#this person can pay out up to 15k without oversight

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

On the one hand, they mean well.

On the other, we are drowning in work and a coworker just burst in to ask if I knew there are HORMONES in soft plastics.

They were genuinely surprised not only that I "knew" about BPA, but actively took steps to minimize plastic in my life, could rattle off plastic recycling rates for two different countries, several popular brands that worked with recycled, tainted, but safe packaging, plastic processing safety processes and how to maximize the chances of my plastic printing waste being recycled with as little degradation as possible.

This person also assumes the county is pumping strange compounds ("HORMONES") into the drinking water that shed green crystals when boiled, rather than that they urgently need to replace their electric kettle

I'm now tempted to ask them to describe what a hormone is. It was on my 8th grade bio exam, 20 years ago. Has to be common knowledge, surely.

[celticcrossanon]

“would they be shocking, or would they be considered ‘standard (if shady) American business practise’”

(American here) It depends on how you look at it. There are 3 ways Meghan’s finances, including Archewell, could be considered shady or troublesome. I’ll try to keep it short as I’m not a financial expert and don’t know the specifics of Meghan’s issues.

Issue #1: her charities and corporations, including Archewell if I am not mistaken, are registered and incorporated in the state of Delaware. Delaware has some of the loosest laws, allowing the most flexibility lies, so tons of people register their charities in Delaware. Delaware requires only one director per nonprofit (most require around 3) and there are very few regulatory statutes (for instance few meeting requirements, no approval for real estate transactions, and the attorney general doesn’t review corporate transactions). Meaning that with her nonprofits registered and incorporated in Delaware, Meghan can pretty much do whatever she wants, within law, as there is very little oversight.

Issue #2: Taxes - this one had multiple parts. The US government loves taxes and will always come collecting what it is due. And here, the tax laws are some of the most powerful and most stringent laws we have on the books. Case in point: the US govt was able to bring the mob bosses down, including Al Capone, not because of violent crimes but because of taxes. So please trust me when I say the US govt will get their due when it comes to taxes.

Part A: Meghan had a few tax issues with the IRS in the past (I don’t know the specifics, sorry - either bankruptcy or she was late filing). She is a famous person who is always in the news. And not only is she in the news, but so are all of her deals and how much money she is purportedly earning. The IRS will be paying attention to make sure they get their part of these deals.

Part B: Harry - a member of the British royal family who at one time was receiving funds from said royal family to support their lifestyle - lives in the US. He and Meghan will have to report any wealth earned or given to them over a certain amount to the IRS. I think it’s $15K. Meaning any money Charles has given them probably has to be declared, especially if any was given to Meghan. The BRF is notoriously very private about the true extent of their wealth and holdings. It is thought that because Meghan, an American, married into the family and now lives with Harry in the US, the IRS and the US govt are going to use Meghan’s taxes to understand the real BRF wealth and finances, which could blow the lid wide open on the BRF’s own financial dealings. (The law has recently changed such that the IRS is no longer able to provide tax filings or records to third parties without the owner’s consent so there is some safety there. Not even FOIA can get around this new law, I don’t think.) (And because of this I think Charles set up some kind of trust fund for Harry to draw from to get around the gift taxes and Meghan doesn’t get a single penny of it.)

Part C (and this one is important for Issue #3 below) in the US, nonprofit organizations are exempt from paying federal taxes. So as a nonprofit incorporated in Delaware, Archewell doesn’t pay any federal taxes so pretty much much any money that is donated to Archewell isn’t really “tracked” for tax purposes. And in the US, charity donations can be used as tax deductions. So if Meghan or one of her friends made a big donation to Archewell, not only does Archewell not have to report it, the donor gets to deduct it from their taxes (which lowers the amount they owe the govt and increases their return/payout from the govt if they are found to have overpaid through their salary deductions - I can only make small personal donations like $100 at a time so I don’t know what the rules are for big donations or corporate donations are.)

Issue #3: in the US, the minimum a nonprofit is mandated and required to give to charity is 5% of any money fundraised or earned. The nonprofit can keep the remaining 95% for themselves, usually as “administrative overhead.” Meaning that if Archewell received a donation of $100,000 then Meghan is only required to give $5,000 of that money away to another charity or to the community that Archewell supports and she can put the remaining $95,500 in her pocket as her salary for being Archewell’s executive director. Archewell doesn’t have to report that donation but Meghan does have to report that salary. So to avoid that, she could get an expense/corporate account for Archewell and charge her personal costs to that corporate account as “administrative overhead” (THAT IS SPECULATION ONLY). That is how some people, including celebrities, have been caught and charged with fraud.

Again, I’m not an expert on taxes, nonprofits, or other financial matters so please take what i have written with a grain of salt. This is only what i know from reading the major newspapers and being involved in charity fundraising drives.

Thank you so much for typing this all out and sending it in. I don’t know how you got around the character limit on the ask box, but thank you!

<3 <3 <3