Monday, December 3, 2012

IRS quest ends as family gives away art work featuring illegal bald eagle

 

"The gist: The federal government hounded a family over a modern work of art for years because it featured a stuffed bald eagle. The eagle was killed and stuffed long before a 1940 law that outlawed its killing, but the law then made the sale of such an eagle illegal. The work of art—”Canyon” by Robert Rauschenberg— therefore became technically worth zero. Several knowlegdable appraisers agreed, leaving the family with no tax liability for a work of art they couldn’t legally sell. The IRS disagreed, sending them first a $29 million tax bill plus a $11.2 million penalty for allegedly “undervaluing” the art."

[Hot Air] 

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