Proof that even the biggest Tax Protestor can't deny

[zippyfix]

Even Superman is not imune to taxes..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... paign=1490

I think he would qualify as a non citizen if anyone would

[jcolvin2]

Even Superman is not imune to taxes..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... paign=1490

I think he would qualify as a non citizen if anyone would

Resident alien?

[Cathulhu]

Definitely resident alien, unless he obtained citizenship through his adoptive parents. I don't recall that happening in the comic (but haven't read it for decades).

[tracer]

Not that the ol' Last Son o' Krypton can't afford to pay those taxes.

More than once, he's squeezed a lump of coal into its allotropic diamond form.

[LPC]

Definitely resident alien, unless he obtained citizenship through his adoptive parents. I don't recall that happening in the comic (but haven't read it for decades).

Kal-El was always an undocumented alien. His adoptive parents (Jonathan and Martha Kent) hid his origins by leaving him on the doorstep of the local orphanage and later adopting him. I'm no authority on immigration law, but I would assume that their efforts to disguise and corrupt the process would have made it a nullity for naturalization purposes.

[notorial dissent]

Ah, I just love this!!!!

Superman wouldn't be liable for taxes, in that he, Superman, doesn't earn, receive, or accept any kind salary or remuneration for his services, etc, however, his strawman, Clark Kent does, and would be liable for any and all taxes due for his work, since he does get paid, remunerated, etc.

As to citizenship, Kal-El would truly have been a case of an undocumented alien, and not necessarily in the INS sense, more in the MIB sense actually, if they had existed at the time. Real Superman definitely pre-MIB time period.

However, all is moot. At some point in the distant past, and I'm too lazy to look it up at this hour of the morning, and my fanboy/fangirl friends are all asleep at this point or I'd ask, he was granted full citizenship by the US Govt, and I don't remember if it was actually naturalized or NB, or if they even said, but he was granted full citizenship in the long long ago, which would apply both to both him and his alter ego realistically by default if not fact, although proving CK was not a NB short of a blood test, would be next to impossible, since he was a foundling, in a wheat field I think it was, and therefore the presumption would be NB both of the state they were in, and of the US.

I think the argument was made once that CK could run for President whereas Superman could not, but I don't remember the context now.

[Dr. Caligari]

Way back when I read comic books-- that would be the early 1960s-- there was a Superman story in which an IRS agent tried to collect taxes from Superman. At the end of the story, it was determined that Superman owed no taxes because he was entitled to claim everyone on earth as his dependents, because of his saving the planet from aliens.

[Dr. Caligari]

...and a Google search reveals that the story appeared in Superman Comics, vol. 1, #148 (October 1961):

Synopsis for "Superman Owes a Billion Dollars!"
IRS agent Rupert Brand is going through records and is shocked that Superman has never paid his taxes nor reported all the reward money and net assets he's earned over the years, and had become determined to collect the taxes owing from the Man of Steel.
Superman meanwhile is out in space Superman collects a rare egg from a passing comet to bring back to Earth for examination. Returning to Metropolis, Superman aids in a collection drive for the Metropolis Fireman's Welfare Fund. During this drive, Brand jumps off a building to attract Superman's attention. When Superman saves the IRS auditor, he tells Superman that he needs to pay back his taxes. Taking him back to the IRS building, Brand calculates how much bax taxes that Superman owes and tells the Man of Steel that he needs to pay the IRS 1 billion dollars in taxes within the next 24 hours otherwise he will order the FBI to arrest Superman.

Wanting to abide by the law, Superman rushes out to try and collect the money that he owes in back taxes as quickly as possible, a task that proves to be harder than it would seem. He flies to the African Congo where he collects a large cache of elephant tusks from an elephant graveyard hoping to net the billion dollars from selling the ivory. However, Bizarro arrives and in a misguided attempt to try and help Superman turns the tusks into worthless bars of soap.

After depositing the hatching egg someplace safe, Superman goes to a coal mine, Superman next tries to use his super powers to compress coal into diamonds. However, the comet that has passed the Earth has had a temporary effect on the coal, making it impossible for Superman to crush it into diamonds. Superman then decides to get help from his friends, getting a growth serum from Professor Potter, Superman enlists the aid of Aquaman in finding the worlds biggest oyster so that he can use the growth formula to make the worlds largest pearl.

Returning it to the spot where he left the egg, Superman is surprised to find that the egg has hatched into some strange creature. Superman next goes out to collect a number of valuable items from lost tombs and from under the sea, getting the aid of Lori Lemaris and her merpeople to help. When Superman goes off into space to get a chunk of Radium, he breaks it down and takes it to hospitals that are in need due to a shortage of Radium on Earth. Returning back to his cache of valuables, he finds that the creature has eaten everything, Superman then tosses the creature out into space.

With no other options left, and his deadline looming, Superman writes a check for the one billion dollars to give to Brand. Brand tells Superman that the check is worthless as it had come from the First National Bank of Krypton. However at the last moment Brand's boss enters the room and tells Brand that Superman doesn't owe any taxes due to Code 1426B of the income tax code, which states that a taxpayer can deduct $600.00 from their income for each dependent the pay for. Rationalizing that Superman's dependents are the entire world he has no taxable income. With Superman's tax woes sorted out, Brand and Superman shake hands and part company.

