Evasion of taxes by super-rich called huge

[question everything]

Evasion of taxes by super-rich called huge

Senator describes offshore havens

By David Cay Johnston
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

August 1, 2006

So many super-rich Americans evade taxes using offshore accounts that law enforcement cannot control the growing misconduct, according to a Senate report that provides the most detailed look ever at high-level tax schemes.

Among the billionaires cited in the report are the owner of the New York Jets football team, Robert Wood Johnson; the producer of the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” children's show, Haim Saban; and two Texas businessmen, Charles and Sam Wyly, who the Center for Public Integrity found in 2000 were the ninth-largest contributors to President Bush.

Johnson and Saban, who are portrayed as victims in the report, are scheduled to testify today before the Senate Permanent Investigations subcommittee. They are expected to say that professional advisers assured them their deals to avoid taxes were more likely lawful than not. The Wyly brothers told the committee that they would invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and thus were not called to testify. The report characterizes them as active participants in tax schemes.

Cheating now equals about 7 cents out of each dollar paid by honest taxpayers, as much as $70 billion a year, the report estimated. “The universe of offshore tax cheating has become so large that no one, not even the United States government, could go after all of it,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., whose staff ran the investigation.

(snip)

Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060801/news_1n1taxes.html

[Virginia Dare]

1. Yes, but ....

what about all those welfare queens cheating the government out of money so they can feed their babies? :sarcasm:

[elehhhhna]

11. Bush hisownself told us that like two years ago.

[babylonsister]

2. And yet the repugs in Congress still want to dole out the dough

to these crooks.

[Vidar]

3. Glad somebody is addressing the issue.

[Solo_in_MD]

4. Not clear if its tax evasion or tax avoidance

And it can be a fine line with the current tax system. We should quite using taxes as incentives for social policy and go a much simpler system.

[elehhhhna]

12. It's evasion. See post #10

[Earth_First]

5. I'VE GOT AN IDEA!

LET'S ATTACH A MULTI BILLION DOLLAR ESTATE TAX BREAK TO THE MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE BILL!

(They'll never see it comming...)

[stevedeshazer]

6. I dispute the 7 cents out of each dollar paid by honest taxpayers meme

It's a hell of a lot higher than that, especially if we had a real progressive tax system.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I can't believe anybody thinks this is news.

I tell you, living in my community is worse than living in a Mafia infested neighborhood. And it's this way because no local government is lifting a finger to clean it up.

[elehhhhna]

13. What do you mean & approx.where are you?

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Oh, for crying out loud. It's all about the land.

In one county you have a hodge-podge of the following: A judge who owned property who ruled on impact fees, in which he had a direct benefit; A developer-lawyer who offered pro-bono services to small property owners to set precedent on the use of wetlands, all with the intention of using the more flexible rules for larger projects; city government which showed favoritism for some developers at the expense of others. Also, a city government which misled a homeowner's association into believing their association had not yet been turn-over, and thus, ignored their input during the final phase of the development. The city had to know, because their lawyer had required the developer of an earlier replat to contact the homeowners, before he allowed the replat, and that's when the turn-over took place. Yet, that city attorney did not advise the commissioners during the final phase, and allowed the city board to ignore the homeowner's requirements, as if they had no ownership at all. The homeowners not only lost common ground in the final replat, but they had no say in the planning of a massive retention pond which accumulates underground seepage from beyond their development grounds, and in less than ten years, they have a retention wall which is crumbling. I'm not even telling you about the predatory homeowners who took over the board, and who are stealing the rest of the common grounds from their own neighbors, nor the one homeowner that knew or should have known that the homeowner's association had been turned over years ago, and instead, misled everybody else into believing otherwise because he hoped to get the common grounds behind his property for free when the developer came for the final phase.

Sometimes I wonder how I can keep my sanity. This kind of shit goes on in Republican municipalities all the time, because they're pro-property rights, they're rugged individualist, they're predators, and they have no respect for community service. If they serve on a board, they truly believe they should be compensated for their time, even if the law says otherwise.

[elehhhhna]

16. Damn ! Sounds like Houston & its suburbs.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. I'm in desparate need of a support group.

I don't know how someone can live within layers of conspiracies in a community without going bonkers.

[European Socialist]

8. We need a cat.5 hurricane to hit the Cayman Islands and destroy...

all the Greedheads financial records.

[elehhhhna]

14. NO NOT CAYMAN. It's beautiful there (in the water, anyway)...

plus there are like 50 tax haven countries

[Shallah Kali]

9. Bush Admin to Cut Estate Tax Auditers by 157

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2003145999_irs23.html

IRS may cut lawyers who audit the rich

By David Cay Johnston

The New York Times

The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others.

The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency's 345 estate-tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, within 70 days. Kevin Brown, an IRS deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts.

(snip)

But six IRS estate-tax lawyers whose jobs are likely to be eliminated said the cuts were the latest moves at the IRS to shield people with political connections and complex tax-avoidance devices from thorough audits.

Sharyn Phillips, a veteran IRS estate-tax lawyer in Manhattan, called the cuts a "back-door way for the Bush administration to achieve what it cannot get from Congress, which is repeal of the estate tax."

[elehhhhna]

10. Please see this thread, also: "The Dirt on the BA & personal offshore

(tax-avoidance) bank acccounts;"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1789356&mesg_id=1789356

[question everything]

18. Thanks. Bush is doing what he promised

protecting his cronies.