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IRS workers see double standard on tax errors
Chicago Tribune ^ | April 15, 2009 | Tom Hamburger and Ralph Vartabedian

Posted on 04/15/2009 5:49:15 AM PDT by reaganaut1

The Treasury secretary, who oversees the IRS, didn't pay all his taxes. Neither did five other top nominees for the Obama administration, or their spouses.

Now, [...] some Americans are wondering why they should comply with the arcane requirements of the [IRS] when top administration officials failed to do the same. Even some IRS employees are upset at what they see as a double standard.

The most criticized example has been Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who admitted not paying $34,000 in payroll and Social Security taxes, saying his failure to pay was an oversight. Five other nominees disclosed similar tax issues, including one as recently as two weeks ago when Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama's pick for secretary of health and human services, admitted she didn't pay $7,040.

"Our members are upset and angry," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, referring to concern bubbling up within the IRS over unusually strict rules that can cost agents their jobs if they make a mistake.

In some cases, IRS employees have lost jobs for simply filing a late return or failing to report a few hundred dollars of interest income.

...

Robert Schriebman, a California tax lawyer who has testified before Congress, said his clients are seething over the tough treatment they get from the IRS, while some in the president's Cabinet apparently were able to duck paying their taxes.

"Politically powerful people are less likely to get bothered by the IRS," Schriebman said. "It is more than a question of fairness. Not only is the IRS looking away from confronting influential people, the IRS is getting a lot tougher and nastier toward the little guy."

IRS employees have reported that taxpayers are occasionally citing the Geithner case when they are asked to pay their tax bills.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: geithner; irs; taxes; taxevasion
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1 posted on 04/15/2009 5:49:16 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

note my tagline


2 posted on 04/15/2009 5:50:46 AM PDT by silverleaf (We live in interesting times: now the entire IRS works for a tax evader)
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To: reaganaut1
"Politically powerful people are less likely to get bothered by the IRS," Schriebman said

Unless they annoy Bill Clinton.

3 posted on 04/15/2009 5:51:13 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (American Revolution II -- overdue)
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To: reaganaut1

“IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told reporters Monday that there is no discrimination when it comes to tax enforcement.”

LOLOLOLOLOL


4 posted on 04/15/2009 5:53:40 AM PDT by patton (I hope that they fight to the death and both sides win.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Or accuse hime of rape. Every one of them got audited, did they not?


5 posted on 04/15/2009 5:55:00 AM PDT by patton (I hope that they fight to the death and both sides win.)
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To: silverleaf

The IRS employees are concerned about double standards? Double standards are part and parcel of liberalism.


6 posted on 04/15/2009 5:55:25 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: reaganaut1

Union members don’t like serfdom?


7 posted on 04/15/2009 5:56:27 AM PDT by blam
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To: reaganaut1
The IRS has a Union?

Johnny Carson.........."I didn't know that."

8 posted on 04/15/2009 5:57:21 AM PDT by Deaf Smith
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To: reaganaut1; Mrs. B.S. Roberts

SHUT UP, YOU PEASANTS.
Who do you think you are? Citizens of the United States?
Accept your status and show proper respect to your betters.
Come to think of it..isn’t that the attitude that caused the American, French, Russian and a few other revolutions?
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.


9 posted on 04/15/2009 5:58:00 AM PDT by CaptainAmiigaf (NY Times: We print the news as it fits our views)
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To: reaganaut1
In some cases, IRS employees have lost jobs for simply filing a late return or failing to report a few hundred dollars of interest income.

Not a bad rule, IMO. I think all types of law enforcement ought to be subject to similar types of rules.

10 posted on 04/15/2009 6:00:02 AM PDT by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
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To: reaganaut1
"Politically powerful people are less likely to get bothered by the IRS,"

Think about it...if you are a mid-level IRS employee and the tax return of a highly connected political person shows a red flag. Is it more likely to be career ending move to ignore it or to flag it?

The system is increasingly, stinkingly corrupt. Obama didn't select for tax evaders, but it seems obvious that it was hard not to have some in his nominees, because the well-connected don't worry about cutting corners. Either they get away with it, or if they don't, the penalties are waived.

11 posted on 04/15/2009 6:00:27 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
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To: 17th Miss Regt

liberals like to pounce on “hypocrisy”- lapses by people who claim to have standards, moral or otherwise.

That’s why a David Letterman with a 4 yr old bastard child can make jokes about a Bristol Palin’s 2 month old bastard child

people with no standards can’t lapse, and therefore can’t be hypcrites- .


12 posted on 04/15/2009 6:00:43 AM PDT by silverleaf (We live in interesting times: now the entire IRS works for a tax evader)
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To: reaganaut1
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told reporters Monday that there is no discrimination when it comes to tax enforcement.

Sure....but didn't Geithner get out of penalties, same with the others. Don't think that'd happen to your normal Joe.

We need a test case, LOL, someone willing to not pay, then claim equal protection under the law and use Geitner, Sebelius, Daschle, as examples.

13 posted on 04/15/2009 6:02:28 AM PDT by dawn53
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To: reaganaut1
IRS employees have reported that taxpayers are occasionally citing the Geithner case when they are asked to pay their tax bills.

And angry Tea Party tax payers are targeted as militants by Homeland Security.

Every Democrat who is on record saying taxes on the rich are too low should be audited for the last 8 years. If they failed to pay any of the "too little" that they owed, they should be jailed.

14 posted on 04/15/2009 6:06:09 AM PDT by The Brush
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To: reaganaut1
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who admitted not paying $34,000 in payroll and Social Security taxes

Spiro Agrew did not pay tax on $29,000 in one year and it cost him the Vice Presidency. Of course he was a Republican so, y' know...

15 posted on 04/15/2009 6:06:12 AM PDT by Poison Pill (Help, I've voted Republican and I can't get up!)
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To: reaganaut1

Silly me. When I read the title I thought that some IRS employees might actually care about the public they serve - how refreshing! Then I read it and discovered that they were bit&hing about their own treatment.


16 posted on 04/15/2009 6:06:48 AM PDT by lafroste (gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
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To: dawn53

Of course Geithner and obama’s bunch got out of ANY punishment for their crimes..., uhh, I mean -OVERSIGHTS.

As I wrote my congress-critter, I’d be serving time in jail while my wife scraped up $$ for the interest and penalties if it were me - an average citizen in this Nazi state we’re headed for.


17 posted on 04/15/2009 6:06:58 AM PDT by J40000
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To: reaganaut1

Dems see taxes as something that the ordinary slobs pay while they live high and mighty on our money.


18 posted on 04/15/2009 6:07:53 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (leftism is madness)
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To: Leftism is Mentally Deranged

Todays sign at the Tea Party.

A Tax Cheat Runs the IRS.

Any questions?


19 posted on 04/15/2009 6:09:58 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (I am a right wing extremist. God Bless America)
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To: reaganaut1

how much did these people pay in interest and penalties?


20 posted on 04/15/2009 6:30:41 AM PDT by zek157
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