From the
Santa Fe New Mexican.com - Commentary - Amid heated huddles over our nation's debt limit, and the obvious need to raise it this month before governmental credit and credibility go out the window, only now is the American public getting a hint of the pirate's chest lying there for the taking: Uncollected taxes — worth even more than the $400 billion congressional Democrats are demanding in tax increases. Between the complexities of our economy and the near-indecipherability of federal revenue laws, sharp accountants and tax attorneys can give their clients a subtle message: The odds of getting caught mingling personal and business income are long. The Obama administration wants a billion-dollar boost for IRS in the coming fiscal year, to bring 5,000 new agents on board. But Republicans dominating the House of Representatives and wielding filibuster power in the Senate are so anti-tax that they're declaring, in effect, more power to tax dodgers the bigger, the better. It's a classic case of politicians taking care of their friends. Americans who aren't pals with the pols, or who are honest and believe it is their duty to support their country, meanwhile, cough up extra money to cover those hundreds of billions of dollars that thieves — or, to be kind, call them mistake-makers — are getting away with. Wage earners and salaried workers pay 99 percent of their taxes; they can hardly avoid it, since taxes are withheld from their paychecks and their income is reported to the feds. But, says Pugh's Brookings source, those earning business income misreport more than half their actual income in the process of reporting deductions, credits and exemptions to which they're not entitled. In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, businesspeople said some of their colleagues underreport income partly because the tax code's too complicated, and partly because the system is unfair. But it's not unfair to fudge? Mildly put, that's a fine how-d'ya-do.
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Santa Fe New Mexican: Help feds pursue tax dodgers
From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - Commentary - Amid heated huddles over our nation's debt limit, and the obvious need to raise it this month before governmental credit and credibility go out the window, only now is the American public getting a hint of the pirate's chest lying there for the taking: Uncollected taxes — worth even more than the $400 billion congressional Democrats are demanding in tax increases. Between the complexities of our economy and the near-indecipherability of federal revenue laws, sharp accountants and tax attorneys can give their clients a subtle message: The odds of getting caught mingling personal and business income are long. The Obama administration wants a billion-dollar boost for IRS in the coming fiscal year, to bring 5,000 new agents on board. But Republicans dominating the House of Representatives and wielding filibuster power in the Senate are so anti-tax that they're declaring, in effect, more power to tax dodgers the bigger, the better. It's a classic case of politicians taking care of their friends. Americans who aren't pals with the pols, or who are honest and believe it is their duty to support their country, meanwhile, cough up extra money to cover those hundreds of billions of dollars that thieves — or, to be kind, call them mistake-makers — are getting away with. Wage earners and salaried workers pay 99 percent of their taxes; they can hardly avoid it, since taxes are withheld from their paychecks and their income is reported to the feds. But, says Pugh's Brookings source, those earning business income misreport more than half their actual income in the process of reporting deductions, credits and exemptions to which they're not entitled. In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, businesspeople said some of their colleagues underreport income partly because the tax code's too complicated, and partly because the system is unfair. But it's not unfair to fudge? Mildly put, that's a fine how-d'ya-do. Read more
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2 comments:
Lets start with the presidents cabinet.
Why? Many of Obama's appointees are THE tax dodgers. Crooks to be sure. Birds of a feather flock together.
So pursue those tax cheats. However, one must recognize that the tax system is unconstitutional. Oh not in the way some people think. The tax system must comply with the 5th Amendment. In that amendment the government is required to provide just compensation when private property is taken for public use. Taxes are private property taken for public use and the government must provide just compensation when taking the funds. If the tax rate varies by income or any other method, the government must prove that the compensation received by the taxee is just. So when we have one person paying nothing and another paying tens of thousands and both receiving the same protections, there is a question of the justness of the compensation.
Congress is to blame for the problem, first by instituting complex taxation schemes and then by adding a myriad of special interest exemptions. As always, when government gets involved things get fouled up.
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