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Comment by thegeomaster | Hacker News Reader

I don't think anyone should judge him based on the small amount of information available. I understand that his situation is mostly his fault, but there may be other things at play. Why be so fast to condemn someone when an unfortunate sequence of events could've put some of us into a similar situation? I'm not defending Xah Lee's irresponsibility nor I am defending people who condemn him, I just want to say that we are all imperfect, after all, and these kinds of things can and do happen because of that fact.

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he still hasn't learned his lesson. he's actively asking people to send money to him in a way that skirts the lien the irs has filed against him.

if the irs notices this and gets pissed, it absolutely puts his 'helpers' in harm's way. by continuing to not file taxes, the probability of irs aggression only increases with each passing day.

i'm all for giving people a 2nd chance, but he still hasn't realized that it's his fault, and only his fault.

That's a tough one, then. I'm not from the US so I don't know what IRS really is, but I think I know of analogous institutions here... In which case, he needs to clearly explain that people can get in trouble for helping him.

He feels confident that he doesn't owe the IRS taxes since he has never earned sufficient money to file (less thank $1,000). It turns out, according to the present rules, that he is incorrect: self employed and earning more than $400 a year requires filing income tax.[1]

It does not appear that he is purposely evading taxes. I agree that it is his fault that the IRS is pursuing him, on the other hand it seems pointless for the IRS to pursue someone with so little material wealth.

[1]: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Do-You-Need-to-File-a-Federal...

He says that he has earnt less than $1000 per year. Later on he says his monthly rent is $1300 per month.

I'm not sure how to resolve that.

That's a good point, I took it to mean that he's been slowly draining savings and his 401k.

Distributions from his 401K would count as income and he would receive a 1099 to file and report.

What doesn't make sense to me is that if he's as poor as he claims, he may actually qualify for a lot of assistance in the form of earned income tax credit, food stamps, section 8 housing eligibility, etc.

I'm not qualified to judge his past behavior or what not but by looking at his bank statement, he doesn't seem to be spending his money wisely. I live a few blocks from him so I recognize those places. Rotten Robbies is a gas station which usually means overpriced groceries and sundries.

If he has the ability to work, he could invest the rest of his money into renting a car and then driving for Uber or Lyft. Uber is guaranteeing $40+ per hour for 6 months which is a hell of a lot more than you make as a dishwasher. The only consideration is if he can keep a 4.9+ rating out of 5.0 which seems like a stretch from someone who may be having problems.

If you "buy" one of his tutorial I don't think you will get in trouble. Just don't donate or send him a check if you worry about IRS coming after you.

> he's actively asking people to send money to him in a way that skirts the lien the irs has filed against him. if the irs notices this and gets pissed, it absolutely puts his 'helpers' in harm's way.

I'm not sure that's actually true. Is it? If you donate money[1] or buy something from him, you're giving him property; whether he is properly reporting that property and paying any necessary tax on that is his issue -- he's not asking you to enter into a conspiracy to hide anything.

At the very least, he could use cash donations to pay off whatever lien is against him. And according to [1] below, the recipient of the donation isn't the one paying taxes on the donation amount.

[1] The gift tax doesn't apply for amounts under $14k or so per year, according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_tax_in_the_United_States

He spent decades trolling everyone and everything on Usenet and mailing lists. He had it coming.

Some more info? Didn't catch that.

I hope that the world will have more mercy on you than you give. Xah has been a pain in the ass for a lot of people, but I do not wish anyone to be left without healthcare or homeless, regardless of what they have done. Even criminals get locked up and fed.

Opinions like yours simply have no place anywhere.

What are you doing to help him?

Really dude? Had it coming? Spend next Sunday in church. I think his unemployment might have to do more with his age? I know to many unemployed programmers over 45 years of age. Two are literally homeless. Time goes by quick--just when you think you will always be in demand; you get that Friday meeting. You just might feel this guys agony in a few years, but you sound like a spolied brat--who's family will always be there to pay the rent.

According to his blog, the age wasn't a factor:

"why i didn't seek job all these years? well, i can only say i procrastinate and is ok living on a dime."

An eye for an eye, a pain-in-the-ass for a similar ass pain. "He had it coming" seems a punishment far out of balance for "making me mad on the internet".

He made a lot of people mad on the internet, enough that nobody is willing to hire him.

Well, I just bought his Emacs tutorial to help him.

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