[webhick]

[quote="Synopsis for "Superman Owes a Billion Dollars!"]Returning back to his cache of valuables, he finds that the creature has eaten everything, Superman then tosses the creature out into space.[/quote]

So...Superman is a dick.

[Cathulhu]

Dependency is based on five tests: the biggie being support. Can't see that the Man of Steel paid over half the living expenses for everyone on earth. Also, he would need to meet relationship tests, and list everyone's name and identifying number.

[tracer]

[quote="Synopsis for "Superman Owes a Billion Dollars!"]Returning back to his cache of valuables, he finds that the creature has eaten everything, Superman then tosses the creature out into space.

So...Superman is a dick.[/quote]

Not necessarily! Remember, Superman obtained the egg the creature hatched from from space. He's just sending it back to its natural habitat!



What bugs me more is this:

Superman next tries to use his super powers to compress coal into diamonds. However, the comet that has passed the Earth has had a temporary effect on the coal, making it impossible for Superman to crush it into diamonds.

A passing comet alters the structure of terrestrial coal so much that its response to compression changes? What, did the comet emit some kind of radiation that alters carbon chemistry, and emit it so intensely that it affected all the coal on Earth? Then how come the entire human race didn't come down with radiation sickness or cancer?

[Dr. Caligari]

Dependency is based on five tests: the biggie being support. Can't see that the Man of Steel paid over half the living expenses for everyone on earth. Also, he would need to meet relationship tests, and list everyone's name and identifying number.

Well, since nothing else in that story remotely resembles the way the tax laws actually work, what's one more implausibility?

[Cpt Banjo]

If I recall, Superman can go back in time. So all he'd have to do is go back and bring incredibly valuable items into the present to sell for enough to pay his taxes. Just think: lost works by Da Vinci, Van Gough, Picasso, Bach, Mozart, and Shakespeare; several Stradaveri violins; a 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar, 1913 Liberty Head Nickel, and 1933 Gold Double Eagle; the original sheet of the 1924 inverted Jenny airmail stamps; a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card; and a 1938 Martin D-45 guitar.

(Admittedly, a pre-war D-45 isn't as valuable as the rest of the stuff, but just the thought of being able to go back in time and buy one for only $250...!)

Or if he doesn't want to depress the market by bringing back too much stuff, he could always take a videocamera with him, record significant events in history, and sell the footage to the media for a bundle.

[tracer]

If I recall, Superman can go back in time. So all he'd have to do is go back and bring incredibly valuable items into the present to sell for enough to pay his taxes. Just think: lost works by Da Vinci, Van Gough, Picasso, Bach, Mozart, and Shakespeare; several Stradaveri violins; a 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar, 1913 Liberty Head Nickel, and 1933 Gold Double Eagle; the original sheet of the 1924 inverted Jenny airmail stamps; a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card; and a 1938 Martin D-45 guitar.

This was actually the plot of the first episode of Challenge of the SuperFriends: Going back in time to acquire some of the world's most valuable treasures.

The problem? It was the LEGION OF DOOM doing the time travelling. Taking items from the past is considered "stealing". Not exactly the kind of activity the Big Blue Boyscout should want to be involved in....

[Arthur Rubin]

Dependency is based on five tests: the biggie being support. Can't see that the Man of Steel paid over half the living expenses for everyone on earth. Also, he would need to meet relationship tests, and list everyone's name and identifying number.

Well, since nothing else in that story remotely resembles the way the tax laws actually work, what's one more implausibility?

Does anyone really remember the dependency rules for 1960? The story being published in 1961, his taxes for years 1960 and prior would be in question.

[Dr. Caligari]

I'm sure even in 1961, the agent conducting an audit didn't have the power to demand that you pay a billion dollars in 24 hours or else be arrested by the FBI.

[Arthur Rubin]

Or if he doesn't want to depress the market by bringing back too much stuff, he could always take a videocamera with him, record significant events in history, and sell the footage to the media for a bundle.

Why does The Technicolor Time Machine come to mind. It certainly makes it clear why a 24-hour limit is not significant to a time traveller.

[Dr. Caligari]

Or if he doesn't want to depress the market by bringing back too much stuff, he could always take a videocamera with him, record significant events in history, and sell the footage to the media for a bundle.

Why does The Technicolor Time Machine come to mind. It certainly makes it clear why a 24-hour limit is not significant to a time traveller.

I was thinking of the classic SF story "E is for Effort":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_for_Effort

[LPC]

Note: The typos in the topic title finally got to me, so I fixed them. If the OP is offended, he (or she) can change it back.

Unfortunately, I may suffer from CDO (which is like OCD but arranged aphabetically).

[JamesVincent]

A passing comet alters the structure of terrestrial coal so much that its response to compression changes? What, did the comet emit some kind of radiation that alters carbon chemistry, and emit it so intensely that it affected all the coal on Earth? Then how come the entire human race didn't come down with radiation sickness or cancer?

That was the reasoning behind Maximum Overdrive, wasn't it?