Why did the US not treat Joe Louis with more respect he gave his country everything..

Tax law?

Hang on tight, mate, she's a keeper.

 

If you mean taxes, they do it to everyone. Same time Louis was having trouble, band leader Artie Shaw, who had voluntarily gone and given troop many free concerts, and had supported war effort in every way he was asked to, got left broke by IRS, and hounded by them till he was dying. IRS sucks dick. Of course Louis deserved break, but it was not just him they were after, they **** anyone over.

 

Yeah I guess he's right ,the guy was a Nazi wimp.

 

Indeed!

 

I have a mate who did the law school thing, it kicked his ass. She's the real badass in this discussion

Seriously, being an icon is no guarantee of special treatment, with regards to Louis. It helps, of course, but its no guarantee. And the IRS is possibly the one institution that gives no shits, and takes what it is owed no matter what. They've drilled into some celebrities rather publicly even in our lifetime.

 

Louis lacked an education and did not manage his riches or pay his taxes. I think his management team ( which included a guy convicted with mob links ) and to a lesser extend those in high political positions connected to friends with money let him down. Louis should have been taken care of.

There was a very good HBO documentary a while back called Joe Louis, America’s hero betrayed. I recommend watching it. Joe's son provides a good narrative. Louis had to resort to wrestling and stage acts once his boxing career ended to pay off debts. Its pitiful because Louis was hardly a good actor or stage showman.

 

To be fair to Louis, the individual income taxation on the federal level only began in 1913. It was ramped up big time leading up to and during WWII, going from 2% to 70% in some categories. Seems like he should have hired a trustworthy accountant to monitor that ****.

Also, was he taxed on the money he donated to the Navy Relief Fund? If so, that sucks.

 

And then what about your family?

Even if you manage to get your wife out, they will find somebody related to you to take it out on.

See how it works?

 

I agree; it would have been a nice thing to do to forgive the tax debt, but if they make THAT exception, where does it end? Then you'd have every veteran who (quite rightly) would argue that he gave every bit as much to his country or more than Louis did, so why shouldn't he get a break too? Sets a dangerous precedent. There's very little practical way to go about that, and frankly I believe the only reason the government made such a big splash about forgiving the debt was their final realization that they'd simply never see any of it anyway because Louis was no longer capable of earning anything and had nothing to leverage against that debt. So why NOT look like the good guys, however belatedly?

 

Oh by the way, Bronx............good thread. I think we've all learned something from this one.

 

Yes he didn't get any deductions, so he signed over cheques so obviously didn't pay tax on them

 

When you owe THAT much and do nothing about it.. there can't be much sympathy for you.

 

Why should stupid people get special treatment? The argument seems to me that Louis was uneducated so he should have gotten a pass. Or that Louis helped his government and the war effort so he should have gotten a pass.

Wanna take a guess on the percentage of people who helped out the war effort during WWII? Why is Louis special? If everyone who helped out during the war got an exemption the country wouldnt have made it ten years.

Was he so uneducated that he didnt realize he needed to pay taxes?

Raise your hand if you dont know how to figure out the tax code. Ok, for all those who did raise your hand what do you do when tax time comes around? Do you go find an accountant or do you simply bury your head in the sand and not pay? Its pretty simple isnt it?

I wonder if Joe Louis thought about his taxes when he was buying his wife mink coats, or driving around in expensive automobiles or betting $20,000 on the outcome of his golf games?

People say the IRS sucks but who do you think was paying all of those soldiers that were fighting the war? Id say paying your taxes is a nice exchange for goose stepping and burning your neighbors in the oven. Never mind everything else our taxes go to in order to make this country a great place to live.

Go live abroad for ten years and then come back and tell how bad the IRS is why this country is so horrible.

 

It's honestly the truth. Fighters in Germany get anally violated by that government. At least I keep a large majority of my purses.

 

All true.

My only point was that the whole tax situation in the US was still very new and very liquid. He should have been smart enough to hire someone to figure out that ****.

Still, I think it's weak he was taxed and penalized on what he contributed to the war effort. Call me lilly-livered leftie.

"Go live abroad for ten years and then come back and tell how bad the IRS is why this country is so horrible."

So, goddamned true. I travel a lot for work. And you know what people tell me in Spain, Italy and France? How much they would like to live in the US.