Pushover Taxman? Congress to Consider if IRS Is Too Lax

[salin]

Pushover Taxman?
Congress to Consider if IRS Is Too Lax

By John Cochran

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 4 — When Congress returns to work this month, it will take a close and critical look at the Internal Revenue Service

Congress is concerned by a new report that indicates tax evaders no longer fear the IRS. The result is billions of dollars are lost to the U.S. treasury — billions that put more of a burden on honest people who do pay their taxes.

Congressional investigators report 400,000 people are using tax evasion schemes, such as hiding revenue in offshore banks, often on pleasant islands in the Caribbean. That's three times more than the IRS reported to Congress just a few months ago.

(snip)

A little history is in order. Back in 1997 conservatives rejoiced when Congress held a series of hearings detailing outrages by overly zealous IRS agents.

(snip)

Congress, shocked by the growing number of tax evaders, now says it wants the IRS to get tough again. But Congress cut this year's IRS budget request, making it harder to collect $40 billion from tax cheats.

More: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/Politics/tax_cheats_040104.html

[mhr]

1. Ah, Republicans - As Fickle As The Wind

eom

[forgethell]

2. The IRS is

the nearest thing to a Nazi organization that the USA has. Democratic or Republican, it goes on with its chosen task of destroying people's lives and confiscating their property.

Pull their teeth, abolish the IRS and install a fair, and non-invasive, system of taxation!!!

[area51]

3. IRS

The IRS is also going to be crying come April when they see how many people are unemployed now & are no longer paying taxes. Typical republinazi thinking, calculating only ten seconds into the future, to let companies offshore job; thus that potential tax $ is now going overseas.

[54anickel]

4. They are going after the little guy......

I had posted 3 articles that showed up together in google one day last week in the SMW thread.

Here's the one saying they are targeting earned income credit. I mean heck that's worth a whole $4,204!

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/7590146.htm
IRS targets earned-income fraud; critics crying foul

The Internal Revenue Service is cracking down on rampant fraud stemming from the earned-income tax credit, triggering complaints that the agency is unfairly forcing low-income taxpayers to undergo an audit before even evaluating their tax returns.

Worth up to $4,204, the earned-income credit is often described as a social welfare program that lifts millions of people above the poverty line. It is one of few ``refundable'' credits, meaning that the government will cut a check even if the taxpayer owes no income tax.

As part of a pilot program, the IRS is notifying 25,000 parents or guardians this month that they will not qualify for the credit unless they provide documents showing the address of any children claimed as dependents. In the past, the IRS has required such proof only when it audits suspect returns.

Then there's this one:
http://accounting.smartpros.com/x41945.xml
IRS Speeds Corporate Tax Audits

Dec. 30, 2003 (washingtonpost.com) — The Internal Revenue Service is fundamentally shifting its approach to auditing business tax returns, hoping to rapidly expand the number of businesses it audits by shrinking the time and scope of many of those tax examinations.

And this one:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/29/business/29tax.html?ex=1073278800&en=4e6b149f25b62a4d&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
I.R.S. Unit Will Focus on Lawyers and Accountants

The Internal Revenue Service will announce this morning that it is going to focus on misconduct by lawyers and accountants who represent wealthy individuals and corporations. The I.R.S. commissioner, Mark W. Everson, said auditors would be instructed to develop cases that impose penalties on taxpayers.

The move is intended to shut down the lucrative trade in opinion letters, which taxpayers buy in the expectation that they can get penalties waived if their strategy is disallowed.


Here's one we can only hope for (2 dozen doesn't cut it):
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2326647
IRS is taking a hard look at executives' pay

Spurred by a congressional investigation into executive compensation at Enron Corp., federal tax authorities have for months been quietly scrutinizing the salaries and fringe benefits of top officers at other big companies.

Two dozen such audits are under way, said Keith Jones, director of field specialists at the Internal Revenue Service, and more are planned.

"In the past five years, compensation has grown in complexity, creativity and dollar value," Jones said. "Our issue is not with how much executives are paid. Our issue is whether the rules are being followed and the proper amount of tax is being paid."