Anyone ever heard of the 'tax-gap'?

[Dot Com]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

 

[Lumpy 1]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

I suppose you could start by investigating General Electric , they paid zero taxes last year.. the Obama connection I'd guess..

 

[Ernie S.]

Ahhh Drug dealers tend to be liberal. Get your own house in order before you come after me.

 

[Lumpy 1]

Obama's ..Link.. to corruption..

The top tax bracket for U.S. corporations stands at 35 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. So how is it possible that a giant of American business, General Electric, paid nothing in federal taxes last year, even as it made billions in profit?

And should the CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, be advising the president on business

For two years, President Obama has been talking about the need for corporate tax reform, declaring that the system is too complicated and that companies pay too much.

"Simplify, eliminate loopholes, treat everybody fairly," Obama said in February.

For those unaccustomed to the loopholes and shelters of the corporate tax code, GE's success at avoiding taxes is nothing short of extraordinary. The company, led by Immelt, earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010, but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit.

General Electric Paid No Federal Taxes in 2010 - ABC News

 

[AquaAthena]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

I suppose you could start by investigating General Electric , they paid zero taxes last year.. the Obama connection I'd guess..

"Crony capitalism."And they are called "LOOPHOLES" and both parties love them and will never have the cajones to eliminate them although, they all say they want to....

 

[Dot Com]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

I suppose you could start by investigating General Electric , they paid zero taxes last year.. the Obama connection I'd guess..

Good guess but its individuals:

The single largest sub-component of underreporting involves the
individual income tax, which represents more than 50 percent of the total tax gap. Underpayment
constitutes nearly 10 percent, and nonfiling almost 8 percent of the gross tax gap.

 

[Foxfyre]

Well if the tax gap is mostly individuals I have two suggestions to eliminate it:

1. The 50% of Americans who pay little or no taxes should start paying their proportionate share, or. . . .

2. The government should make do with less money.

 

[Dot Com]

Well if the tax gap is mostly individuals I have two suggestions to eliminate it:

1. The 50% of Americans who pay little or no taxes should start paying their proportionate share, or. . . .

2. The government should make do with less money.

So you think austerity will tidy everything up? Where you gonna cut & how much?

The fact remains, individuals; especially conservatives, want & get gov't services but are unwilling to pay for them.

 

[Big Fitz]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

Wondering why the lower 60% of tax payers don't pay any taxes, and the bottom 40% get more money back than they put in if this is the case.

 

[Big Fitz]

Well if the tax gap is mostly individuals I have two suggestions to eliminate it:

1. The 50% of Americans who pay little or no taxes should start paying their proportionate share, or. . . .

2. The government should make do with less money.

So you think austerity will tidy everything up? Where you gonna cut & how much?

The fact remains, individuals; especially conservatives, want & get gov't services but are unwilling to pay for them.

I wonder. If you are spending too much for your income, would less spending help YOUR situation out?

What makes you think the government is any different other than scale?

 

[xsited1]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

If members of the Obama Administration would just pay their taxes, that number would go to zero.

 

[Dot Com]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

Wondering why the lower 60% of tax payers don't pay any taxes, and the bottom 40% get more money back than they put in if this is the case.

I have heard talk of revisiting the tax-code because it is written by and for the corporations. Can't remember who brought it up. Has to be drawn up by people who aren't elected officials. Know why? Because the corps will punish whomever takes away thier tax loopholes/giveaways. Aint corporately-funded campaigns great?

 

[Big Fitz]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually



I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

Wondering why the lower 60% of tax payers don't pay any taxes, and the bottom 40% get more money back than they put in if this is the case.

I have heard talk of revisiting the tax-code because it is written by and for the corporations. Can't remember who brought it up. Has to be drawn up by people who aren't elected officials. Know why? Because the corps will punish whomever takes away thier tax loopholes/giveaways. Aint corporately-funded campaigns great?

Your proof it isn't written by elected officials is..... where again?

How about them union tax exemptions carved out by P-BO and company?

