Posted on 01/06/2012 5:19:38 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Unpaid taxes: IRS report says $450 billion owed
WASHINGTON (AP) — People and businesses underpaid their taxes by an estimated 17 percent in the most recent year studied, meaning they failed to send the government $450 billion it was owed, according to an Internal Revenue Service report released Friday.
The study covered 2006, the most recent for which the IRS said it had data available. The amount of underpaid taxes far exceeded the size of the entire federal budget deficit at the time.
After IRS audits and other enforcement efforts, non-compliance shrank to 14 percent, leaving the final amount of unpaid taxes at $385 billion.
That is still larger than the budget deficit for fiscal 2006, which was $248 billion. Fiscal years begin in October of the previous year.
Altogether, the IRS estimates it was owed nearly $2.7 trillion in taxes in 2006.
Since then, federal deficits have mushroomed out of control, hitting a record $1.4 trillion in 2009 and barely receding to $1.3 trillion last year. President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress have agreed to some spending cuts but have remained deadlocked over how to curb the massive budget shortfalls that are projected indefinitely.
The IRS has made efforts to improve compliance, such as increasing oversight of professional tax return preparers and increasing the information that must be reported to the agency by stock brokers, mutual fund companies and for some business transactions.
Even so, tax analysts said there was no reason to believe that today's compliance rate has changed significantly from the 2006 figures. That is chiefly because significant portions of the underpaid taxes are believed to come from businesses and individuals who report information about their income that is difficult for the IRS to verify.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
I suppose we will have to allow the government to shake each one of us upside down by the ankles to see what falls out of our pockets. That should increase “compliance”.
It's a kind of a game with them.
Then, there are other problems. At one point ~ kind of in answer to your question about "cost" - IRS was spending 30% of their total budget auditing personal income tax filings where EITC was claimed.
That had the prospect of "recovering" no more than $50 billion ~ which was the total cost of the EITC program.
Here's a claim about HALF A TRILLION, 10 times EITC, and they just couldn't spare the effort.
Having been deeply involved in a thorough examination of the way IRS paid postage, I actually have doubts that agency, or its bosses at Treasury Department, know what an "audit" is!
That was a totally surreal project ~ audit IRS ~ and it wasn't just that they didn't pay the correct amount, they had no one who had a clue who would know how to do that.
The IRS makes estimates the way the politicians estimated body counts during the Vietnam war.
What do criminals, welfare recipients, and the bureaucrats in the District of Criminals have in common?
They all feel entitled to your hard-earned money!
Pay or die!
That is about the same amount the irs has spent on their computer system that still mails a letter to collect five cents.
Mark 12:14-17:
14And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
15Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.
16And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s.
17And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.
The only ones who don’t abide are the Godless ones.
This is just more government BS like the unemployment numbers released today. If the buffoons at the IRS really want to impress Americans with their bean counting techniques, they need to RELEASE THE NAMES AND AMOUNTS OF TAXES OWED!
I you have any money left in a bank account or any loose change in your pocket you’ve underpaid your taxes according to Obama & his Democrat Party. Penalty: Five years in an Obama/Democrat Party gulag for you.
More stories like this will appear, giving support to further, more aggressive harrassment of working taxpayers. Meanwhile, the growing incidence of fraud from non-taxpayers (EITC fraud, “first time homebuyer” fraud, etc.), will continue to go unpunished.
Ask Corrizine where it is. I think the Fed Res. has it!
-——The study covered 2006, the most recent for which the IRS said it had data available. The amount of underpaid taxes far exceeded the size of the entire federal budget deficit at the time.-——
How soon we forget that under Bush deficits were only billionc and not trillions like today
That 450 billion MUST include penalties .....
Is this wishful thinking when measuring the IRS demands against what tax courts actually typically do?
Good. I hope the amount doubles, then triples.
You got to ask as well whether IRS estimates are overoptimistic about how much tax should be reaped. They may be assuming certain under the table activity out there which is far smaller than assumed if not nonexistent.
It means that that is what is owed before any deductions are taken and the amount owed is computed at the highest rate.
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