Friday, April 29, 2011

WHY WON'T THE GOP CLAMP DOWN ON TAX EVASION?

Policing Tax Evasion Could Save Billions, But Republicans Won't Fund Enforcement



House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) admitted on Monday that the federal government is in serious need of extra revenue..... The U.S. government loses around $300 billion in revenue each year because of tax cheats, some of whom hide their earnings in offshore accounts or disguise them using complicated business structures, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Since 2001, tax evasion has cost as much as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts and the 2009 stimulus combined, according to the financial-services analysis firm The Motley Fool.

"Here's the real question to ask: The Internal Revenue Service is the money-making division of the government. It's the sales department. Why would you cut your sales force when you have the budget constraints that we do?" said Johnston, who in 2001 won a Pulitzer Prize for his New York Times coverage of the U.S. tax code. "It is astonishing to me that people who want law and order on other issues want to handcuff the tax police."

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