Posted on 02/01/2005 8:57:16 AM PST by nypokerface
WASHINGTON - President Bush will ask Congress to give the Internal Revenue Service an extra $500 million to pursue tax evaders and increase collections, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.
The boost would mean a nearly 8 percent increase in the IRS budget for tax enforcement, according to a proposal to be included in the fiscal 2006 budget the president sends to Congress next week.
The extra money would be used for audits, collections and investigations. The president proposed a substantial increase in the IRS enforcement budget last year.
"Increasing enforcement not only catches tax cheats but discourages others from avoiding paying their taxes," said Treasury Secretary John Snow.
Despite heavy lobbying by the IRS, lawmakers whittled down the request. Massive federal budget deficits have put pressure on lawmakers to limit or freeze federal spending.
The IRS has been working to reverse declines in audits and enforcement that began in the late 1990s by focusing on corporate and wealthy tax evaders.
"Enforcement more than pays for itself," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. "Particularly in a period of deficit reduction, funding IRS enforcement is a wise investment."
The independent IRS Oversight Board last year said the agency needed a 10 percent budget increase to meet its enforcement goals.
Government studies have shown that costs not accounted for in its budget, including mandatory pay raises, have hampered the agency's ability to step up tax enforcement.
Good. That way they can take out the NAACP and other hate groups who won't cooperate.
What happened to tax reform and abolishing IRS?
Bummer.
Wouldn't that money be more effectively used by the border patrol?
I swa an article the other day that estimated about $300 billion per year in uncollected taxes.
Of course the real solution isn't more enforcement, it's elimination of the the tax code and replacing it with a national sales tax.
Too late, the election's over.
They go back to doing whatever they want.
So the Bush administration wants the tax laws enforced more enegetically against citizens -- while condoning massive illegal immigration and the untaxable cash economy that illegals have established.
That's just what I was thinking. Screwing the Border Patrol but empowering the IRS jackboots is downright Clintonian. If this is part of some sort of conservative Master Plan, I, for one, would appreciate it if Bush would clue his base in a little.
You do know that the President doesn't pass the budget, he just proposes, while Congress actually appropriates the money.
If the Border patrol gets "screwed"(which I doubt) it will be Congresses fault.
As part of my civic duty I recommend that John Edwards be immediately audited. He washed $40 Million in lawsuit winnings through a sham corporation in the form of dividends.
That is all....
There is no tax reform that abolishes the IRS, except in name only. Under ANY federal tax system that extracts a few Trillion out of the economy, there will be federal tax collectors no matter what name you may give to them.
But under a national sales tax the federal tax collectors would deal only with the states, who would be responsible for managing the sales tax system. There would no longer be any declaration of income with the IRS, there would no longer be any tax returns. I can't think of anything that would better reflect the President's committment to expanding liberty and freedom then to free the American people from the shackles of the IRS.
Note to Bush: How about all the businesses that hire illegal aliens under the table??????? Of course Bush could care less about this portion of the law. Only 78 business in all the US were fined in 2003 for committing this crime - what a joke.
Clue his "base"?
And POTUS's base would be_______?
Can you point me to any speech or policy where Bush said he wanted to do that?
I wonder if there will ever again be one thread on FR that isn't turned into an immigration thread.
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