Mr. Nice Guy days are over, IRS chief says

[Judi Lynn]

March 30, 2005, 8:45PM

Mr. Nice Guy days are over, IRS chief says
Those making $100,000-plus much more likely to be audited
By RYAN J. DONMOYER
Bloomberg News

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson has a message for wealthy Americans and U.S. corporations: After almost a decade of going easy on taxpayers, the tax collector is playing tough again.

The IRS has increased audits of those who earn more than $100,000 by 40 percent in the past two years, has begun examining companies' current tax bills instead of ones that are five or six years old and has taken aim at shelters.

The agency also is stepping up the fight against fraud. Last month, IRS criminal investigators made the biggest bust in agency history when they apprehended Orbital Recovery Corp. Chief Executive Officer Walter Anderson.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of evading $210 million in taxes. He pleaded not guilty and was denied bail.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3110222
(Free registration is required)

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. I want to see this guy go after ANY of the NeoCons....he won't last long.

[applegrove]

2. Wow - I guess we can all jump for joy. These people get a tax break

and now FREE TAX ASSESSMENTS. Does it ever end.

Seriously.. are we supposed to swallow this? The implication is that Bush is tough on the elites. And I cannot wait until Bush uses that in a speech. By the way.. there is a new tax cut for the wealthy in the works plus a couple of free tax shelters in some new bills.

What a load of crap.

[retread]

3. Translation-- Look out NAACP, AARP, and any other group advocating

policies not previously approved by Karl Rove!

[leftofcool]

5. Also Amnesty International,

ALL human rights groups, any AIDS clinics currently receiving federal funding (if there are any left)all environmental groups and the list goes on.

Left of Cool

[Boomer]

4. Mostly bluster

Also excerpted from the article:

"IRS watchdogs such as Susan Long, a Syracuse University management professor who has tracked IRS enforcement statistics since the 1970s, say Everson's tough talk is mostly bluster.

For one thing, she said, the audit rate for those earning more than $100,000 is still half of what it was in 1996."

[fasttense]

6. Yeah the IRS is too busy auditing the middle class

to bother auditing the real cheats. I got audited by the IRS when I was in the Navy. I had to dig up three years worth of records. I can tell you I was nervous. I got a good accountant and the IRS ended up owing me. The IRS ended up giving me back $2,100. I guess it was easier for them to audit me than to audit one of those big companies. Especially since I was in the Navy and they could easily hunt me down.

[hector459]

7. $100,000 or more? $100,000 is hardly wealthy. threshold should be at

least $250,000 or I see a lot of middle income families being caught up in this and being targeted at the expense of the real wealthy people who will continue to excape. A family of four living on $100,000 is not "poor" but they are hardly "wealthy."

[Stuckinthebush]

8. My thoughts exactly

In today's dollars, a family of four or five on 100,000 is fast being considered middle class.

With the decline of the dollar, 100K families will be middle class before this time next year.

[Tippy]

9. All Smoke and Mirrors...n/t