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IRS Targets Poor Americans, because Harassing Wealthy Too Costly
Citizens for Self-Governance ^ | October 7, 2019 | Mark Meckler

Posted on 10/12/2019 8:01:54 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

You might want to sit down for this one.

If you thought the IRS was just a necessary yet uncomfortable part of American life, here’s some more evidence that it’s simply an arm of the United States government that deserves to be excised.

The IRS just admitted that it audits the working poor at about the same rate as the wealthiest 1 percent. Here’s why, according to ProPublica:

"…the IRS said, auditing poor taxpayers is a lot easier: The agency uses relatively low-level employees to audit returns for low-income taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit. The audits — of which there were about 380,000 last year, accounting for 39 percent of the total the IRS conducted — are done by mail and don’t take too much staff time, either. They are 'the most efficient use of available IRS examination resources,' Rettig’s report says.

"On the other hand, auditing the rich is hard. It takes senior auditors hours upon hours to complete an exam. What’s more, the letter says, 'the rate of attrition is significantly higher among these more experienced examiners.' As a result, the budget cuts have hit this part of the IRS particularly hard.

"For now, the IRS says, while it agrees auditing more wealthy taxpayers would be a good idea, without adequate funding there’s nothing it can do. 'Congress must fund and the IRS must hire and train appropriate numbers of [auditors] to have appropriately balanced coverage across all income levels,' the report said."

(Excerpt) Read more at selfgovern.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Conspiracy; Government; History; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: audits; corruption; eitc; funding; irs; irsaudit; nonprofits; poor; rich; targeting
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1 posted on 10/12/2019 8:01:55 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: 100American; 3D-JOY; abner; Abundy; AGreatPer; Albion Wilde; AliVeritas; alisasny; ...

PING!


2 posted on 10/12/2019 8:02:51 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

IRS—— Internal Robbery Syndicate


3 posted on 10/12/2019 8:03:38 PM PDT by HighSierra5
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

SEX - You need consent.
TRADES - You need consent.
PURCHASES - You need consent.
TAXES - ???


4 posted on 10/12/2019 8:13:42 PM PDT by struggle
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Kinda makes sense given the high rate of fraud in returns claiming the earned income tax credit.


5 posted on 10/12/2019 8:14:16 PM PDT by House Atreides (Boycott the NFL 100% — PERMANENTLY)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I first learned about this policy when Jimma Carter was President and his IRS was targeting small businesses because they couldn’t afford to fight back.


6 posted on 10/12/2019 8:14:44 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I had an IRS lawyer/accountant explain this to me years ago. I had mistakenly assumed that cash businesses were ripe targets for auditors because it is almost understood that they cheat on their taxes.

He said that's actually not true, and for similar reasons that wealthy taxpayers may audited less frequently than low-income filers:

1. Wealthy people have a lot of income, but they also pay accountants who are tasked with filing forms correctly and reporting any income that has a paper trail.

2. Many established cash businesses (restaurants, for example) may under-report their income, but the IRS doesn't see them as prime targets because they DO pay taxes -- and their tax returns typically correspond closely to their documented "non-cash" income and expenses.

The type of business the IRS targets for audits, according to this guy, is a small cash business -- often owned by recent immigrants -- that has terrible records (if any), pays employees cash, never reports these employees for payroll tax purposes, and often has multiple family members working in the business as allegedly "unpaid" owners. These are great targets for the IRS because with one audit the IRS can find a lot of unreported income from many places -- from the business, the owners, the employees, and even the suppliers.

7 posted on 10/12/2019 8:16:54 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." -- Frederick Douglass)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks


8 posted on 10/12/2019 9:01:46 PM PDT by Chode (Send bachelors, and come heavily armed!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Yep. The IRS is currently trying to juice us for $390 for some 'filing error' from 2013. Something to do with the house we bought that year and the mortgage lender and realtors were supposed to have handled. We use the 1040 EZ and they're squinting to watch a decimal point moving from one line to another. OK, I'll let the wife handle it. She's already got them chasing their own tails. The last time they played their silly little games was back in 2009. They sent us a tax bill for $1100 for a perceived 'error' from 2004. The wife said, OK, you want to play, we'll play. She saves everything whereas most people actually don't. So, she got out the long form and itemized every last deduction from that year, probably right down to my beer tab, attached all the receipts, then sent it back to them. A couple of weeks later we got a very contrite letter back saying, "Oh, there must have been a data entry error. Would you settle for a $900 refund?" The money was in the bank a week later. Don't try to pick her pocket for money she knows is hers.
9 posted on 10/12/2019 9:17:03 PM PDT by Viking2002
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To: Taxman

Ping


10 posted on 10/12/2019 9:20:41 PM PDT by TADSLOS (You know why you can enjoy a day at the Zoo? Because walls work.)
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To: Viking2002

This is why the tax code needs to be simplified.
When Demonrats says “A simple tax code is not progressive” what they are saying is that they want a tax code that allows them to threaten and oppress the middle class and poor.


