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IRS: Sorry, but It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor
www.propublica.org ^ | by Paul Kiel Oct. 2, 2:47 p.m. EDT

Posted on 10/02/2019 1:31:15 PM PDT by Red Badger

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1 posted on 10/02/2019 1:31:15 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Poor people can’t afford lawyers and accountants the way rich people can. They are disarmed.


2 posted on 10/02/2019 1:33:40 PM PDT by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: jmcenanly

IRS people know better than screw with Corrupt American Oligarchs.


3 posted on 10/02/2019 1:34:30 PM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Red Badger

that’s equivalent to busting the corner hoods selling loosies on the corner instead of going after the Don ...


4 posted on 10/02/2019 1:34:54 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Red Badger

ProPublica is a left-wing think tank.
However, they are right about this.


5 posted on 10/02/2019 1:35:59 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

That’s why I posted it................Blind acorn finds squirrel..............


6 posted on 10/02/2019 1:38:31 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: Red Badger

If cheating on your taxes is randomly distributed and there are hundreds of more poor people than rich, I would expect the poor to be in more audits.

People often use statistics incorrectly. You often hear the fact that the percentage of blacks in jail is high than that of white, and they point to that as a clear indication of discrimination. It seems those facts are also consistent with the fact that blacks have a higher incidence of crime and more readily participate in criminal activity than whites. That’s not racist or discrimination. It’s simply a fact.


7 posted on 10/02/2019 1:40:05 PM PDT by econjack
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To: Red Badger

Nightmare to audit wealthy people. Just make tax code simpler...that is the only fix.


8 posted on 10/02/2019 1:41:29 PM PDT by impimp
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To: jmcenanly

It’s true, I was told by a tax lawyer that I could probably beat an audit where the IRS said I owed about $2000, but it would cost me substantially more than that in legal fees.

Mark


9 posted on 10/02/2019 1:42:26 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Did you know that if you call the IRS Help Line [Good luck getting thru] and you ask a question of THEM, and as a result of THEIR ANSWER to you, you file a return that gets audited and their answer was wrong, you still owe the tax, even though you asked them first about the subject?

They do not help you.

The person giving the wrong answer is not affected in any way.

They are safe.

You are not..................


10 posted on 10/02/2019 1:43:41 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Did you know that if you call the IRS Help Line [Good luck getting thru] and you ask a question of THEM, and as a result of THEIR ANSWER to you, you file a return that gets audited and their answer was wrong, you still owe the tax, even though you asked them first about the subject?

They do not help you.

The person giving the wrong answer is not affected in any way.

They are safe.

You are not..................


11 posted on 10/02/2019 1:43:42 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: econjack

“If cheating on your taxes is randomly distributed and there are hundreds of more poor people than rich, I would expect the poor to be in more audits.”

But the amount of tax that the poor avoid is much less than the amount that the rich avoid.

It is probably better to go after the 1 person avoiding $1 million rather than 1000 people avoiding $1,000


12 posted on 10/02/2019 1:44:25 PM PDT by FewsOrange
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To: econjack

Facts be racis.........................


13 posted on 10/02/2019 1:45:20 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: Red Badger

That’s a hell of an answer, if true. If the rich pay 80/90 percent of the taxes, you would think they would get more bang for their buck by auditing them.


14 posted on 10/02/2019 1:45:29 PM PDT by deweyfrank (Nobody's Perfect)
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To: deweyfrank

The IRS makes it up in volume.........................


15 posted on 10/02/2019 1:48:45 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: Red Badger
The most audited returns are those that report income from self-employment and claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit. All the IRS has to do is disallow some expenses for lack of documentation, creating a triple whammy on the poor taxpayer: greater SE income, more income tax and SE tax, reduction in EITC.

The poor taxpayer can't afford a CPA to prepare the return, so they blindly agree with what the agent says, just to stay out of trouble.

Conversely, I had a client who was going to retire, and raise racehorses full time. The first 3 years, the losses exceeded $100K, and he was audited. I spent 4 hours in the IRS office, educating the agent on the validity of the taxpayer's claims, demonstrating there was a business purpose for his losses.

The IRS had no choice but to agree with us, and allowed every penny of those losses. However, I told my client it was time for him to show from income from his venture, else he'd be exposed to hobby loss rules.

16 posted on 10/02/2019 1:48:51 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: econjack

Repeating facts makes you a racist to our modern woke SJW Leftists. Of course, dealing with problems requires a firm knowledge of the facts, at least in my world. It’s a real issue that makes solving the problems extremely difficult, if not impossible. No one likes being called a racist, so the problems fester. But that’s where we are.


17 posted on 10/02/2019 1:51:58 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Red Badger

Plus, I imagine that they find a lot fewer things they can collect on when auditing rich people who hired lawyers to do the job, while I imagine it is easy to find errors for the poor people who can’t hire any help and are struggling to figure out the paperwork.


18 posted on 10/02/2019 1:52:05 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: econjack

I imagine most of the errors found are not “cheating”, but rather people who just had no clue what to do, and did it wrong.


19 posted on 10/02/2019 1:52:58 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Red Badger

Is this why Obama provided the IRS with full Auto M16’S?


20 posted on 10/02/2019 1:53:10 PM PDT by hadaclueonce ( This time I am Deplorable)
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