Ah but you're overlooking the Patriot Act and more importantly, the TIEA agreements. It's a different world today.
Precisely. all these investigations kicked in in Jan and Feb 2002. I asked this precise question. I asked about the fact Nato was in Afghanistan, and we all were losing soldiers. Somebody has to buy the weapons. I got back the answer I believed I would get. Things are moving at warp speed for this type of thing. Just now, the IRS was allowed a "John Doe" subpeona. Switzerland will comply. All of Europe is on their ass, too. http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/re...01269_RTRIDST_0_USA-UBS-RECORDS-UPDATE-1.html
As a tax-paying American I hope the IRS is successful in their pursuit. It's total bullshit that the wealthiest citizens who get the most preferential tax breaks in the first place to ALSO resort to stealing/lying to avoid paying their fair share is doubly insulting. If I believed in heaven/hell I wouldn't mind so much as they would get theirs in the end. As it is; best to get it from them now.
Sheeple in action here folks, glad you're happy being brainwashed...in the meantime, we're tired of footing the bill. Pay YOUR share. http://www.american.com/archive/200...s-who-really-pays-the-taxes/?searchterm=taxes OUR TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED.... Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.! And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
Real Wall Street's assets are 'hidden' in Israel, after WWII Jews have realised that to prevent being stripped of their wealth they need a powerful state of their own, not even US can apply pressure to release assets in Israel.
This is why we need a flat sales-tax. Get Government out of our lives. Just another parasitic bureaucracy to scrutinize and sift-through every shred of our privacy.
I'm not even going to respond to the stupid analogy between people spending money on beer and the taxation of income: I'll just advise the poster to NOT use this argument in any economics class (when you're old enough to attend one). As to a Flat Tax: why would you think the IRS would be dissolved under this plan? Any tax system will require an agency to ensure compliance. A flat tax is the most regressive tax and, besides being completely immoral, would never raise enough revenue unless the tax rate on the MAJORITY of taxpayers is increased. The average taxpaying American is paying less than 15% in federal income taxes: a flat tax would obviously lower the tax rate for those in the highest brackets and, therefore, those in the lower two brackets would have to be increased. Go beat another dead horse.
A flat tax is the most regressive tax and, besides being completely immoral, translation= you disagree with it, so its thus "immoral!"