Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Julio Gonzalez, CEO and founder of Engineered Tax Services to the newsmakers line to discuss his company’s assistance to small businesses and the tax charges facing the Trump organization in New York.
Leahy: We are joined on a newsmaker line by a very interesting guy, Julio Gonzalez, who is the founder of Engineered Tax Services and also is an expert on all of these efforts by New York attorney general and Manhattan district attorney to kind of cook up a case against Donald Trump and his affiliates. Good morning, Julio. Thanks for joining us.
Gonzalez: Good morning! Thanks for having me.
Leahy: So, a national tax reform expert. About your bio, very interesting. You founded the Gonzalez Family Office. Typically, a family office manages wealth created by a family.
Did you create the wealth, or was it your dad or somebody else in your family that created that wealth?
Gonzalez: Yeah. I created the wealth. The first generation. My family escaped Cuba in ’58 and came here and gave me the opportunity to prosper in this great country.
Leahy: Wow! And how did you create that wealth?
Gonzalez: Today I have the largest tax credit firm in the country. We work with about 12,000 accounting firms, CPA firms, to make sure that their small business owners, their clients, get all the tax credits that all the big corporations and the Big Tech companies enjoy every day.
Leahy: So your clients are thousands of CPA firms, and you tell them how their clients can understand how to create and work the tax system properly.
Gonzalez: That’s what we try to do. Absolutely. We want to preserve all their clients’ wealth so they can continue to prosper and grow jobs and grow the economy.
Leahy: Well, what a great idea. How did you come up with this idea?
Gonzalez: I was doing that in the ’80s and ’90s for the big accounting world, and we were working with public companies.
And I realized that if you’re a smaller CPA, smaller accounting firm, you’re just not going to have those resources and that technical knowledge to help your small business clients.
So that’s what we did to try to start in 2001 being a resource to the accounting community to make sure that when their clients are investing in their businesses, that they get rewards.
Leahy: Man, I love your services. You have an office here in Nashville as well?
Gonzalez: We do. I was just in your town last week.
Leahy: Why didn’t you give me a call? We could have gone to lunch!
Gonzalez: (Chuckles) I had so much fun meeting with all the great people there in Nashville.
Leahy: That’s great. That’s fantastic. Did you get a CPA? Did you go to the University of Florida? Where did you go to college?
Gonzalez: Actually, I went to the University of Colorado, and got my degrees in accounting. And we now have over 800 employees nationwide that are working with our accounting firms and their small businesses.
Leahy: Where are you based?
Gonzalez: We’re based in Palm Beach, Florida.
Leahy: Oh, Yeah. I got to go visit you.
Gonzalez: Come visit. We’ll bring you over to Mara Lago.
Leahy: I will! It sounds like a lot of fun. I look at these trumped-up, excuse the pun there, trumped-up charges against the CFO of the Trump Organization brought by the attorney general of New York and the district attorney there.
And I’m saying this seems like a mundane tax matter. They’re saying, well, they should have declared fringe benefits income. Doesn’t it usually work where they send a letter off to the accountant and the accountant says, “oh, well, maybe we should, maybe we shouldn’t. Here’s our case.” Is that how it usually works?
Gonzalez: That’s exactly right. How it always works is that the New York State Tax Department would review these returns.
They’re constantly on audit with the Trump Organization. And if they had any issue and they felt it was criminal, they would bring in the attorney general, and the attorney general would review it.
But this is not the case, right? It didn’t go from the department of tax over to the attorney general. The attorney general went and got these tax returns and then brought together a grand jury of nine people that know nothing about tax.
And they basically said, based on the facts of the attorney general, we have a crime. This never happens in my world.
Leahy: In my world as my friend Glenn Reynolds, the professor of constitutional law at the University of Tennessee, and also Instapundit.
Instapundit.com. He calls it basically a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if the information was brought by the district attorney.
That’s the case here. Do we live in a nation of laws, or do we live in a nation of left-wing ideologues who want to go after people they oppose politically?
Gonzalez: If you’re waking up in New York this week, it’s certainly the latter. I can’t imagine being a business owner or a CPA firm or an accounting firm in New York and think that everything I do now, even if it’s in sync with the law, could be scrutinized by the attorney general and could be put in front of a grand jury.
And we have the ham sandwich that’s convicted. I don’t know how you even do business there anymore.
Leahy: Let me tell you something. We’ve got here in Tennessee, we’ve got a company, The Star News Network, that I’m the CEO of.
We have news sites in eight states. Tennessee, The Tennessee Star and in Florida, The Florida Capital Star, and six other states. Now we were looking at maybe doing something in New York.
