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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (78637)	8/1/2006 5:57:28 AM
From: tonto	Respond to of 81568

Wrong. The article states that tax "cheats" have been caught and forced to pay their taxes. Bush Lets Super Rich Cheat On Taxes, Out Of Control

To: American Spirit who wrote (78637)	8/1/2006 3:43:32 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Cracking down hard with tax enforcement has costs and benefits. It has a direct economic cost in terms of government expenditure. That cost will normally be less than the revenue raised, but it is still a real cost. It also has costs in terms of increased compliance costs, and an increase in intrusion of government in to the private sector. Obviously both extremes of no serious attempt at enforcement, and a police state level of enforcement would be bad ideas. But how far you should go is a subject where reasonable people can disagree. Deciding to move the balance slightly to less enforcement isn't "letting the super rich cheat on taxes", any more than deciding not to run a police state to try and stamp out drugs is "allowing the super rich to use all the cocaine they want". The situation with taxes is complicated by the fact that the law is so complex that even tax experts can't always be sure what it requires. The US tax code is thousands of pages. Add state tax codes, regulations, regulatory interpretations, and judicial decisions effecting the tax code and I don't you could carry it let alone read and fully understand it. Edit - Also Tonto makes a good point. These people where caught, at a possible tax cheating scheme. That isn't evidence that anyone is being allowed to cheat.