Free Republic

The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention is using the city's gas pumps to fill up on fuel, avoiding state and federal highway taxes, officials said today. "There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them, and that concerns me," Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz said. The issue came up during the council's weekly meeting with Mayor John Hickenlooper when the Public Works Department requested authorization to be reimbursed by the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee for use of "fueling...

Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme. The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country's bank secrecy laws. He is now in hiding but scheduled to testify to the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Thursday via a video statement from a secret location, according to Congressional investigators....

Tax compliance factsThe tax gap affects all taxpayers.In her testimony before Congress, Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, said the following regarding the impact of noncompliance on taxpayers, in general: “If we divide the 2001 net tax gap estimate of $255 billion by 130 million individual taxpayers, we can see that each of those taxpayers in 2001 paid, on average, an extra $2,000 to subsidize the unwillingness or inability of some taxpayers to pay their fair share.”1 In 2001 the average taxpayer paid $8,265 in taxes. With an estimated tax gap – which is the difference between what taxpayers should...

Merck & Co. is immediately suspending its lobbying campaign to persuade state legislatures to mandate that adolescent girls get the company's new vaccine against cervical cancer as a requirement for school attendance, the company said late Tuesday. The drugmaker had been criticized by parents and doctors' groups for quietly funding the campaign via a third party to require 11- and 12-year-old girls get the three-dose vaccine in order to attend school. Some had objected because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted disease, human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer. Vaccines mandated for school attendance usually are for diseases easily...

Ty Martin estimates he gets about 100 miles per gallon of diesel out of his old Dodge truck. And he’s not joking. “I’ve done some extensive road testing and had great luck,” the Lawrence resident said. Martin is one of a small but growing group of drivers who are skirting rising gas prices and taking what they see as a more environmentally friendly route by fueling their cars with used restaurant grease. “It’s something that’s really taken off in the last two years,” said Josiah Cuneo, production manager for Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems, a Massachusetts-based company that sells the kits...

GREELEY, Colo. — Federal agents raided six Swift & Co. processing plants in six states on Tuesday in search of illegal immigrants who stole the identities of lawful U.S. residents and used their Social Security numbers to get jobs at the beef and pork company. Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency executed search warrants at Swift's processing facilities in Greeley, Colo.; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn. ICE officials did not have an arrest total but said workers were being arrested on administrative immigration violations and in some cases, existing criminal arrest...

Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents raided six Swift & Co. plants this morning with civil search warrants, arresting illegal immigrants working at the plants. Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE public affairs officer, said they don’t have any numbers on how many people will be taken out of any of the plants and probably won’t have that number until Wednesday. She said Swift is not facing any charges right now, but the investigation is continuing. “At this point, a civil search warrant allows us to search the premises to find any illegal aliens. The strong point here is that a lot of...

October 7, 2006 New York -- Six officials of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club stole $1.2 million from the group, money meant for needy kids and seniors, a city probe has found. Investigations Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn calls it "disgusting" - the worst case of wrongdoing by a non-profit contractor she's seen since taking office. Thank goodness the thieves will be going to jail for a very long time - and paying back every cent, and then some. Well, actually, that's not quite true. In fact, nobody is going to jail. Not even for a single day. And...

US Muslims Gear up for Nov. Elections DALLAS — American Muslims have set up voter registration booths in mosques across the United States to encourage fellow Muslim voters to sign up for the November mid-term elections. "We have set up booths in 150 mosques across the country in the past two weeks," Mukit Hossain, a political consultant to the Muslim American Society which is championing the drive, told Reuters Saturday, September 30. American Muslims have also established a website to enable Muslim voters to register online. Hossain said about 10,000 were estimated to have been registered to date, expecting "tens...

A couple of days before the 2004 presidential election, an Episcopal clergyman named George Regas delivered a sermon to congregants in Pasadena in the form of a mock debate among Jesus, President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry over the Iraq war. Regas left no doubt about his anti-war sentiments, saying that Jesus would have told Bush that the war "has led to disaster," but did not specifically endorse anyone in the election. Eight months later, however, All Saints Episcopal Church received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service declaring "a reasonable belief ... that you may not be a...

