While visiting Colorado I had to chance to speak with a neighbor of my parents who works in the oil and gas industry. Basically he raises money from wealthy people to invest in oil and natural gas exploration. While the investment has the obvious allure of a big payoff, he said that another top driving factor is the tax code. Such investments are tax-deductable. Thus, even if you only break even on your investment -- typically $30-40K -- that's still a win becuase it's money that you don't have to send to the government.
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This is why I always have a laugh when people say that a flat tax would be a giveaway to the rich through cutting their taxes. Guess what? The rich are smart enough that they don't pay much tax in the first place thanks to our byzantine code.
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