Current IRS Administrator Charles P. Rettig decided to write an opinion piece meant to soothe and convince those making under $400k that they will not be targets of the IRS expansion, but, can’t quite say that they won’t be targets. Don’t forget that in tax cases, you are guilty until proven innocent
IRS sets the record straight: We’re going after tax evaders, not honest Americans: Op-Ed
As the nation’s tax administrator, the IRS plays a unique role in our nation. It can be a difficult job. After all, does anyone really like paying taxes? Of course not. But they’re essential to fund the roads we drive on, the schools our children attend, support our military and so much more. Unfortunately, given the nature of this work and historical stereotypes, the IRS is often perceived as an easy target for mischaracterizations of what IRS employees do — and that’s exactly what’s happened in recent weeks.
The recent debate over providing badly needed funding to the IRS is filled with outright false suggestions about what the agency and our hard-working employees do — as well as how the additional resources will be handled.
The bottom line is this: These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small business or middle-income Americans. The investment of these important resources is designed to support honest, compliant taxpayers. Our investment is designed around a Treasury directive that audit rates do not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.
We all want a fair and impartial system where everyone contributes their fair share, no more and certainly no less. A robust, visible tax enforcement effort focused on high-end tax evaders and those supporting them is a priority. Underpayments by tax evaders shift the burden of operating our great country onto honest, hard-working Americans who follow the law.
Focused on high earners, but, not exclusively on. There’s going to be a whole lot more people making underpayments who make less than $400k, be it small businesses or individuals.
With this new law, honest taxpayers will see badly needed, meaningful service improvements at the IRS. The IRS should be able to answer the phones and process information — including tax returns — in a timely manner. Enhanced IT systems and taxpayer services will mean that honest taxpayers will be better able to comply with the tax laws, ultimately resulting in a lower — yes, lower — likelihood of being audited and a reduced burden on them.
It works the other way, with all those extra employees being able to go through everyone’s tax filings with a fine tooth comb. You’re making $50k a year and blew off filing on the 1099 income of a $700? They’ll find out. Rettig goes through some “falsehoods”, which, really, are mostly just political talking points, including
False Statement: The additional funding will be used to hire more auditors to “shake down” average taxpayers.
Reality: False. Wage-earning taxpayers like firefighters, construction workers, teachers and police officers are among the most compliant taxpayers, given that their incomes come from Forms W-2 and 1099. These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans. Instead, the additional resources will also be focused on large corporate and high net-worth taxpayers to enforce laws already on the books that the IRS does not have enough resources to pursue.
What, exactly, does “audit scrutiny” mean? The IRS doesn’t need to go full bore with an audit, they can simply pull out that fine tooth comb for the small business owner. Don’t forget, a lot of small businesses have gross profits of over $400k a year, but, their net is much lower than $400k. Those large corporations and high net taxpayers have very good accountants and lawyers to make sure they’re in compliance, along with paying as little as they can per the tax code.
False Statement: This new funding will allow overreach by the IRS, putting agents on every street corner and prying into people’s personal financial lives.
Reality: False. This funding will allow the IRS to better serve the nation’s taxpayers — and ultimately meet the critical needs of our country. Our employees care and, like others in government, take an oath to support our country. We take pride in hiring veterans, people with disabilities and people from all walks of life and from every corner of our country. Many of our employees, including myself, are members of a military family. And all of our employees reflect the taxpayers we serve.
An oath like those at the FBI with their differing structure of investigation and justice? How about when the IRS targeted conservative groups? Which they admitted to? Does anyone seriously trust the IRS? Or the government? You can find all sorts of examples when the power of the federal government went after one of the little people, because it’s a whole lot easier than going after the rich and powerful, be they individuals or companies.
A couple of the comments at the article
- In their eyes, everyone is guilty though because with the myriad or rules and regulations there must be a mistake in there somewhere even if it’s only $1. And they know it.
- To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To an IRS agent, everyone looks like a “tax evader”. How about meaningful tax reform instead?