Giving Congress up to September 21 to stop the invasion of Iraq, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus of Washington D.C., and Church of God and Christ minister, plans to lead a press conference in front of the White House to protest the war in Iraq on Thursday (Sept. 21). Yearwood, citing a moral obligation, says that he, along with 270 cities and 350 organizations nationwide, will no longer be passive observers of Bush's War on Terror. "We are in a time of peril in which people of morals have to stand up. We are willing to...

They may be here illegally, but tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants are expected to abide by Uncle Sam's rules by filing tax returns — with the hope of someday becoming U.S. citizens. Though there is no way of knowing how many people are filing taxes in response to the national debate on immigration, Southern California tax preparers are seeing a steady stream of clients eager to be on record as taxpayers. "There has definitely been an increase," said Noemi Munoz, a senior tax advisor at H&R Block in Los Angeles. "After whatever they've heard on TV, I guess that's...

The story of this nation has been collectively written by the immigrant pen. Titled “The American Dream,” this wildly successful and popular tale is about to gain a new author. Yet instead of simply writing the next verse, this wave of immigrant authors seems intent on starting a new book. There is no longer satisfaction with building for the future; an entitlement culture has grown. This contemporary tale is to be authored by illegal immigrants, but the pen, paper, and publishing are paid for by the American taxpayer. Not offended yet? Soon. When reading this piece, remember that the term...

The opening of a formal center for day laborers in Herndon on Wednesday brought a new fervor to a debate that has raged since August, drawing roughly as many demonstrators as laborers to the site. Even before sunrise, demonstrators had installed themselves at the perimeters of the Herndon Official Workers Center at 1481 Sterling Road. Two ideologically opposed groups stood intermingled: those protesting the center, and those protesting the protesters. The demonstrators, bracing themselves against temperatures in the low teens, did not at first verbally confront each other, letting the battle play out in the air above them. “Change Your...

A private company that provides health care services for the federal government received more than $300,000 from the Treasury last year. That is unremarkable. What is remarkable, however, is that the company owes more than $18 million in back taxes. And at the same time the company was cheating taxpayers, its owner bought several multimillion-dollar properties and a fleet of luxury cars. Another contractor, which last year provided security guards for the Department of Homeland Security at a cost of $200,000, owes more than $400,000 in unpaid taxes. Its owner has repeatedly failed to file individual income taxes and has...

ALBANY, May 26 - As they move to thwart the illegal trade of cigarettes over the Internet, state officials have joined colleagues from around the nation in persuading the major credit card companies to stop processing payments for online cigarette sales. Additionally, the state has enacted a law prohibiting the shipment of cigarettes to its residents and banned private carriers, like FedEx, from shipping cigarettes. But as state officials fight illegal online cigarette sales, one operation is not falling into line - the United States Postal Service, which officials say delivers the bulk of illegally purchased cigarettes to New Yorkers....

WASHINGTON - Several Senate Democrats said Wednesday the government should crack down on businesses that evade taxes before Congress considers Social Security or tax changes. "We should not cut the benefits of any law-abiding retiree by one dime or raise the taxes of any law-abiding worker by one dime until we have done our best to ensure that all taxpayers are complying with the current tax laws," said Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record) of Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for taxation, told lawmakers that the government...

State Collects $2.5 Million in Taxes on Tobacco Bought Online The Associated Press Published: May 25, 2005 LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The state Treasury Department has sent letters to about 2,800 residents ordering them to pay the $2-a-pack cigarette tax on their Internet tobacco purchases. The letters seek an average of $3,200 from each buyer, department spokesman Terry Stanton said. The crackdown, which started in February with about 500 letters, already has netted $2.5 million. The state eventually could target thousands more Michigan smokers as more vendors respond to subpoenas demanding information about online cigarette purchases made since 2001. Two...

States mails tax bills totaling $27,000 to 63 residents, including five from county. Per-pack levy of $1.35 still owed on Net sales. The beleaguered smoker, exiled to windy doorways, paying ever-increasing prices and now … getting hefty bills from the state? That’s what happened in February. With the winter winds still whipping through the Wyoming Valley, five Luzerne County residents opened their mail to find insult added to injury. The state Department of Revenue had sent letters asking them to pony up the taxes they hadn’t paid on cartons of cigarettes they had bought online. The letters were the ultimate...