11 posted on 10/12/2019 9:23:25 PM PDT by Fai Mao (There is no rule of law in the US until The PIAPS is executed.)
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To: Viking2002

+1.

The legendary Mrs. Whiskers is similar.


12 posted on 10/12/2019 9:41:32 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change with out notice.)
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To: Fai Mao

I’ve always been a proponent of having a tax code that allows you to file on a form no bigger than a postcard. But that won’t happen in this incarnation of the Republic. Too many subsidies, programs, handouts, and otherwise general pigs at the trough. Let’s face it - this country is going to collapse under the weight of it’s own greed, graft, grand larceny, and self-interested, ‘me first’ third parties. Part of me wants to live long enough to watch the inevitable and gloat, but another part doesn’t want to be around to try and claw my way out of the rubble. Everything folks like us have tried to do in the last fifty years has been nothing more than putting another Band Aid on a gushing artery. And don’t bitch about me being another defeatist throwing in the towel - open your eyes wide enough, and you’ll start seeing the trees and not the forest. Our future was bought and paid for generations ago. As Mencken said a century ago, an election is just an advanced auction of stolen goods. As is was then, as it is now. Imagine a Sanders or Warren in the White House, with a Congressional majority. They might as well mandate the distribution of cyanide capsules.


13 posted on 10/12/2019 9:47:45 PM PDT by Viking2002
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

My dad used to own several H&R Block franchises areas with lots of minorities so they did a lot of returns that claimed the earned income tax credit. First, the EITC isn’t a tax credit, it’s welfare. For you to get a tax refund or credit you actually have to have paid something to get back, the EITC allows you to get a “refund” of thousands of dollars while having paid no taxes to begin with. From my estimation about 75% of the returns claiming the EITC are fraudulent. At the time my dad was in the business you had to have dependent children to claim the EITC. The IRS would allow you to claim a child or grandchild, but not a niece/nephew, cousin, etc. There was a loophole however, they’d accept the un-defined term of “fosterchild” so most of those coming into my dad’s office were claiming a fosterchild as justification for the EITC. It was pretty easy to tell that most had never met their fosterchildren when you’d see people outside the office selling social security numbers for $50 a pop and people walking in with them on a slip of paper to give to the preparer. My dad informed the IRS of what was going on and was told that it was none of his business, his job was to put down what the client told him.

The EITC racket is full of fraud so if the IRS is concentrating on auditing those claiming it then it’s about time. There’s no telling how many billions of dollars are scammed with it every year.


14 posted on 10/12/2019 9:57:42 PM PDT by GaryCrow
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To: grey_whiskers

I’m an old-fashioned traditionalist in the the classic way, but I’m no chauvinist. I freely admit that there are certain areas in the domestic/financial arena that women are simply better suited for than us men. And I salute them.


15 posted on 10/12/2019 10:04:49 PM PDT by Viking2002
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To: Viking2002

“So, she got out the long form and itemized every last deduction from that year, probably right down to my beer tab, attached all the receipts, then sent it back to them.”

That happened to me one year...


16 posted on 10/12/2019 10:12:24 PM PDT by babygene (hMake America Great Again)
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To: All

The earned income tax credit is rife with fraud...the IRS needs to look at it/audit even more!


17 posted on 10/12/2019 10:14:51 PM PDT by Drago
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
What’s more, the letter says, 'the rate of attrition is significantly higher among these more experienced examiners.'

I wish every FReeper reading that line would pause for a moment and consider exactly what it means.

Why is the "rate of attrition" significantly higher among the "more-experienced" (and presumably higher-ranking) examiners? Does perhaps their dearly-earned prowess / special know-how make them candidates for work in the private sector? Maybe as tax consultants to the rich and powerful?

Regards,

18 posted on 10/13/2019 1:38:51 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Viking2002
Those morons are still trying to collect about $110 from a bogus filing penalty on my business return from 2009. When I got the first letter in 2010 I had just closed the business. I called my accountant and he said "Is the bank account closed out?". It was so he said that I didn't owe anything but there was nothing left for them to take and it was a corporation so they can't touch my personal accounts. Over the years the IRS kept piling on interest until at one point they were demanding $800. Then suddenly I owed $100 from 2008. I noticed in the most recent letter they are now begging for $110 from 2009 and $81 from 2008. When I die they will still be trying collect. 😆
19 posted on 10/13/2019 7:50:25 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Makes perfect sense. The highest fraud rate in tax returns is claiming the “Earned Income tax Credit” by pretending to have kids that don’t exist. A tax return preparer told me his biggest problem working in the poor areas of Arizona was the number of folks claiming “daughters” who were nieces living in Mexico with their real parents. They split the $$$ with the Mexican family.

The EITC can add $6000+ to a “refund”. The fraud is estimated to be 25-30% of claims.


20 posted on 10/13/2019 8:07:39 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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