- With the ridiculous complexity of the tax code, anyone can be a “tax evader”. There are way too many gray areas, especially if you have a small business. They will be going after everyone.
- This is utter nonsense. Once the IRS system identifies a potential discrepancy they go after everyone, regardless of income. The rich have lawyers and accountants protecting them. The little guy is at the mercy of a typical government bureaucrat.
- After talking off record to several IRS agents, they laugh at the notion that people make mistakes. Everyone is guilty. They will let you know about an error two years later after penalties have been multiplying without your knowledge. Giving them more power will only make it worse.
That last one is rather important, because those penalties from simple mistakes can turn into serious money. All those extra employees will allow the IRS to find all those minor errors the middle and working class folks made by accident. The IRS doesn’t need you to come in to be audited: a simple letter will do.
Gotta find that money to fund Ukraine.
And of course the Big Guy’s 10%.
Teach seems to think that people making $400,000/yr or less should be able to cheat on their taxes. The IRS chief said the added 87,000 employees (over 10 years) will not audit those any more than usual.
The US loses $1 TRILLION a year from the tax system. We know, we know, nuCons want to end Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, EPA, NIH, FBI, CIA, Dept Transportation, CDC, NASA, NOAA, IRS… essentially cancel everything federal except the military. Slash it all to the bone so white nationalists and the wealthy no longer have to support Blacks, Browns, gays, the lazy, libs, college bums etc. But until the MAGA movement aborts democracy we’ll still have bills to pay.
So Rimjob are you telling us your company shouldn’t be able to write off the 100s of millions they’ve squandered over the last 3 years?
How does Beardsley feel about that?
Such a hypocritical dumbfuck.
CumBreath ejaculates another red herring!!
Is there anything the lilliputian CumBreath won’t swallow? LOL
understands nothing but swallows everything! LOL
How does Porter Good feel about that?
So as usual Rimjob, like most liberals, doesn’t have an answer.
Just insults.
Must’ve hit a nerve.
Bwaha! Lolgfy
“The IRS chief said the added 87,000 employees (over 10 years) will not audit those any more than usual.”
And you believe him because the government would NEVER lie to you? You really are a government apparatchik. Idiot. Millionaires and billionaires are audited or reviewed almost every year. I know, my father is one and every year he’s audited. Of course he’s a Republican who happens to live two blocks from Mar-a Lago and as a real estate developer friendly with Trump so he expects the constant harassments by corrupt leftists. They haven’t raided his house to steal everything and sniff Mom’s undies yet but nazi joe’s term isn’t over yet.
I’ve read that CPA’s expect an additional 11 million audits mostly of people self employed or consultants/contractors making under $250 k. And I don’t think Teach believes anybody rich or poor shouldn’t pay their taxes. Your psychotic imbalance is more and more evident in each of your rambling insane comments like:
“We know, we know, nuCons want to end Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, EPA, NIH, FBI, CIA, Dept Transportation, CDC, NASA, NOAA, IRS… essentially cancel everything federal except the military. Slash it all to the bone so white nationalists and the wealthy no longer have to support Blacks, Browns, gays, the lazy, libs, college bums etc. But until the MAGA movement aborts democracy we’ll still have bills to pay.”
Do you ever read any of these silly and childish accusations and assumptions based on bullshit you write? Why would you accuse anybody of this shit without proof? You really have lost all cognitive dissonance and your touch with reality. All this Trump is a traitor shit has gone to your brain and now we are all enemies because we prefer freedom to a dictator stealing elections and our money to give to his constituents. But to you it’s okay to abuse and misuse anyone you disagree with. Sad really.
And once again: this is not a democracy. It’s also not a theocracy. More likely with you leftists in charge it is now an autocracy headed to a full fledged dictatorship since we’re no longer permitted to have opposing opinions.
Paying college kids $10k when they’re “supposed” to earn an extra 1 million$$ over non- college grads in their lifetime is a moral sin. You have the poor paying the rich to get richer. But then you’re a leftist and a denier and a liar so it’s expected.
