Finally, a ethical power for enrichment

Last year we had a giant thread about 'what power you would pick if you could have just one' (ie. no Sylar/Peter) and while I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO START THAT GENERAL THREAD AGAIN, one of the things I noticed was that very few of the powers could do a lot for you if you wanted to both keep them secret and be ethical about their use. That's why I picked Claire's power as #1 (assuming, I think correctly, that like Adam's, it provides immortality.)

Most people picked Flying

How does he thwart the IRS? Ethically, that is.

If he says 'I have a gold mine' to explain where it's coming from, they'll hit him up for a capital gains tax like they did that poor kid who caught Barry Bonds' record ball.

If he has no explanation, what does he do?

He has to set up some way of laundering the money, even if he sells only to unorganized pawnshops. That, or just pay everything in cash and hope no one notices. But what can you do nowadays using just cash?

And even more money, fairly, with that super-bod.

It's not capital gains unless you sell something you've been using for business. If he were really making money from a gold mine, he'd be paying regular income taxes on it, not capital gains taxes. They wouldn't want him to pay capital gains tax on it anyway. Income taxes are generally higher.

Buy a played out gold mine and use it for cover.

Actually, I think he would be noticed selling the gold, especially if he's selling enough to live on. There has to be some sort of cover story.

That's like saying Shaq's big butt gives him an unfair advantage over other players. If your power is a natural human evolution, it would be fair to use it in sports. Unless of course the rules are changed, for example, no stopping time...

Ted could help the energy crisis by becoming the core of a functioning atomic power plant <G>

I think if Hiro were to sell someone an Action Comics #1 or a sheet of Graf Zeppelin stamps, they'd actually be getting what they're paying for. It's not as if it's fake, he just went back in time and got one.

I think the idea is that the players are supposed to be close enough that effort and training can have some effect on the results. If one person can run around a baseball diamond because he can stop time, it won't.

Whatever they name the taxes, they do try to extract them anytime you become a possessor of something with value (striking oil, finding Spanish treasure, catching a HR ball).

Yeah, I just realized I wasn't thinking it through

Oh, you better believe it. People go to jail for not paying taxes. That's probably true in every country on the planet.

If he's selling the stuff, he doesn't need to conjure up the money. He just needs to set a portion of it aside to pay the taxes. His real problem will be explaining why he doesn't have the accompanying expenses for the gold mine.

I bought a car using just cash. The salesman seemed strangely eager to make that deal.

Ever piece of gold that he makes devalues all the other gold in the world. He's stealing from everyone else in the world who has invested in gold.

If he just went back, grabbed the comics and stamps, and brought them forward again, he would be arrested for trying to sell fakes, since the paper wouldn't have aged properly. He'd have to stash them somewhere in the past, that he knew they'd be safe, and that that he could go back to to recover them in the present.