxgirl Podcast

From Bill and Melinda Gates, to Ben Affleck and JLO, we love the gossip surrounding celebrity weddings, almost-weddings, and divorces. But often, the real life consequences of those weddings, almost-weddings, and divorces are anything but Hollywood glam.

On today’s episode of the Taxgirl podcast, Kelly is joined by Mela Garber to discuss marriage, taxes, and estates. Mela is a Tax Principal at Anchin. She has extensive experience handling all aspects of taxation and planning for high networth families, their trusts, and estates. As Tax Leader of Anchin Private Client and Leader of Anchin’s Trust & Estates Services and Matrimonial Advisory Groups, Mela assists women in matrimonial issues, working with divorcees and widows, helping them navigate through their new financial lives.

• A lot of people are talking about divorce right now because of Bill and Melinda Gates, but what kind of issues do you commonly see with couples initiating a divorce?
• What are some practical planning tips to consider during divorce, such as selling a house or divvying up retirement accounts?
• How to gather a team of professionals to help through divorce proceedings.
• Thinking about what comes next, and what happens in the case of remarriages?
• How does Mela recommend working out trusts and family finances amidst remarriages and blended families?
• When setting up trusts, should there be an independent trustee?
• Dealing with pushback when clients don’t want to name an independent trustee.
• Planning wisely and being prepared for financial conflict that may arise years down the road.
• Having conversations with clients about how to determine what is the appropriate amount of money needed to maintain a certain lifestyle after divorce.
• How often should estate planning documents be reviewed?
• Why it’s important to stay on top of proposed bills that would change how assets could be taxed after the death of a family member.
• Does Mela advise increased lifetime giving among blended families for estate planning?
• What trends are Mela watching that people should be more aware of?

Kelly is the creator and host of the Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney with considerable experience and knowledge. She works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things that she does is help folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keep others from getting into them.

Kelly’s Website – TaxgirlMela’s Firm -- AnchinMela’s LinkedIn -- LinkedIn

Some of the biggest criminal cases in history involve financial disputes and tax evasion. Kelly introduces her favorite museum, The Mob Museum, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum focuses on mob crime history including the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago involving Al Capone. Capone refused to file a tax return claiming that "They can’t collect legal taxes from illegal money.” The Internal Revenue Service's new crime-fighting division (now, IRS-CI) was ordered to "Get Capone" - and they did. You'll find the story, along with artifacts, in the Mob Museum. The museum also does a great job at showing both sides of criminal cases: the criminal side and the law enforcement side. Tune into this week’s podcast with a special guest host to learn more about what the Mob Museum has to offer and the early days of IRS Criminal Investigations.

The Mob Museum

Geoff Schumacher, the Vice President of the exhibits and programs at The Mob Museum, joins Kelly this week to explore the interesting facts on the history and evolution of the museum. Geoff was a journalist for 25 years at the Las Vegas Sun. In addition, he is a reporter, writer, and editor, and author of two books. Geoff helps to uncover some interesting points on crime history, as well as the background and future endeavors in motion for the Mob Museum.

Listen to Kelly and Geoff Discuss Mob History Museum and more such as:

• How the Museum got started
• The location, build, and background of the Museum
• Commitment to both stories - crime and law enforcement
• Finding and deciding on displayed artifacts
• Museum wish list and future hopes and plans
• Authenticating items
• Choosing exhibits and temporary exhibition spaces
• Post-pandemic Museum addition
• Most popular attractions
• Museum Events
• The Underground and educating employees
• Museum mysteries and layout
• What is next for the museum

More About Kelly Phillips Erb:

Kelly is the creator and host of the new Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney who works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things that she does is help folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keep others from getting into them.

Links Mentioned:

Kelly’s Website – Taxgirl

Geoff Schumacher - LinkedIn

The Mob Museum

The Mob Museum - YouTube

The Mob Museum- Instagram

St. Valentine Massacre in Chicago

Al Capone

Sun, Sin & Suburbia – Geoff Schumacher’s book

Movie Referrals – Casino

Earlier this month, ProPublica made waves when it published what it said was verified IRS information showing that billionaires, like Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett, pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth. ProPublica described the info as “an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans.” The article caused quite a stir, both because of how they got the data and the larger discussion regarding wealth and taxes.

On today’s episode of the Taxgirl podcast, Kelly is joined by Steve Rosenthal to chat about tax and wealth and how they intersect. Steve is a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where he researches, speaks, and writes on a range of federal income tax issues, with a particular focus on business taxes. In 2013, he also was the staff director of the DC Tax Revision Commission.

Before joining Urban, Rosenthal practiced tax law in Washington, DC, for over 25 years, most recently as a partner at Ropes and Gray. He was a legislation counsel with the Joint Committee on Taxation, where he helped draft tax rules for financial institutions, financial products, capital gains, and related areas. He is the former chair of the Taxation Section of the District of Columbia Bar Association.