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is cracking down on crooked businesses that use made-up expenses to duck paying millions in city and state taxes. High-flying companies looking to hide their profits write whopping expense checks to suppliers they invent, then cash them using commercial check cashers. The simple ploy is so blatant that one phony firm brazenly called itself F.U.U.S., short for "F - - - You, United States," the DA said. "And they joked about that," said Morgenthau. "The check casher they were using was called Central Cleaners." The rip-off has gone on for more than 30 years, robbing...

Deer play on fenced land near Spring above a huge underground reservoir holding the natural gas supply keeping Houstonians warm this winter. The large herd also allows Houston Pipe Line Co. to receive a special agricultural valuation on its property, saving the company $400,000 in taxes it otherwise would owe Spring Independent School District. In suburban Austin, a 1,757-acre ranch owned by Michael Dell has what Travis County appraisers call a "well-managed deer herd" that reduces the ranch's market value of $74.8 million to an agriculture value of $290,000. Dell, founder of the computer company that made him the second-richest...

I know that this is long, but I have done a bit of the research for you. Front companies and 501c3's, 527's, common membership lists, names, donors, etc. There's more going on than one might at first think. As many of you don't seem to get it, I posted it separately. Pay attention and read it, then send it to someone who will listen. Some few of the links may be outdated. Everything you need to connect Kerry from the DNC to Soros to 527's is here. From ACORN to voter fraud to vandilism and violence to things you never...

...Alas, giving Americans a financial interest in turning the IRS loose on their fellow citizens is precisely the thrust of a measure that Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley has included in the Senate version of a corporate tax bill. The idea is to encourage people to inform on tax cheats by giving them a hunk of whatever the IRS ends up collecting. It's all modeled on a 1986 amendment to the False Claims Act, which Mr. Grassley also introduced and which allows people to win a percentage of any money they reveal was stolen from the government in fraud cases...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 - With a newly robust endowment burning holes in its not-for-profit pockets, National Public Radio is in the midst of a major expansion. But NPR's ambition has stirred anxiety within the public radio system over how to preserve the character and financial viability of local stations in the ever larger shadow of the national production service they created more than 30 years ago as a modest support operation. NPR, a member organization governed in part by local stations, is pumping $15 million into its news division over the next three years, using interest from a recent bequest...

They danced, clapped, shouted and sang, and that was before the Rev. Al Sharpton even opened his mouth. By the time the former presidential candidate finished his sermon to more than a thousand people gathered in a Miami church Sunday, blending politics and religion into a call to action to South Florida's black community, congregation members churned with energy. When he was done, Sharpton introduced the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. McAuliffe apologized to the congregation for the 2000 election and for not being in Florida to stop voting problems.

LOS ANGELES (Talon News) -- After being recently named the subject of several complaints of racism and discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Los Angeles-based chapter of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood now faces another formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Justice Department. The group is being charged with actively campaigning for and supporting Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry. Lively & Ackerman law firm filed their complaint with the Department of Justice on August 25, 2004 alleging several electioneering violations by Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles, California. Since the group is a tax-exempt...

<p>OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A recent Sunday found Tina Kolm changing her morning routine. Instead of attending a Unitarian Universalist service, she was at the Lenexa Christian Center, paying close attention to a conservative minister's sermon about the importance of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex "marriage."</p>

With the April 15 deadline looming, an overwhelming share of Wisconsin residents say it's wrong to cheat on their income taxes. But, that said, many suspect that others still try to bend the rules, according to the latest Badger Poll. Ninety-one percent of those surveyed say citizens have an obligation to be completely honest when they fill out their tax forms. Only 5 percent said it's OK to cut corners. Asked to assess what share of their fellow taxpayers are completely honest in filing taxes, 48 percent answered "almost all" or "most of them." But 42 percent responded that "only...

Tax scofflaws, beware! A pack of digital bloodhounds may be on your trail. State revenue agencies across the nation are hunting for tax evaders with new high-tech tools: computer programs that mine an increasing number of databases for clues on the finances of people and businesses. If your name is flagged, expect a letter or a call. "It's the new trend. It's where everybody is headed," said Verenda Smith, government affairs associate at the Federation of Tax Administrators, which represents state tax agencies. "The greatest value of these systems is in finding patterns that the human eye isn't that good...

SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- Liberal anti-Bush online political activist group MoveOn.org sent a warning message to its members this week regarding the upcoming ruling by the Federal Election Commission about the legality of so-called 527 groups accepting soft campaign contributions to run political ads."The Republican National Committee is pressing the Federal Election Commission to issue new rules that would cripple groups that dare to communicate with the public in any way critical of President Bush or members of Congress," MoveOn.org charged in an e-mail to supporters.In the e-mail, MoveOn.org attempts to scare "conservative, progressive, labor, religious, secular, social...

With more American companies and individuals suspected of evading taxes, the U.S. government is cracking down on tax cheats at all levels, said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, who is in Denver today to help coordinate enforcement efforts with state officials. Two months before 2003 tax returns are due, Everson is traveling around the country to sound the alarm about tens of billions of dollars in lost government revenue.According to Everson and the IRS:About 15 percent of taxpayers didn't pay in 2001, shorting the government of $311 billion. The IRS expects to recover only $55 billion of that amount.Enforcement staff at...

With the federal government facing soaring budget deficits in the years ahead, there is one way to raise substantial revenues without increasing taxes: Go after the tax cheats. According to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, the use of abusive tax-avoidance schemes designed to hide income overseas has spiked in the past two years, and the Internal Revenue Service is not doing enough to crack down. Yes, the IRS is the agency Congress and the rest of us love to hate, but it is as vital to the workings of government as the electricity that keeps the...

Candidate: Howard Dean Category: Intellectual Honesty Grade: F Deanophiles love to spin their candidate's weaknesses into strengths--arrogance is a sign of conviction, tactlessness is straight-talk, and so forth. So I'm curious to see how they'll spin the latest Dean misstep: hypocrisy. Turns out that while old Howard has been bashing the coziness of the Bush administration with corporate America, Vermont has quietly become the leading state for a dubious tax-break scheme known as "captive insurance"--under Dean's direction. As reported in today's Boston Globe, captive insurance is essentially a way to shield corporate profits from state taxes. It starts when a...

<p>The Internal Revenue Service is investigating accusations that the National Education Association spent millions of dollars in members' dues on unreported political activities.</p> <p>NEA President Ray Weaver confirmed the IRS probe — sparked by accusations from a Virginia-based watchdog group — Sunday during an interview in a Fox News Channel special called "Breaking Point: Education in America."</p>

The Internal Revenue Service has been waging a high-profile attack on corporate tax evaders, but the agency's new chief warns that midlevel and low-income tax cheaters had better watch out too. "I think that we have to address this vigorously," IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said in an interview with The Associated Press. Everson, who is six months into a five-year term, said he wanted to make enforcement just as important as customer service, the agency's main focus for the past five years. The changed emphasis comes as a survey conducted for the IRS Oversight Board shows the number of...

Greenpeace soon may find itself less green — in the pocketbook. Public Interest Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based charitable oversight group, filed a "tax challenge" with the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service on September 22. PIW's complaint questions the tax-exempt status of Greenpeace Fund, the nonprofit wing of the global environmental activist organization. "We looked at several high-profile, well-known nonprofits for violations, and Greenpeace's was by far the worst," says Mike Hardiman, executive director of PIW. "This was a target-rich environment," he adds by phone, "because Greenpeace's violations are so blatant and egregious." Specifically, PIW accuses Washington-based Greenpeace of shifting...

<p>LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney Co. has settled a $20-million "whistle-blower" lawsuit brought by a former executive who says she was fired for refusing to help the company allegedly cheat the IRS. The case, scheduled to go to trial Jan. 27, was settled late last week, the Los Angeles Times reported. The terms were not disclosed.</p>

The Justice Department this week moved on several fronts against tax evasion and the promotion of evasion schemes. Such moves had become so rare in recent years that promoters boasted about not paying taxes and won clients with claims that the government's not coming after them proved that taxes are voluntary. The most significant development came in Las Vegas, where an eight-year prison sentence was imposed on Max C. Tanner, 55, a former Internal Revenue Service lawyer who evaded $2 million in taxes on profits from a stock swindle. Mr. Tanner, who was taken directly to prison, was also fined...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - No. 1 computer hard disk drive maker Seagate Technology Inc. on Friday filed to raise as much as $1 billion in a proposed initial stock offering that would partially reverse the deal two years ago which took the company private. Since going private, Cayman Islands-based Seagate has extended its share of the market for high-end drives to around 60 percent as well as competing for the top spot selling drives for personal computers. "The company is performing very well right now -- which is another risk for...