I’m never going into New York. I’m originally from Upstate New York. Why would I go up and open a business in New York when I know the left-wing ideologue attorney general is immediately going to open an investigation of me or anybody else who’s a conservative there?
Gonzalez: Exactly right. I’m sure when you grew up there, it was wonderful to be in New York. But look, I mean, now they have the highest tax rates.
They’re taxing everything. They’re coming up with new tax laws. And now the attorney general basically oversees the tax community.
And we see with this Trump Organization what I think is a prelude to something much bigger and that they’re going to do this to all the big corporations there.
And it’s not a good precedent. And I think that ultimately, it’s going to be very problematic.
And I got to think that there’s a lot of companies like yours that are like, “we want to be in New York. We’re looking at this. We’re looking at the high tax rates but we can’t.”
And by the way, and your state has been the big benefactor of what’s going on in New York because a lot of great companies have moved to Nashville and move down here to South Florida because they just can’t take the politics in New York anymore.
Leahy: Julio Gonzalez, the head of Engineered Tax Services, thanks for joining. On the web at juliogonzalez.com. Thanks so much for joining us. Come back again, if you would please.
Gonzalez: My pleasure. Thank you.
Listen to the full first hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Julio Gonzalez” by Engineered Tax Services, Inc.
Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the Tennessee Star National Correspondent Neil McCabe to the newsmakers line to discuss where the irresponsible Democratic spending stands on both infrastructure and tax bills and the upcoming red wave of 2022.
Leahy: We are joined now on our newsmaker line by our Washington Correspondent for the Star News Network, Neil McCabe. Good morning, Neil.
McCabe: Michael, very good to be with you, sir.
Leahy: Is there anything in the Democratic dictionary when you go look up infrastructure, is there anything that’s not included in that definition?
McCabe: Yes. Highways, roads, and bridges. (Laughter)
Carmichael: Now that’s funny.
Leahy: That is very good.
Carmichael: Very quick. (Laughter)
Leahy: You just made our day here, Neil. (Laughs) So, Neil, let me ask you this.
McCabe: This is why you bring me on board here. I’m good at my job. This is my function. I deliver the mail.
Leahy: So where is that boondoggle? How many trillion dollars is this infrastructure bill that’s basically a bunch of Democratic slush fund monies for liberal groups. Where does that stand now?
McCabe: I think it’s in really big trouble right now because three big reasons. Number one, the Republican moderates, especially those 10 moderate senators who are going to the White House and meeting with the President they have now come forward and say we’re sick of being used. The president uses us as props, and we were embarrassed and we’ve had no input. And we’re tired of being props. And that took two months.
So that didn’t take long for these guys to figure that out. The second problem is that they’re running out of runway on their calendar. Remember, the Biden administration went with the soft opening. They haven’t had a joint address to Congress yet. Now comes word that Nancy Pelosi the Speaker has invited Biden to speak to a joint session of Congress on April 28. We talked a while ago when I said the earliest it was going to be like this week.
So I wasn’t that far off. The problem is after July 4 nothing gets done until people get back from Labor Day. And then you’ve got the budget crisis because it’s the end of the fiscal year. They don’t have the runway to get done what they needed to do. And one of your clues about that is that at the press conference, Biden said that he was going to put forward his gun legislation after he got infrastructure done because he wanted to do everything at the right time.
And he wanted to schedule everything. He said that the part of presidential leadership is doing everything step by step. And then they panicked and then released their gun agenda and infrastructure isn’t in the bank yet. The third thing that’s going to really hurt that infrastructure bill is the fact that people in Washington are now very much aware that there is severe inflation on the horizon. We’re seeing it in home prices.
We’re seeing it in commodity prices. We’re seeing it in gas prices. There is price inflation. A lot of this rise in the stock market is not attributed to increases in productivity, innovation or future earnings it’s just sheer inflation. And one of the problems that you’re going to run into is that the more you spend like crazy, you’re going to continue to feed that inflation with that big COVID bill that they pushed through.
There was an argument that Trump’s government spending was responsible for that inflation. When Biden pushed through that COVID bill and then now talking about this infrastructure bill and his other spending bill, he is going to own the inflation that is going to come from all of this spending.
Carmichael: Neil, add to that their proposed tax bill, which essentially when you get to the fundamental understanding of the way the Democrats are thinking is they want to spend trillions of dollars from Washington, and they want to suck trillions of dollars from the private sector. So they’re essentially becoming for lack of a better term a kind of a fascist of government where Washington is in league with certain industries in the private sector. And I think the tax bill is also in tremendous trouble. And it should be. What do you think about that?
McCabe: What’s going to kill the tax bill is that everyone knows that there’s a red wave coming. Everyone knows that the polls severely undercounted or underrepresented the strength of Trump, especially with the irregular voters. And they’re sort of the unlikely voters who all showed up. So people are very scared of what Trump is going to be able to do.