• The ProPublica piece mentioned has been criticized for supposedly conflating wealth with income. Steve shares the difference between earned income and unearned income, and why we tax them differently. Simply: income tax only taxes income, not wealth.
• We often assume that billionaires and millionaires are in the highest tax bracket, but that’s not always the case. Income is the basis of tax liability in the American system, so wealth without income is not taxed as heavily.
• In 2007, Jeff Bezos famously said he paid no income tax, even though Amazon stock more than doubled in the same year. Steve says about the 16th amendment, “We have an income tax, not a wealth tax.”
• How do these tax principles apply to all taxpayers? Kelly and Steve discuss taxable events and how investments like stocks and real estate aren’t considered taxable income until those assets are sold.
• What the Biden Proposal says about gains-at-death for the mega wealthy, and what the threshold really is.
• As a W-2 earner, all income is reported to the IRS, and many of these folks are not reliant on investments or asset growth for their wealth. But the wealthy are usually not reliant on a wage or salary. How are investment sales taxed differently than income?
• What are the arguments that the tax system isn’t “fair,” versus the arguments that it is fair? Should the wealthy be taxed more heavily?
• Would changing the top tax rate alter how much the uber wealthy would realistically pay in overall taxes? In the philosophical discussion of whether billionaires should be taxed more, what would that even look like?
• There is so much opportunity in the U.S. for financial success, although recently wealth inequality has been “exacerbated.” What would happen to dynastic wealth if assets were taxed upon death?
• The 25 richest Americans are collectively worth over $1 Trillion. It would take over 14 million working class Americans to match that kind of wealth. Does taxing appreciated assets target small business and upper middle class more than it does the billionaires?
• The top 1% of Americans own 50% of the stock market. Most Americans would identify themselves as middle class, and a lot of folks don’t have an abundance of assets. Addressing wealth inequality is complicated with the way the tax code sits right now.
• Does Steve think the ProPublica story helped or harmed the odds of Biden’s proposal going through? What would the next steps potentially look like for the proposal?

Kelly is the creator and host of the Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney with considerable experience and knowledge. She works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things that she does is help folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keep others from getting into them.

Kelly’s Website – TaxgirlSteve’s Twitter -- stevertax

Almost 1.5 million fewer moms of school age children were actively working in March 2021 compared to February 2020. The pandemic has certainly taken its toll on working parents.

Kelly loves all things tax. She’s an attorney, and she’s a mom. She strongly believes it’s important for her kids to see her working, and for them to know that their mom loves what she does. Kelly says that being a working parent has made her a better tax attorney: from planning, keeping organized, multitasking, and cultivating an abundance of patience and empathy.

Professional networking groups like All Before Dinner can be a great resource and support network for working parents.

On today’s episode of the Taxgirl podcast, Kelly is joined by Lisa Jerles and Mara Geronemus to chat about pursuing a successful, fulfilling career while also being a mom. Lisa and Mara are the founders of All Before Dinner, a professional networking group for working moms. They are both attorneys and mothers, and describe the group in terms of changing the narrative around motherhood, which is often seen as a liability rather than an asset. The group focuses on business development, and personal and professional growth for working moms across a variety of industries.

Lisa is a commercial litigator at Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Levine, where she focuses on complex business disputes and litigation strategy. Mara is a corporate attorney and the founder of Geronemus Law.

Listen to Kelly and Lisa talk about professional networking as a working mom:

• What seem to be the trends for working parents returning to work right now, by the numbers between men and women? Are women and moms not returning to work to the same degree as men and dads?
• As kids get older, their interests and activities become more complex and demanding, and as parents it becomes more difficult to plan accordingly. The idea of childcare can seem one dimensional, but there are really so many facets to it that will vary for every family. How can working parents manage their time between work commitments and family commitments?
• One of Kelly’s pet peeves with some working parents is how they’ll talk about their lives without ever alluding to or admitting to assistance with childcare. It’s important to set an example for younger professional parents that it’s okay to have help, and it’s great to have a support system like a networking group as well.
• All Before Dinner was started a few months before the pandemic hit. What impact did the pandemic have on their group, and what do they think draws a working mom to join the group? Lisa and Mara say “interest exploded in 2020.”
• Kelly says parenting still falls a lot on the moms, whether we like to think about it that way or not. She says in her experience, schools will always call her cell phone first, even if calling her husband would have been much more convenient for their family. How does this bias impact moms’ professional lives?
• No matter the profession, there are times when a working parent can predict their availability better than other times. Networking groups can help working parents feel solidarity during the busy times and the unpredictable times.
• Kelly shares an anecdote about when she had to take her baby to a networking event and was terrified she’d get a lecture about it, but that everything turned out just fine. What contributes to the negative stigma toward working mothers, and how can the stigma continue to be broken down?
• A lot of working parents operate outside of standard working hours. To what extent is this a healthy practice, and how easily can it become all-consuming? From email scheduling to attending Zoom meetings from the carpool line, Lisa and Mara share their tips for balancing work and family.
• What is the long term plan for All Before Dinner? Lisa and Mara say they will continue to meet virtually, and hope to integrate in-person events very soon as well.

More about Kelly:

Kelly is the creator and host of the Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney with considerable experience and knowledge. She works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things that she does is help folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keep others from getting into them.

You can find out more about Kelly here and you can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin.

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