You should call the IRS with a question and see how long you must wait. They work for us and it’s up to us to assure they have the resources to serve our needs.
AS YOU COMMAND LORD DOWD Mein Fuhrer!!
Jeff,
Obviously, you have never called the IRS. When you do get an agent, they can not answer a question, no matter how simple, because no one can understand the rules.
diva,
You are right, I’ve never called the IRS, but my dear friend who owns an accounting firm does often. She says it’s very difficult to reach a person.
Dearest Elwood:
“Slash it all to the bone so white nationalists and the wealthy no longer have to support Blacks, Browns, gays, the lazy, libs, college bums etc. ”
So you admit they are being supported?
Our dearest James queried: So you admit they are being supported?
No, and I apologize for the confusion. I was mocking the voice of conservatives who consider Blacks, immigrants, gays, libs, college students to be a drain on society.
White nationalists, even those living on government handouts and the occasional sale of meth, consider everyone else inferior to them.
That crazy-azzed white boy Elwood doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And it shows in every comment. White nationalists don’t “support” anybody any how because they’re off the grid like black nationalists (who we all notice you don’t seem to have a problem with even when they burn down cities). None of those fools pay taxes and in fact if the white nationalists are anything like the black nationalists I’ve met they are on welfare and every other handout the federal and state government gives. If you don’t know that Elwood you don’t know shit about the subject.
You may not believe it Elwood but everybody who disagrees with you is not a white nationalist. You seem to have the same deep hate for whites I run across all the time among blacks. Are you black because you sure sound it. Irrational thought, deep seated hate, tunnel vision, a pro-communist outlook. You sound like a BLM leader.
L’Roy,
Black nationalists do not have the means to dominate America, but white nationalists do.
Do you think all those white nationalists who voted for DonJon tRump are on welfare? Do you think commenter diva is on welfare? How about the thousands attacking the US on Jan 6 or the thousands marching in Charleston unite the right riot, recall “Jews Won’t Replace Us!”?
Are you white because you sure sound it. Irrational thought, deep-seated hate, tunnel vision, a pro-fascist outlook?
Do YOU feel/believe/”think” that tRump actually won the 2020 election? If so, that is an “irrational thought”.
Commenter dana remarked that America would be better off if only white property owners could vote, like in the good ol’ days. Do you agree? That doesn’t mean that commenter dana is working to keep the poor, Blacks, Muslims and women from voting but the political movement that he celebrates certainly does. To me, that is supporting white nationalism. All Americans matter and deserve to be heard, even at the polls. Conservatives, being a minority, want only conservatives to vote. Conservatives consider democracy to be a pox on America.
The Black Lives Matter movement was making the point that Black men and women also matter and police should stop shooting and killing them. That seems reasonable to me.
Also, I prefer to be called a crazy hillbilly. My people are from the hills of Missouri by way of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia generations ago. That said, even further back my ancestors lived in Cumberland County NJ amongst the Lenni-Lenape.
The distinguished Mr Dowd got it wrong:
Not quite: I noted that America was better run when only white male property owners could vote.
Maybe with the extra agents Trump’ Audit will be over and he can finally release his taxes as he promised.
The only year we have on record ( because of a court case( he paid only 750$
Shit I pay a lot more than that
Don’t kid yourself, Johnnie boy, but Trump is audited every year.
Have another toke and praise Buddha!
Only about 1 tax filer out of 7 itemized their deductions
Funny-“black nationalists don’t have the means to dominate the country, but white nationalists do”. But Blacks, in the form of BLM or antifa, have the means to destroy cities, as they did several years ago. Close to 2 billion in damages, several hundred police officers injured and about 24 killed. Speaking of “white nationalists”, where are they? Are they in the room with you now…?
“The BLM was making the point that they matter, and police should stop killing them..”. The police? Blacks are killed by and large by other blacks-start there. So the only way to make their point was to burn and loot several major cites with the before mentioned several billion in damages? Total BS, and they don’t get a pass on that.
You white nationalists have captured the once respected GOP and are working state by state to destroy our democratic principles and institutions. We get it.
