Firenze Sage: $65 million dollar paper weight [IRS fine for stuffed bald eagle]

Relinquish carcass of the bald eagle [part of Canyon art wok by Rauschenberg] to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unless prove bird was taken from wild prior to 1940. Won’t turn over carcass? Then pay $65 MILLON fine to the IRS.

Under the terms of the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the 1918 Migratory Bird Act, it is a felony to “possess, sell, purchase, barter, transport, import or export any bald eagle — alive or dead.” Because the art work Canyon by Robert Rauschenberg included the carcass of a bald eagle that could not be sold, he estate, advised by three experts, valued the work at zero.

The  Art Advisory Panel to the IRS at first decided that Canyon was worth $15 million. When the Estate refused to pay the Advisory Board  then raised the value to $65 million. 

The IRS  demands $29.2 million in taxes and $11 million in penalties because the heirs “inaccurately” stated its value. http://www.akdart.com/abuse.html

The IRS has an “Art Advisory Panel,” that provides expert advice on the value of art works involved in estates. It was the panel that decided it was worth $65 million. Stephanie Barron, a member of the panel and an art curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said that, “Itâ€s a stunning work of art and we all just cringed at the idea of saying that this had zero value. It just didnâ€t make any sense.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2012/07/24/canyon-controversy-blame-the-advisers-not-the-irs/
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If your husband could be sold, he’d be worth a price beyond rubies. So IRS will now tax you for possessing this masterpiece while knowing that the slave trade is illegal.
JAJ48@aol.com