Posted on 07/05/2007 3:17:45 PM PDT by indigo5
According to an IRS spokesperson in an article about anti-war tax resistance, 16.3% of Americans are in non-compliance with their taxes according to the Associated Press.That isn't fudging the numbers or coming up with creative tax deductions; it's simply evading taxes outright. While the story about the anti-war movement calling on people to not pay taxes to protest the war is interesting, the fact that a growing number of Americans are simply evading taxes is startling.
According to IRS estimates, that means there is $345 billion in uncollected taxes per year or roughly 2.6% of the national GDP. As a result of collection efforts, the IRS has generated over $48 billion of that amount in 2006 (or about 15%) according to CNN. These estimates do not include corporations using tax shelters (which "legally" protect them from taxes) or the rich using similar tactics. In 2006, the IRS audited about 1.3 million tax returns out of 130 million filed or an audit rate of about 1% according to an IRS source quoted by CNN. With over 16% overtly flouting the IRS, at best only 1% of those will even be challenged.
(Excerpt) Read more at associatedcontent.com ...
The FairTax is my second choice in tax systems.
My first choice is never going to happen: treating your fellow Americans like you would your friends, and split the bill evenly amongst all 300 million people. $10,000 per person too much ? Cut the size of government.
Unless you are a illegal.
That wouldn't be bad, but for some reason we think it is a "good thing" that all the freeloaders that want to can vote. People are astounded when I say to them that I wish the number of voters would continue to shrink and shrink until I am the only person voting in the elections in which I vote.
That doesn't appease the great god Democracy.
Must be nice dammit! Us honest people keep paying while others get away with blowing it off. It’s not right.
Works for me. I use the DRIP principle.
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Latest Numbers
Historically, there are three types of income that are not well represented in compliance
audits: informal supplier income, tip income, and unreported income that is not detected
by auditors. We have taken the preliminary analysis done last March and supplemented it
with other data and special analyses to account more accurately for these three income
types. In the past, these supplemental analyses have taken several years to complete after
the audit data became available. Utilizing new technologies, we have been able to refine
the data over the past several months.
These numbers showed that there is an overall gross tax gap of approximately $345
billion, leading to a noncompliance rate of 16.3 percent. Both of these numbers are in the
upper end of the range of estimates provided last spring.
The net tax gap or what is remaining after enforcement and other late payments is $290
billion, also in the upper end of the earlier range.
Noncompliance takes three forms: not filing required returns on time; not reporting one’s
full tax liability even when the return is filed on time; and not paying by the due date the
full amount of tax reported on a timely return. We have separate tax gap estimates for
each of these three types of noncompliance.
Underreporting constitutes nearly 82 percent of the gross tax gap, up slightly from our
earlier estimates. Nonfiling constitutes 8.6 percent and underpayment 9.6 percent of the
gross tax gap.
http://www.senate.gov/~budget/democratic/testimony/2006/everson_taxgap021506.pdf
..uhm, no. The idea of those tax codes I mentioned would be to force a tax to be on purchased goods only.
You don’t seem to grasp what I implied.
Gun laws are like the current tax code. Only the law-abiding get screwed.
I know, I know, “one man, one vote,” but...
Imagine, if you will, that the more you pay in taxes, the more your vote counts? Cap it off somewhere around 5 times “average” so no one can “buy” the government.
Sounds like a plan to me...
No pay tax? No get vote.
That wouldn’t be bad either. It might help to counteract the concerted effort the federal government has been making to turn tax payers into a minority to be financially, and otherwise, raped to appease its powerlust.
I’ve always thought a potential voter should be required to pass a test on the role of government before being allowed to vote. But I’m suspicious of the test administrators.
This country is screwed.
Ah, yes, see your point. Misread. The “GDP” numbers I thought were the percentage they owed.
You're assuming that the individuals who break the law by not paying income tax are going to somehow magically obey the law should we have a new form of taxation. No matter what form of tax is applied, people who are determined enough will find a way around it no matter what.
This is a good way to go along the lines of only property owners getting the vote in modern times. If only taxpayers get to vote, then you get people who have a vested interest in the government spending money wisely voting. Also, government bond ownership could be a reason for voting for those who no longer earn an income or are retired. This should have been added to the constitution.
You have no clue what you are talking about.
Taxing an item that is being purchased puts the tax INTO the cost. The person would buy a $1.00 coke, and pay $.10 in taxes. His purchase would then be....
$1.10! Wow! I can read a reciept!
Wow, it’s mostly Democrats that avoid paying taxes! Who would have ever expected that? < / sarc >
Bambi’s brother???????????????
"You can be a millionaire, and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire, and never pay taxes! You say, 'Steve, how can I be a millionaire and never pay taxes?' First, get a million dollars. Now, you say, 'Steve, what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, "You have never paid taxes"?' Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: 'I forgot!' "--
There will always be creative people who break the law, but most people do not. Having a sales tax would be enormously beneficial to anybody with an income above poverty level (heck, in Neal’s plan, even these people get a reimbursement) and would require record-keeping only on your actual income. That is, if you wanted to qualify for the reimbursement.
There’s never going to be a system that totally eliminates lawbreakers, but I’d say, the simpler the system, the less possibility of manipulation and fraud.
One thing that makes me mad about my taxes is that I know all sorts of people much richer than I who manage to avoid paying a dime and boast about it at dinner parties. But a simpler system simply takes it out of them at the register, just as it would do for any of us.
Bingo!
Many of the taxes that precede the pricing of that Coke will be eliminated, however, which means that if a company wants to stay competitive, it will actually lower its prices to reflect that savings on its part and extra expenditure on yours. You’re already paying hidden sales taxes at the current cost of any product.
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