I'm more than happy of reducing the tax code to 2 type written pages (single spaced 10pt font) that states a flat tax on all income earned, no exemptions at around 10%, no minimum income. Revenue would increase because it's less profitable to dodge paying taxes, you'd slice a ton of waste out of government and the private sector and end some unnecessary sectors of business, primarily tax preparation and dodging, legal fees and bureaucracy. Everyone (who actually pay taxes) ends up with more money in the end to invest or spend increasing monetary velocity in the economy improving business environments. You end income redistribution and everyone pays their fair share, and make poverty less comfortable for deadbeats abusing the tax code.

Sounds like a septuple win to me.

edit: Octuple win. End tax exempt status for non-profits ending anti-capitalist foundation's free rides.

 

[percysunshine]

Hitler formed alliances with big multi-national businesses....to the detriment of the local shop owners.

 

[Dot Com]

Wondering why the lower 60% of tax payers don't pay any taxes, and the bottom 40% get more money back than they put in if this is the case.

I have heard talk of revisiting the tax-code because it is written by and for the corporations. Can't remember who brought it up. Has to be drawn up by people who aren't elected officials. Know why? Because the corps will punish whomever takes away thier tax loopholes/giveaways. Aint corporately-funded campaigns great?

Your proof it isn't written by elected officials is..... where again?

I'm saying that any revision/reform to it should be drawn up by people who cannot be punished for it in the next, corporately-funded, election.

As to lobbyists writing legislation, that does happen. ;-)

 

[Mad Scientist]

Last I heard, it stood at @ $500-700 billion/annually

Despite the voluntary compliance rate and vigorous enforcement by the IRS, a significant
amount of revenue remains unreported and unpaid. In 2005, the IRS estimated this gross tax gap to be approximately $345 billion.

I don't think that reduces the deficit. Where's the conservative, deficit-hawks on this board

The only "gap" you should be concerned about is the gap between what government takes in in takes and what it spends.

If I spend too much, I cut back. Government can do the same.

 

[Big Fitz]

I have heard talk of revisiting the tax-code because it is written by and for the corporations. Can't remember who brought it up. Has to be drawn up by people who aren't elected officials. Know why? Because the corps will punish whomever takes away thier tax loopholes/giveaways. Aint corporately-funded campaigns great?

Your proof it isn't written by elected officials is..... where again?

I'm saying that any revision/reform to it should be drawn up by people who cannot be punished for it in the next, corporately-funded, election.

As to lobbyists writing legislation, that does happen. ;-)

Name one law that did not first come from a lobbyist. Do you not get the fact that even the rich and corporations are 'the people'?

It's like you seem to think there really is a nebulous miasma out there called "they" controlling the world. Special interests, in case you hadn't figured it out by now, are composed of interested citizens.

So why are you ignoring my 8 part win decimating the resdistributive/progressive tax code?

 

[Dot Com]

Progressive tax:
Teddy Roosevelt, “Socialist” Advocate of Progressive Taxation - Steven Waldman

 

[boedicca]

The Tax Gap is mostly theoretical, unprovable nonsense developed by the IRS to justify expanding their budget:

* Nonfiling and underpayment of reported taxes account for less than 20 percent of the gross tax gap; underreporting on timely filed tax returns makes up the bulk of the gap. Underreporting on individual income tax returns alone accounted for about 68 percent of the gross tax gap in 2001.

* Over 60 percent of underreported individual tax is for business and self-employment income, which the IRS has no easy way to verify independently.

* Only 10.5 percent of the underreporting gap is attributable to corporate income tax, and only 1.4 percent to the estate tax and excise taxes.

* Individual income taxpayers fail to report about 54 percent of income from sources for which there is no information reporting, such as sole proprietorships. In contrast, less than 5 percent of income from easily verified sources-interest, dividends, and pensions-goes unreported. When income is subject to both information returns and tax withholding, as is the case with wages, just over 1 percent goes unreported.

What is the tax gap?


There is a very simple solution. Moving to a flat tax and getting rid of the loopholes and credits which make returns complex. The IRS is basically assuming people are cheating - without any real proof.

 

[Big Fitz]

Progressive tax:
Teddy Roosevelt, “Socialist” Advocate of Progressive Taxation - Steven Waldman

TR was a Progressive first and foremost. He championed corporate reform, environmentalism and many other things that are now ecoliberfascist mainstays in an era where a correction to protect society from the abuse of a newly formed industrial age plutocracy was needed.

This blog means jack shit to the context of the conversation.