Posted on 02/18/2004 11:17:32 AM PST by ancient_geezer
Colo. gets list of 869 suspected tax cheats
IRS provides names, state will crack down
By Aldo Svaldi
Denver Post Business Writer
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson hand-delivered a list of 869 suspected tax cheats to state revenue officials Tuesday.
"It could be costing us millions of dollars in lost tax revenues," said M. Michael Cooke, executive director of the Colorado Department of Revenue. "We are anxious to move forward."
Cooke wouldn't disclose specific names but said taxpayers on the list can expect to be hearing from state tax collectors soon.
They are part of a larger IRS- compiled list of 20,000 people accused of illegally avoiding taxes.
Colorado is among 46 states that signed a cooperation agreement with the IRS last fall to share information and resources.
The IRS is providing names, and the state, facing a $450 million budget deficit this year, will crack down. States on average receive about 20 cents for each extra $1 the IRS manages to collect. The payback for Colorado will be lower than that, given the state's income-tax rate, Everson said.
Some taxpayers on the list may be surprised to find out they violated the law because of the bad advice they received from advisers, said Everson, who visited Colorado on Tuesday.
He cautioned taxpayers to question any advice or shelters that seem "too good to be true."
Accountants and attorneys putting people into bogus tax shelters will be held accountable, Everson said, including criminal penalties in some cases.
Taxpayers skipped out on $311 billion in taxes due during 2001, according to the IRS, which expects to collect only $55 billion of the unpaid amount.
The tax avoidance schemes in question range from off-shore trusts to bogus home-based businesses, Cooke said.
State's new technology gathers information to find tax cheats
Massachusetts
Time to end the Intrusive, Incomprensible, Income tax system, along with It's IRS.
The Original Intent of the individual income tax is for political and social control not revenue collection. The Individual Income tax is maintained to establish and hold every person in the country perpetual legal jeopardy. That is a situation that must end with the repeal of the income tax from the statutes, and the prohibition of its use by Constitutional amendment that future generations will not face the same manner of manipulation and interference in their lives.
If you would like to be added to this ping list let me know.
The good guy's:
And take a look at the score cards for both House & Senate, if your Critters are waffling or not supporting the NRST let them know that it matters to them if they like their cushy jobs.
It is always good to encourage personal responsibility and to discourage the shirking of personal responsibility.
Personal responsibility under the Income tax:
"As a matter of fact, what the income tax does — and this is the debate that I think we always try to get into in order to let you and him fight, see — and the people of this country are led down a path where the actual control of their resources, which in the end is the control over their will, is handed off to the government."
. . .
"The government then manipulates that will in order to destroy the freedom of our electoral system through the income tax structure, and we call the resulting slavery a free system."
"In point of fact, it is not as the founders understood, and the only way to restore real freedom is to give people back control over the income that they earn so that they won‘t, at the voting booth and in other phony issues, be subject to that manipulation."
- KEYES TRANSCRIPT (01/28/02)
To remove taxation of the individual, is to remove the goad which assures accountability of government to the electorate. Federal tax rates are high because a majority of the electorate do not share proportionately in the burden their demand for largesse imposes on the minority of citizens.
The siren call for representation without taxation is the formula that got us where we are at today. The ability to hide or disguise taxation from the view of large sectors of the electorate allows the Congress to get away with the creation of the evergrowing monster that it fosters.
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-George Bernard Shaw
Liberty and freedom have a price, responsibility. If that price is avoided there are no brakes on the growth of government, the ultimate result is the end of freedom through creeping socialism.
Right now the bottom 60% perceive little to no "Individual Income Tax" burden,(in many cases even a handout) and 70% of the voting public clamors for more from government looking for the top 40% of income earners/producers to foot the bill. That perception continues to grow ever stronger by eliminating even more participants from the Federal Individual Income Tax rolls as proposed in the tax reduction proposals through changes in personal exemption limits and other mechanisms such as the EITC.
Those who perceive little burden play the role of Poor little Paul:
| Effective Individual Federal Income Tax Rate (Percent of gross income) | |||||||||||
| Income Category | 1977 | 1979 | 1981 | 1983 | 1985 | 1987 | 1989 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 | Projected 1999 |
| Lowest Quintile | -0.6 | -0.8 | -0.2 | -0.5 | -0.2 | -1.3 | -1.9 | -2.9 | -3.4 | -5.6 | -6.8 |
| Second Quintile | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 0.9 |
| Middle Quintile | 7.1 | 7.5 | 8.3 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.1 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
Those that readily perceive some of the burden.
| Effective Individual Federal Income Tax Rate (Percent of gross income) | |||||||||||
| Income Category | 1977 | 1979 | 1981 | 1983 | 1985 | 1987 | 1989 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 | Projected 1999 |
| Fourth Quintile | 9.7 | 10.4 | 11.3 | 9.5 | 9.3 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.7 | 8.4 |
| Highest Quintile | 15.8 | 16.3 | 17.1 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 15.1 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 16.2 | 16.1 |
To play the role of mean ole Rich Peter.
While Congress plays both ends against the middle; hiding the real burden in inflation, higher prices on all goods and services, lower takehome pay, lower return on investment, and higher interest rates. All keeping the poor right where they are and pushing for more freebees.
