"and the entertainment bill was huge"

Is that how it works though, 'even' in the US (where in my understanding there are a lot more options for deductions than in the European tax systems I have experience with)? Can you just deduct any expense that you can somehow however far fetched are connected to your investments? Usually once you start looking into the details, it turns out that it's not so outlandish as people (in the camp of the Pro Repulica piece, i.e. the 'tax others more' crowd) try to make it seem.