Leahy: You mean Biden.
McCabe: I mean, Trump is going to be able to deliver.
Leahy: In the 2022 midterm. Thanks.
McCabe: Everyone everyone knows that Trump is out there. He’s not being treated like an ex-President. Believe me, I’m old enough to remember. Nobody was afraid of ex-President Jimmy Carter. No one was afraid of ex-President George H.W. Bush. Nobody was impeaching George H.W. Bush because they were afraid he was going to run again. Okay, that was clear very quickly. He was never running again. But Trump is active and he is there.
And the Democrats know they have one shot at smash and grab. The problem is if they do a smash and grab tax bill, the thing they have to fix is the limit on the deductibility of property taxes in these states, especially in the Northeast, where the property in California, where the property taxes are so high and that’s capped, I think the cap is what $10,000 from the 2017 tax bill? And that is really hurting the Democratic machines in New Jersey and New York and Massachusetts and Connecticut.
And people, can’t deduct their property taxes anymore. So what you have is what was happening before is the rest of the country was subsidizing the high taxes in the Northeast and these blue states, and they’re desperate to fix that. No Democrat in Colorado or Arizona or New Mexico or Missouri is going to defend cutting the taxes of rich people in New York.
Leahy: Last question for you, Neil from Crom.
Carmichael: I think Neil hit it right on the head on that because that’s called the salt. The state and local taxes. And they’re only about six states that get pounded by state and local taxes. But that’s because the Democrats in those states tax their citizens at such high rates, and especially the rich. And so I’m with you.
They’re not going to be the Democrat senators from the states with relatively low taxes. If they do vote to repeal taxes, give billionaires in high tax states tax breaks then they’ll be facing a rough midterm. Do you know how the Republicans are doing in recruiting candidates for the House and Senate?
McCabe: This is going to be a great recruiting year for Senate races and House races for the Republicans going into these midterms. And remember that with Trump, he wasn’t personally popular, but his policies were. Biden is personally popular, but his program and agenda are not. And if the Republicans focus on the agenda, they will crush the Democrats.
Listen to the third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Craig Huey of The Huey Report and California Refugee in studio to discuss some of the specifics of why he left California and what might be done to help acclimate new Tennesseans on local government and processes.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by our favorite, California Refugee, Craig Huey. Good morning, Craig.
Huey: Good morning. It’s great to be here.
Leahy: You know, I say that you’re our favorite California Refugee. I think there are a lot of people here probably listening say I want to be your favorite California Refugee. (Laughter)
Huey: Yes. There are just so many it’s just a flood of people coming in.
Leahy: This is a fun program for me to talk about this and how Nashville and Middle Tennessee are in the process of being transformed by the migration of people of various political ideologies but led by conservatives. But there’s also a mix of moderates and liberals from California, Illinois, and New York coming into town.
The real estate markets going to be booming here for years to come as long as we are a state with no state income tax because that’s in our state constitution. And as long as we don’t get taken over by these left-wing lunatics, who all do their propaganda promoters and they’re all over the place are funded by all these left-wing nonprofits. I want to go back to you Craig. And by the way, if you’re if you’re listening and you want to weigh in and you’re and you’re listening on the iHeart Radio App out in California, and you’re looking for a lifeline and you’re looking for a place to land call us at 615- 737-9522.
Or if your recent California arrival here, or if you’ve been surrounded by California rivals. Talk to us. So you have so much information about California and the thinking process. You’re going to explain a little bit about that and what your experience is with people in California and their thought process about the escape to Tennessee and other places.
Huey: Absolutely. It’s such a failed state it California.
Leahy: California.
Huey: California is a failed State and I spoke probably the 25 different groups before March of 2020. Between January and March.
Leahy: Your move here comes in June of 2020 right?
Huey: I shut down the California operation in May. And moved here in June.
Leahy: Okay, great. So this was before your big Move?
Huey: Before the big move.
Leahy: Had you made the decision to move?
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Ah, okay. So you’re in California?
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: January to March of 2020 and you speak to 25 groups. What do you say how do they respond?
Huey: So I ask this one question at the beginning of almost every talk. How many of you are thinking of leaving California? Literally, Michael 90 percent of the people raise their hands. Then I would ask them how many of you know somebody who has moved out of California? Literally, 100 percent of the people raise their hands. The thing that holds them back is fear, lack of knowledge, and family ties in the area.
Leahy: Family ties is one I hear often. And you think about it. Let’s say you’ve got children or parents.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Are you going to abandon them to the travails of living in California.