Of course white nationalists side with the police when it comes to the state killing Black Americans.
What “white nationalists”? What do think this is, a discussion of global warming?
You black nationalists and racists have captured the once respected jackass party and turned it 100% communist along with most American institutions. We don’t have democratic principles and institutions, we are a republic and have a constitution so thugs like you cannot tread all over the minority. So obviously you DON”T GET IT!
Of course black nationalists side with the fascists ANTIFA and the Marxists of BLM because deep down they hate America. Sadly you democommies created the depraved blue cities and the broken families and religious ties that used to hold us blacks together. Now you deniers want to blame it on a non existent white nationalist sect. They estimate about 9000 active white supremacists in America. Multiply that by ten and you have the anti white blacks that murder 50%+ of the blacks killed each year. In YOUR ghettos!
You broke the black race with slavery Elwood, then when the Republican Christians freed them (at the cost of much blood) you broke them again with your KKK. Once they were destroyed you broke us with Jim Crow and then The Great Society and then creation of inner city ghettos and now with BLM and teaching CRT. All you do is destroy us black people. N0w you deny it like you deny every other abomination and atrocity you create. You are all evil.
Shove your racism and anti Christian bigotry up your ass Elwood. We don’t need your hate any more!
The Sage from St Louis wrote:
As of August 24th, there had been 130 homicides in the Gateway City, and 121 of the victims — 101 males and 20 females — have been black. In a city that is slightly less than half black, 93.08% of the murder victims have been black. Of the 84 known perpetrators, 83 (98.81%) have been black.
Is it possible, just possible, that more blacks than whites die at the hands of police officers because blacks commit a disproportionate number of crimes, and seem to resist arrest with greater frequency?
I did notice that the distinguished Mr Dowd has used the Associated Press Stylebook, capitalizing “black” when it refers to race, but leaving “white” in lower case.
The state killing citizens is more serious than citizens killing citizens.
Another absurd comment from the hillbilly mental midget.
L’Roy,
Do you really believe that social liberals were responsible for the slave trade? The Confederacy? The KKK? Jim Crow? Redlining? mInner city ghettos? And no one is teaching CRT.
The Great Society policies DID come from liberal dems, JFK and LBJ.
We’ve all noticed you do this all the time. I never used the term “social liberals” in my life so no, I don’t think they were responsible for the slave trade. I don’t even think democrats were responsible for the slave trade. I do believe the democrat party was responsible for slavery in the southern United States. Don’t you? Who else supported slavery? The Amish? So once again you put words in others mouth to deliberately lie about the topic.
NEXT.
As far as the KKK and Jim Crow is concerned again “social liberals” were not mentioned and if you consider being bigoted, prejudiced and racist as being socially liberal then we have a real problem. But the KKK and Jim Crow were ALL 100% democrats! I know, my father was a victim of your people. Lynching was also a wholly democrat phenomenon.
NEXT!
I never said anything about red lining however if you want to take responsibility for that too we’ll accommodate you. Red lining was done in big cities and they were controlled by democrats. So you figure it out.
NEXT!
The ghettos in America existed as long as poor have but the democrats made them wholly theirs by packing blacks (and now Hispanics) into areas that because of the nature of welfare necessarily became ghettos. They caused it in order to corral their welfare constituent created by the FDR democrat Great Society which I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED created generationally dependent black families and generationally government dependent single parent (mothers) families. That’s all on you guys!
Every time the Republicans tried to reform welfare the democrats FILIBUSTERED.
FINALLY!
I don’t know where you get your information from but even a cursory look at the internet will show regardless how hard leftist deny it CRT is being taught in many schools K-12 and in almost ALL colleges. Just because the leftists change the name does not mean it’s not CRT. Just like because the leftists change the definition of a recession does not mean we aren’t in one. Don’t lie to us Elwood. It makes you look stupid. It makes your party look stupid.
