Taxes

Author	Message
BarryAZ Send message Joined: 1 Apr 01 Posts: 2480 Credit: 7,455,839 RAC: 13,655	Message 1296679 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 20:09:48 UTC - in response to Message 1296654.
	Gary -- good point regarding the tax lawyer you had dinner with -- I suspect he wasn't working by himself and was paid more than the IRS folks he jousts with. My sense is that we have way too complex tax code. That is not on the IRS -- that's on our Congress -- and the VERY effective lobbyists who essentially write the tax code. The tax code (personal and especially corporate) is a scavenger hunt. Folks (and especially companies with the resources) can be very good at finding ways to minimize their tax burden far below the 'nominal' tax rates. I am all for simplifying the code. As I noted earlier, I don't have a problem dropping the tax rates on corporations while doing that simplification. While the net effect might not be to reduce taxes for some of the especially effective scavenger hunting firms, it might reduce their costs as the let go of much of their corps of tax lawyers. For firms without corps of lawyers and not as adept at the scavenger hunt -- they might well see real tax payment reductions. Oh, and in pushing for true tax code simplification, we might also see reduced employment for scavenger hunt creating lobbyists.
	ID: 1296679 ·

betreger Send message Joined: 29 Jun 99 Posts: 1065 Credit: 2,009,006 RAC: 2,662	Message 1296684 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 20:26:28 UTC - in response to Message 1296654.
	. . . but lawyers are special bottom feeding scum. :) Thanks. That's a promotion from ambulance chasing blood-sucker. And I ate dinner with a tax lawyer for a fortune 500 company last night. For those of you who wonder that company has 10 offices just for IRS persons who are there year round. Your tax dollars at work. Gary, the IRS generates a profit, Typically if it costs more to persecute than they think they will get they don't waste their time. They try to operate as a business. ____________
	ID: 1296684 ·

Gary Charpentier Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 10324 Credit: 5,092,543 RAC: 6,298	Message 1296692 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 21:04:26 UTC - in response to Message 1296684.
	persecute ? ____________
	ID: 1296692 ·

betreger Send message Joined: 29 Jun 99 Posts: 1065 Credit: 2,009,006 RAC: 2,662	Message 1296695 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 21:12:55 UTC - in response to Message 1296692.
	LOL, yes it feels like that preparing for an audit. ____________
	ID: 1296695 ·

Gary Charpentier Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 10324 Credit: 5,092,543 RAC: 6,298	Message 1296697 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 21:16:44 UTC - in response to Message 1296655.
	or the companies finances are so complicated and diverse it takes that many IRS personel to weed through all the filings IIRC he said they file at least 1000 tax returns every month, but that included all the foreign tax returns. As he said they know every return they file has errors. They just hope the errors are immaterial. He gave an example of the IRS finding a 50 million error and they take a second look and find 45 million the other way. IRS is ahead 5 million. It isn't that they don't pay or don't want to pay, it is that it is impossible to know how much they should pay. Yes the tax code is far too complex. ____________
	ID: 1296697 ·

Gary Charpentier Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 10324 Credit: 5,092,543 RAC: 6,298	Message 1296698 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 21:17:56 UTC - in response to Message 1296695.
	LOL, yes it feels like that preparing for an audit. If the auditors move in to your office and never leave? ____________
	ID: 1296698 ·

betreger Send message Joined: 29 Jun 99 Posts: 1065 Credit: 2,009,006 RAC: 2,662	Message 1296733 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 22:42:22 UTC - in response to Message 1296698.
	LOL, yes it feels like that preparing for an audit. If the auditors move in to your office and never leave? Yes, but it is making money. ____________
	ID: 1296733 ·

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Message boards : Politics : Taxes