Huey: Exactly. It’s very painful. Some of the employees when I gave them the option to move to Nashville. I sent everybody out to Nashville take a look.
Leahy: So all of your employees yet how many what 30.
Huey: About 25.
Leahy: 25 employees. So I went by and had a talk with our friends at the daily wire last. They’ve moved from California. I went by their offices. They love it here, but they had a similar experience. So you have your 25 employees and you sent them here to look around. How do they respond?
Huey: So they love it out here, but it’s the family who are the ones who didn’t want to leave.
Leahy: It was the family that was the reason and so for those that don’t come who don’t come they have family, but they want to leave then it’s very difficult to figure that out isn’t it.
Huey: Yeah. Well here’s the thing Michael. In California you’ve got an income tax that’s 12.5 going up to 13.5 going up to 16.
Leahy: It’s going up to 16 percent?
Huey: 16. That’s where it’s headed.
Leahy: Oh my goodness.
Huey: Exactly. Gasoline, because the taxes and regulations are an extra dollar fifty a gallon. You’ve got my wife when she got our electric and water bill, she called the water here in Tennessee.
Leahy: Here in Tennessee?
Huey: In Tennessee. She called saying you made a mistake. You didn’t charge me enough because it was so cheap. (Leahy laughs) We have saved it an incredible amount and I better employees less cost. and I gotta tell you when business owners discover what they can do they’ll want to come to Tennessee. when people understand the quality of life. And in my community where I live in Williamson County, most of the people are from out of state. And those who are out of state most of them are from California. business owners and people who have moved to flee the regulations and the fear that’s in California.
Leahy: Well a business owner, we want to bring a business owner in here don’t we?
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Because they’re more likely to think like us.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: If they’re a business owner.
Huey: They’re conservative. Yes.
Leahy: Now in contrast an executive at a Fortune 500 company is probably not going to think like us.
Huey: Yeah, so I know it’s a worry and it’s got to be a worry and it’s a legitimate worry. Honestly, the people that I talk to and have not found that there is a collectivist status liberal type of mentality coming. I have seen the consistency of people have different shades of wanting to vote conservative. Not vote for any type of socialist program. So I know the worry. I haven’t seen it.
But it is something where I think it’s to the benefit of Tennessee to bring in the right people. And you can do that. If you’re a real estate agent, there are people who are marketing homes and communities just in California. And they get a Facebook ad so anybody that searching for leaving California. Or searching for something in Texas an ad can pop up for Tennessee. So we’re going to have to add introduce you to Rumble too and Clout Hub and all those alternatives so we can use those as well.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: So let me ask you this. Instaundit.com. Glenn Reynolds. Great guy professor of constitutional law at the University of Tennessee. He had this concept that we ought to have a Welcome Wagon package for folks. So having arrived here what kind of a Welcome Wagon set of information would you find you have found helpful?
Huey: I would have found helpful how to be able to get its things as simple as changing the registration of my car. Because we’ve been down there for five times finding out that there are all kinds of restrictions. I would have found it helpful of who my representatives are. I would have found it helpful how the legislature is has changed from California.
Leahy: And so when you say change from California, give us some more details on that.
Huey: Sure. So in California, we have the city council and we have County Supervisors. We have assemblymen and state senators. And then of course all the bureaucrats.
Leahy: There is a lot of them.
Huey: A lot of beurecrats. We just do not know Tennessee governance and how it operates. We looked at Williamson County and and and and a Davidson County figuring out who are all these people?
Leahy: What do they do.
Huey: Yes. What are they doing?
Leahy: Maybe what we ought to do is have a little introductory program and how your local county government works. How your local city government works. And if you’re in a city, how the state legislature works. And how the Tennessee state bureaucracy works or doesn’t work.
Huey: Probably doesn’t work.
Leahy: Have you been able to do the change in registration for your car yet? Have you succeeded?
Huey: We have not.
Leahy: Why is that?
Huey: My wife is my wife went down during the pandemic to try to get it changed and she couldn’t get the appointment. Then she goes down. It’s an hour wait and she finds out it’s not the DMV. She has to go to a different location.
Leahy: She has to go to the county?
Huey: She goes to the county to another building and it’s an hour wait line and she can’t do it. She comes back another time can’t do it. She comes in line and she finds out that the dealer has to have a letter agreeing to the change of registration and it’s not on the website. She never was told this. After waiting in line she has to go back and we have to deal with the dealership. So we’re still working on it.
Leahy: Well, I’ve been to Williamson County Clerk. They actually have been pretty good but it sounds like they need to improve their game a little bit. Williamson County Clerk, I think it’s Elaine Anderson. She’s been there for a long time. Ms. Anderson, you might want to call us and help out Craig here.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
