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The Improved Tax Man
19 11 04  24  17
-------- Collecting More Through Enforcement
This morning the IRS (Internal Revenue Service – The Tax Man
in the USA) informed that they collected record money from tax evaders,
particularly large business and high-income people.
While some people are in favor of more taxes, I am in favor
of more enforcement. It is the kind of
budget balancing action that doesn’t require extra legislation.
Audits to large corporations increased 34%, and audits to
high-income people increased 40%.
Criminal investigations increased 20%.
Enforcement revenue climbed 15% to $43.1 Billion. That is about 10% of the projected US
deficit of $477 billion. Give them more
resources, and they may be able to help a bit more with our deficit.
Why I am in favor of more tax evasion enforcement?
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White-collar vs. blue-collar criminal disparity – The
majority of jail inmates are there because of crimes committed to individuals
(armed robbery, murder, theft, drug distribution, etc.). However, crimes committed to broad number of
people are less enforced (tax evasion, inside stock trading, fraud,
massive/high-level drug traffic, etc.).
Even when enforced, they carry shorter sentences. I do not want to reduce violent crime enforcement;
I just want to increase white-collar crime enforcement and sentencing.
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Recover lost revenue – We need to reduce the national
deficit. That public debt has to be
paid some day. I do not want to pay it
overnight (that would destroy the bond market), but I want to eventually pay it
off – say in 30 years, just like a house mortgage. At a minimum, I want it to keep steady.
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Moral values – If we don’t respect government by performing
our duties, including paying taxes, we can’t expect other people to respect our
rights.
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Defuses the big-corporation/fat-cat abuse misconception –
Some people think that big corporations or high-income people automatically and
always abuse the system. That is not
true. Just a few cases abuse the system
and create a bad image for the rest.
Most corporations operate on a very tight margin of less than 10%. Most high-income people pay a lot of taxes (about
2% of the nation pays most of the personal income tax dollars collected any
way).
Lets enforce our laws. Lets get this society back in track!
For more information, I suggest you consult:
IRS - Information, Statistics
Bureau of the Public Debt
CNN (news story that motivated this article) |
