Slashdot Mirror
IRS Compels PayPal to Release Info
An anonymous reader writes "Just in time for the tax season, the IRS won a federal court ruling, allowing them to force PayPal to turn over records of American taxpayers who have certain foreign accounts. It's all part of an ongoing effort to track down money held in offshore accounts by would-be taxpayers. A spokesperson for PayPal acknowledged receiving the summons (PDF) and said 'We're still evaluating our options [...] The privacy of our customers' information is something we take really seriously.'"
The largest class of tax evaders are small business owners who either fail to report or underreport income, or deduct spurious expenses. Unfortunately, the IRS basically relies on the honor system for this information. Because of this, it's really not possible for the IRS to know for sure exactly how much owed tax goes unpaid every year, because it's difficult for them to determine what these small businesses (some of which exist only as tax shelters on paper) should actually owe. The $311 billion is only an estimate. The actual problem may be better or worse than the estimate.
As for individual wage earners, tax evasion is much more difficult since those wages are also reported by the businesses paying them, so it's easy for the IRS to tell if the numbers don't match up.
If PayPal wants to act like a bank, they should, well, act like a bank.
That's the problem though - PayPal doesn't want to act like a bank.
Banks have to keep track of the money moving through them.
Banks have to be responsible.
PayPal wants everyone to give them money, with no accountability.
Abolish the IRS and get the government out of the business of spying on taxpaying citizens.
The FairTaxproposal is a comprehensive plan to replace federal income and payroll taxes, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security/Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. The FairTax proposal integrates such features as a progressive national retail sales tax, dollar-for-dollar revenue replacement, and a rebate to ensure that no American pays such federal taxes up to the poverty level. Included in the FairTax plan is the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks (minus any state income taxes), ends corporate taxes and compliance costs hidden in the retail cost of goods and services, and fully funds the federal government while fulfilling the promise of Social Security and Medicare.
Americans take home their whole paychecks.
Not only do more Americans have jobs, but they also take home 100 percent of their paychecks (except where state income taxes apply). No federal income taxes or payroll taxes are withheld from paychecks, pensions, or Social Security checks.
No federal sales tax up to the poverty level means progressivity like today's tax system.
To ensure no American pays tax on necessities, the FairTax plan provides a prepaid, monthly rebate (prebate) for every registered household to cover the consumption tax spent on necessities up to the federal poverty level. This, along with several other features, is how the FairTax completely untaxes the poor, lowers the tax burden on most, while making the overall rate progressive. However, the FairTax is progressive based on lifestyle/spending choices, rather than simply punishing those taxpayers who are successful. Do you see how much freer life is with the FairTax instead of the income tax?
No tax on used goods. The amount you pay to fund the government is totally visible.
With the FairTax you are only taxed once on any good or service; the sales tax is charged just as state sales taxes are today. If you choose to buy used goods - used car, used home, used appliances - you do not pay the FairTax. If, as a business owner or farmer, you buy something for strictly business purposes (not for personal consumption), you pay no consumption tax. When you decide what to buy and how much to spend, you see exactly how much you are contributing to the government with each purchase.
Retail prices no longer hide corporate taxes or their compliance costs, which drive up costs for those who can least afford to pay.
Did you know that hidden income taxes and the cost of complying with them currently make up 20 percent or more percent of all retail prices? It's true. According to Dr. Dale Jorgenson of Harvard University, hidden income taxes are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices for everything you buy. If competition does not allow prices to rise, corporations lower labor costs, again hurting those who can least afford to lose their jobs. Finally, if prices are as high as competition allows and labor costs are as low as practical, profits/dividends to shareholders are driven down, thereby hurting retirement savings for moms-and-pops and pension funds invested in Corporate America. With the FairTax, the sham of corporate taxation ends, competition drives prices down, more people in America have jobs, and retirement/pension funds see improved performance.
The income tax exports our jobs, rather than our products. The FairTax brings jobs home.
Most importantly, the FairTax does not burden U.S. exports the way the current income tax system does. The FairTax removes the cost of corporate taxes and compliance costs from the cost of U.S. exports, putting U.S. exports on a level playing field with foreign competitors. Lower prices sharply increase demand for U.S. exports, thereby increasing job creation i
Free your ecomony and enact the FairTax
Finor Associates has an entertaining product list. Highlights.
It's a full-service money laundering operation. The IRS ought to be investigating those guys.
WRONG! Small business bears the brunt of the IRS. We are more audited than any other class of taxpayers. We can't deduct a lot of items big companies can since most of us as cash based businesses (not accrual based). Ever tried to take a home office decduction as a small biz? Thats a big red flag for an audit. We have already had meals and travel cut back to only 50% deductible. And its not the "honor system", you DO have to have receipts. IMO, large business get all manner of tax breaks, carry forward/carry back of losses, foreign tax credits, worker training credits, property tax breaks, etc. plus they can hire smart accountants to figure out where to save taxes. That being said, I would rathter the Gov't didn't tax the profits distributions (i.e. dividends) to investors, as that is DOUBLE taxation.
Roughly 135 million people file tax returns. That's about 93% of the workforce.
0 .html
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=96629,0
Now then, as for who isn't paying taxes, well...
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/02in11hi.xls
28% of all returns have no tax liability, 39% of those under $50k. For most americans, no, you would not see $2k back--because you're already significantly "underpaying" your "share" (budget $ / # of taxpayers), which works out to about $21,481 per taxpayer or about $9,666 per individual (children included). Now, the GDP/capita is $36k, for which an individual is taxed about $5,671. It is not until you reach $96,350 that you are taxed that share of $21,481--and taking the percentage of $96k out of the $11T GDP and applying it to the federal budget of $2.9T you get $25,401. Pretty danged close to the other, eh? Funny, that.
Still think you're getting screwed? Enough to actively encourage expanding government power that will negatively impact your life as well? Hmm...
Well take it from someone who, unlike you, has actually has been through law school, your reading is completely incorrect and borderline crazy. The code I cited to says straight out, "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income...a tax", do you honestly maintain because you don't understand what a taxable year means the entire code is thereby invalid? You obviously know very little about statutory construction if you think that has any legal validity.
Furthermore, first you complain that everyday words "are legal terms in here and are redifined[sic]", then go on to complain that "taxable year" wasn't redefined. The fact that they didn't define "taxable year" should have clued you in to the fact that it wasn't necessary to define it; for an individual, it's a calendar year.
The Internal Revenue Code says you have to pay taxes if you make a certain income. The courts have unanimously interpreted it to say so. Any wingnut who tries to raise that defense in court is laughed out of court. I know you really, really hate paying taxes. But so what? You're going to have to keep doing it if you don't want your stuff confiscated and yourself thrown in prison. Life sucks, huh?
The honor system applies more to the income side of the business, not the expense side. Many small businesses often under-report income. They get audited more often than large businesses for this reason. Show me a building contractor who offers a cash discount, and who won't give a receipt for all-cash transactions, and I'll show you a tax cheat.