The Civil Rights Act (1964) was pushed by Presidents Kennedy (D-MA) and Johnson (D-TX), not Republicans. A Civil Rights Act (1957) had been proposed by President Eisenhower (R-KS? NY?) but was weakened by Southerners in Congress (e.g., Strom Thurmond (D-SC)) but pushed through by Senator Lyndon Johnson (D-TX). Thurmond ran for president in 1948 from the segregationist Dixiecrat Party.
Johnson was prescient. As a Southern racist himself, what did Johnson know about his brethren? Sixty years later, white conservatives (now Republicans!) still dominate the South.
This wasn’t/isn’t a party problem, it was/is a Southern problem!! What was/is the matter with Southern white men??
That’s all well and good Elwood but you are still the party of slavery and racism.. Even today you are racists. You are a denier but that doesn’t change the fact that you discriminate against White and Asians every chance you get.
BTW, Republicans are not conservatives. Conservatives are separate but vote R because you guys force us to by being communists and refusing to admit it. Try to keep up with the times Elwood.
While you discriminate against the chosen loosers (now the Whites and Asians) in favor of you chosen pets (now the illegals, Moslems, blacks, trannies and Hispanics) You show your bigotry and hate for all to see.
The red wave is gonna sweep your asses away. Unless you cheat like hell again.
Prescient indeed, Rimjob.
You mean the same Dems who filibustered the Civil Rights and the Voting Rights Acts in the 1960’s?
L’Roy,
Would you be so kind as to supply a simple definition of the Critical Race Theory being taught in public schools?
Is it the learning of history? The Little Rock Nine? Ruby Bridges? Slavery? Bull Connor? 1921 Tulsa Massacre? Brown vs Board? Factual discussions about differences in median income and wealth by race? Incarceration? Gun violence?
Is there such a thing as systemic or institutional racism in America?
Anyway, just because state GOPhers want to control teachers it doesn’t mean that kids don’t understand the world.
“Would you be so kind as to supply a simple definition of the Critical Race Theory being taught in public schools?”
Sorry, I would not. It’s too time consuming and it’s all available to you on the internet. If you are even remotely aware of what’s going on in this country you should have an idea of CRT.
You go on to mention “Is it the learning of history? The Little Rock Nine? Ruby Bridges? Slavery? Bull Connor? 1921 Tulsa Massacre? Brown vs Board? Factual discussions about differences in median income and wealth by race? Incarceration? Gun violence?” as if that is CRT. Those things (all negative to America and White people for some reason) are taught all over and have been for years. You were taught them and so was I so obviously they are not what I again, AS A BLACK MAN am referring to.
“Is there such a thing as systemic or institutional racism in America?”
Of course there is and has been since Affirmative Action. Blacks are systematically given priority in education, hiring, business loans and grants, housing, and a myriad of social and cultural opportunities. All on the basis that 150 years ago blacks were slaves. There is a great deal of racist admission policies in colleges as you should know. The democrat party practices systemic racism every time it picks and chooses black winners and loosers among the population. Democrats just can’t seem to keep their noses out of the shit they created whereas all Republicans want is to be left alone. And you democrats can’t even do that. Every time democrats and leftist make excuses for black crime, black incarceration, and the general violence of blacks it is systematic racism. And every time an Asian or White student are not admitted to a school even though their grades are higher the democrats have exercised institutional racism. The fact that the democrats have things like the Congressional BLACK Caucus proves their racism. The fact that democrats are attached at the hip to BLM, the NAACP and SPLC shows a disrespect toward White people and all Americans.
Every time the democrats allow blacks to burn down cities, loot stores, murder cops, murder black citizens without saying a word PLUS, bail them out of jail they show systematic racism. I could go on. The racist crimes of the democrats are legion.
“Anyway, just because state GOPhers want to control teachers it doesn’t mean that kids don’t understand the world.”
As usual you project your own moral and intellectual shortcomings on others. The GOP does not want to “control teachers” they just don’t want communists to do it. They want their children taught by people who love America and who have respect for their fellow citizens. IOW, not you!
Rimjob always wants others to do the work for him.
Typical liberal.