Consider that 15.3% SS/Medicare tax on the 1st $75K of wages/self-employment income, plus the 6% Federal/State Unemployment tax, all of which are but a portion of the effect of federal taxes embedded the price of all products we purchase. Taken together with the Individual tax rates above we all pay more than:
| Effective Total Federal Tax Rate (Percent of reported income) | |||||||||||
| Income Category | 1977 | 1979 | 1981 | 1983 | 1985 | 1987 | 1989 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 | Projected 1999 |
| All Families | 22.8 | 23.4 | 23.5 | 21.4 | 21.8 | 22.6 | 22.5 | 22.6 | 23.5 | 24.7 | 24.2 |
Data from IRS collections statistics and The Bureau of Economic Analysis as compiled in tabular form by the Congressional Budget Office.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=1545&from=4&sequence=0
We wonder why over 60% of the voters PERCEIVE no problem with the taxrates and vote for polidiots that promise to bring home the most bacon because they are the only ones that benefit from higher taxes with more spending on socialistic "gimme" programs. As this continues under Bush or anyone else for that matter, expect a liberal tax and waste congress for many years to come.
We are all paying through the nose, rich and poor while politicians play the tune of envy and resentment that Americans continue to respond to not understanding the full picture what is happening to them. The NRST is a means to open VOTERS eyes to the reality.
MARYLAND: "Just send a copy of your Florida return"
ME: "There is no Florida return; they have no income taxes"
MARYLAND: "Well, you're going to need to give us something that says you paid state taxes in '93"
ME: "But I didn't"
MARYLAND: "Then, according to the IRS figures, you owe us $2600"
ME: "But I didn't live or work in Maryland in '93."
MARYLAND: "Where did you live?"
ME: "Florida"
MARYLAND: "So just send a copy of your Florida return.."
ME: "Shoot me now".
The biggest barrier lay with the Senate and overcoming filibuster. For that we need strong public will to overcome the socialists that insist on the the current graduated/progressive income tax system of Marx.
Tax issue aside, isn't it interesting what the States will do to their citizzens for a few extra bucks?
AS far as the tax issues involved go: I suspect a lot of these people are not intentionally cheating, they are victims very credible sounding scam artists (like Irwin Schiff) who promote phony tax shelters, make false claims about the tax laws, and give phony tax advice.
Needless to say, I flat-out ignored the letter, since they have no need or right to know whether or not I paid Pennsylvania taxes in 1998 (I did, of course) and they have no reason to even suspect I earned income in Maryland in 1998 (which I did not) other than the fact that this is the address I used on my federal tax filing.
I haven't heard from them again. (At least, not yet.)
AS far as the tax issues involved go: I suspect a lot of these people are not intentionally cheating, they are victims very credible sounding scam artists (like Irwin Schiff) who promote phony tax shelters, make false claims about the tax laws, and give phony tax advice.
As the courts have noted. Unfortunately for the victims of such scams it doesn't change the outcome of their cases for those who have been completely snookered by these scam artists.
United States v. Sloan, 939 F.2d 499 (7th Cir. 1991)
Argued that there is no law imposing a tax on income, that state citizens are exempt from income tax.
KANNE, Circuit Judge.
- Like moths to a flame, some people find themselves irresistibly drawn to the tax protestor movement's illusory claim that there is no legal requirement to pay federal income tax. And, like the moths, these people sometimes get burned. Lorin G. Sloan believed these claims and because he acted upon them now faces four months in a federal prison; there can be little doubt that he has been burned.
- The real tragedy of this case is the unconscionable waste of Mr. Sloan's time, resources, and emotion in continuing to pursue these wholly defective and unsuccessful arguments about the validity of the income tax laws of the United States. Despite our rejection of Mr. Sloan's legal analysis of the tax laws, we are not unmindful of the sincerity of his beliefs. On the other hand, we are less sure of the sincerity of the professional tax protestors who promote their views in literature and meetings to persons like Mr. Sloan, yet are unlikely ever to face the type of penalties incurred by him. It may be that our decision will not alter Mr. Sloan's views regarding the tax laws of this country, for he has stated that if we affirm his conviction without applying the law as he understands it, our decision will be "a sham to which I WILL NOT SUBMIT." It may also be that serving his sentence in prison will not alter Mr. Sloan's view. We hope this pessimistic assessment is incorrect.
- We AFFIRM the conviction of Lorin G. Sloan on all counts.
A good article published in "The New American" to read and consider:
Patriot Beware!
by Thomas R. Eddlem
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1997/vo13no04/vo13no04_patriot.htm
I always thought that it didn't matter where you earned your income, you paid state taxes to the state that you lived in and only that state.
I'm not sure where it says this, but you are right. I curently work in Virgina and pay taxes to Maryland (though when I was briefly unemployed a little over 2 years ago, I filed for benefits in Virginia since that's where I ha been working -- complicated, I know).
My post didn't make it clear, but I lived and worked in Pittsburgh in 1998. I had never lived in Maryland prior to moving in April 1999. I used the Maryland address on my TY 1998 1040 because that's where I lived at the time of filing. My TY 1999 Maryland filing explicity uses the form for part-year residents because I moved there that year.
Maryland has come around, with no reasonable suspicion or probable cause, demanding that I open up my financial records to them for TY 1998 -- this is where I draw the line. If they cannot produce any evidence that even hints that I lived or worked in the state (voter registration, DMV records, employment records, banking, utility, lease, mortgage, etc.) -- which they cannot, because none exists -- then I have to assert my Constituional rights against unreasonable searches (and, if it gets to garnishments, seizures).
Maybe I should see if a Constitutional lawyer wants some publicity by taking on the State of Maryland... (I don't care about any damages, I just want them off my back -- and everyone else's).
You might consider a personal letter to Willie Don...seriously. He's actually a pretty reasonable dude.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.