Great boxers who killed themselves?

I got the first name of Louis's ex wife wrong, Marva instead of Myra, but thanks for the good info.

 

just because Louis managed his money very badly, it doesn't mean that his treatment at the the hands of the IRS was fair and just.

 

Norman Selby.

 

Joseph Bamford.

 

He was treated like any other citizen.If you want to make a case that because of him defending his title for free twice for the Army and Navy relief funds he should have received special dispensation I can go along with that.
Otherwise what is your argument?
Louis had pied a terre apartments with an assortment of hatcheck,show girls and waitresses in them all over the place.He lost a bundle on a Cuban venture when relations with them were decidedly frosty.He dropped money on a Joe Louis Punch,a soft ball team, never paid his taxes.Spent a fortune on clothes ,dozens of Italian custom made suits,both for himself ,his wife, and assorted girlfriends.Two thoroughbred horses ,saddles ,he paid $2,500 for one ,that represented a years wages for a working man then,and a $100,00 farm all left a big hole in his pocket.Partnership in a jazz club went south.Louis put a sister through college,and financially carried his family and friends. He gave away thousands to needy folk and many not so needy,as careful with his dough as Marciano was Louis was the polar opposite.Half a dozen luxury autos,including a Dusenberg.Marva his wife travelled in a chauffeur driven limousine. He dropped thousands at golf. Between 1949 and 1950 Louis made $350,000 in exhibitions alone and spent all of it and more.If he had made double that he would still have ended up broke at the end of the year.

 

His other wife was Martha Jefferson.

 

If the money had been paid directly to the Army and Navy Relief Funds, then he would not have been liable for any tax.

What happened was that the money was paid to him, he then paid it to the Army and Navy Relief Funds, and was taxed based on the fact that he held the money for 30 seconds.

After that, it was treated as if he had spent the money on Faberge eggs.

Now you can argue that he was naïve, or that his management didn't understand the tax laws, but did nobody else have a duty of care in the matter?

All of the above is irrelevant.

If you mug somebody on the street, there is no mitigation in the fact that they were a gambling addict.

 

Joe Louis may have spent his money prior to 1941 freely, knowing another title defense was coming again very soon.

But the U.S. government robbed him blind.

The U.S. income tax rate in 1942 was out of control. If you made more than $100,000 your income tax rate was 85 percent. Meaning you took home $15,000 and paid $85,000 in taxes.

Louis defended his heavyweight title twice in 1942 in rematches against Abe Simon and Buddy Baer. He made roughly $100,000. He donated those purses to the Army Relief Fund and the Navy Relief Fund.

Meaning he didn't earn any income for those fights. Meaning he should've paid NO taxes on either of those.

Yet, the IRS taxed him 85 percent of both purses. Then they began charging him fees and penalties for not paying taxes on that income which compound quickly.

By the time he made his next defense against Billy Conn in 1946, he owed hundreds of thousands in taxes, and he couldn't pay it off, because every time he made a defense, he owed 85% of his income for those new defenses in taxes as well.

He could never catch up.

 

Today, it wouldn't even matter if they paid it to him. It wasn't income. It was a deduction.

The government was 'double dipping.' They took his entire purses as a donation ... then wanted him to pay 85% in taxes on all the money he had just handed him.

It's not supposed to work that way.

That's why, after decades of hounding him and adding penalty on top of penalty, garnishing all his income, when he had nothing left, they basically forgave his debt. Because they were in the wrong to begin with.

 

Nope he took training expenses only for those fights his purse for the Baer fight was$65,200 after training exes the residue was$47,500 it went direct to the Navy Relief Fund ,Louis did not pay tax on the donation he never even saw it. Buddy Baer donated $4,078 from his purse and Mike Jacobs gave$37,229.
For the Army Relief Fund Louis' purse would have been $45,882 after training exes Louis donated $37,146 Abe Simon his challenger ,and Jacobs his promoter made it up to a total of$55,000 and Louis bought a$1000 worth of tickets for servicemen.Louis did not pay taxes on the money donated to the Army Fund.

 

Your information is incorrect.

 

No. Training expenses aren't income either. They are "expenses." He paid out training expenses and then gave the rest to the relief funds.

None of it was income.

 

I am out of my depth on tax law now, so I will sit back and let you two fight it out!

 

I am an independent contractor. You don't pay taxes on your work expenses. You pay taxes on your income after expenses.

Training expenses are work expenses. He paid his training expenses and donated the rest to the GOVENMENT.

The government shouldn't have taxed him anything for those fights. But they were trying to squeeze as much money as they could because they were funding the war. The government was in the wrong.

 

I know.My point is he did not pay tax on the purses .