Taxing Times

Audits of individual tax returns have climbed 37 percent from 2000 to 2003, while audits of corporations have fallen 26 percent over the same four-year period. Corporations with assets of more than $10 million have seen a drop of nearly 23 percent.

As tax day approacheth, read more here.

Comments

[Hydroman]

19,000 pages and they wonder about complexity.Why do they keep writting this shit,for the sake of complexity? I don`t understand but I`ll pay anyway.
DUUUHHH!
CONTROL,CONTROL,CONTROL,CONTROL
beam me up Alan Greenspan!There is no intelligent
life here.

[Hydroman]

nevermind.

[Dope]

Oh shit! My taxes!

[Jon Bristow]

I had to pay $107 dollars in taxes because I accepted a grant and was too rich to avoid taxes.

Highway robbery, I tells ya!

* goes off to be angsty about taxes, despite the fact that he doesn't make enough money to really need to complain yet.

[dg]

Ugh, taxes. I just can't bring myself to pay them this year. Its like giving your lunch money to the schoolyard bully. Quite frankly I'd much rather look him in the eye, stand my ground, and sock him in the nose if he wants to get physical. Too bad this bully is armed to the teeth and has a few thousand friends.... bleh.

[FriendsofKinky]

Some people will bitch if their nuts are in a vise.
DRAFT KINKY FRIEDMAN FOR PRESIDENT!

[joe]

The consequence of Republican "IRS Reform" efforts in the 1990s. Lay off the corporations, but ooohhh, watch those EITC takers like a hawk.

Thanks, Newt!

[Gene Berkman]

George Bush gets so much credit for cutting tax rates, but he has also increased IRS enforcement directed against individual taxpayers. I guess that is the Bush League idea of tax reform.

[Mo]

Gene, why do you think he said tax reciepts wouldn't change. Lower taxes but better enforcement. Which, as a taxpaying American, doesn't bother me that much.

[MALAK]

Count your blessings. When it comes to taxation, your elected flunkies are pikers compared to ours up here in the Great White North.

[Bill]

Have you read the "Dear Taxpayer" letter from the Commissioner. Here's my analysis.

Commissioner: "One of the unique features of our democracy is the generation of tax revenues through a system of individual self-assessment."

Reality: Why is this unique? Many countries work this way.

Commissioner: "The integrity of such a system depends upon the continued willingness of the people honestly and accurately discharge this annual price of citizenship."

Reality: People are forced to fill out the forms and pay under threat of punishment. Willingness or unwillingness is irrelevant. Take away the threats and see how willing people are.

Commissioner: "We at the IRS are committed to helping you understand and meet this important obligation."

Reality: The IRS often answers questions wrong; when they do, it's the taxpayer who's on the hook. The IRS takes no responsibility at all. This is "commitment"?

Commissioner: "I want to assure you that, as we review your return, we will hold ourselves to the highest standards of fairness and consistency in determining your compliance with the law."

Reality: It would be a miracle if even the IRS understood the tax code. The Internal Revenue Code is well known to shot through with privilege and favoritism. Just compare the tax treatment of home owners vs. renters.

Commissioner: "Thank you for taking the time to complete your return and for paying your taxes."

Reality: You're not welcome.

[joe]

"Lower taxes but better enforcement."

Enforcement is only "better" for individual filers. For corporations, it is much more slack.

[Bill]

"Just compare the tax treatment of home owners vs. renters"
What's the difference?

(1) Mortgage interest deduction for the homeowner. Because a homeowner pays no tax on in-kind income from a home, this amounts to a pure subsidy.
(2) Capital gains exclusion on sale of the house.

A person who rents might hold assets in forms other than a house, e.g., stocks. This person would pay tax on interest and dividends from these investments and also tax on capital gains.

[Kevin Carson]

I like the proposal by the libertarian Democratic caucus to eliminate drug war funding, corporate welfare, and the Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture departments, and use the resulting savings to exempt the bottom 75% of the population from the income tax.

[Patrick]

Just compare the tax treatment of home owners vs. renters

What's the difference?

[dhex]

Commissioner: "The integrity of such a system depends upon the continued willingness of the people honestly and accurately discharge this annual price of citizenship."

apparently, rape at knifepoint is consensual sex too.

have they no shame whatsoever?

[dj of raleigh]

> audits of corporations have fallen 26 percent over the same four-year period. Corporations with assets of more than $10 million have seen a drop of nearly 23 percent.