today

Glory be. Hallelujah.

HOUSE GOP SLASHES IRS TAX ENFORCEMENT BUDGET.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_SPENDING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-15-12-25-57

They cut the IRS enforcement budget by 25%, $1.2 billion.

That means that there will be fewer audits.

The article goes on to say that will mean that those who cheat on their taxes will get away with it. This is bullshit. Most of the policing of that kind of thing happens at the tax preparer, not the tax payer. The system wouldn’t work without professional tax preparers. And in my experience, there’s very little attempt to cheat on taxes.  And nobody wants to be affiliated with a cheater. It doesn’t matter whether the odds are 1% or half of 1%, the odds are too high for most people.  Besides most people aren’t cheats. If anyone is cheating, it’s the government, and then they lie about it.

So who would you trust? The taxpayer or the government? Remember that line? I’m from the government and I’m here to help. ???

Worrying about cheaters is stupid.  The AP should worry about honest taxpayers that get audited. I think it’s a great move. It probably won’t last, but … If you’ve ever been audited, you know what I’m talking about.  You weren’t cheating, but you got audited anyway, and you were treated like a cheater. That’s the way it goes. But this is America, we have decent people, and very, very few of them cheat.

The IRS is doing too many audits anyway. They don’t have the talent to legitimately do half that many. Even the appeals agents, who are supposed to be the best of the best, are highly questionable. I’ve told the story before about an Appeals agent who questioned whether I actually exist because my signature didn’t match.  ???  Match with what?  It took me a week to find her boss so he could straighten her out.

Besides …

Why would you be stupid enough to cheat when there are so many completely legal ways to cut tax to the legal minimum?  You wouldn’t of course. Rhetorical question.

And where did all those ways to cut tax come from?  From the United States Congress.

When we cut tax to the legal minimum, we are doing it completely legally.