What a highschool answer. The rich have an advantage over the poor in that they can pay for "better" lawyers and can afford to pay the fines. That being said, they can still surely go to jail.
Although this wouldn't happen, I hope the lawyers actually debate the legality of the federal tax laws. The income tax is unconstitutional.
I am a bit skeptical. Anyone with enough resources to consider hiding money in offshore accounts would likely get sophisticated advice before doing so. I can promise you the advice would not be to open an account in Lichtenstein in your own name the next time you're in europe. Serious asset hiding involves setting up dummy companies and trusts in multiple jurisdictions. No one person has access to everything, so no one can rat you out. That UBS guy must have been some dumbass wth connections to rich people. He clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing. I suspect the UBS story is being used by the IRS to try to frighten people into confessing. The IRS doesn't have the resources to track down tens of thousands of people with well-hidden foreign accounts, any more than it can catch mexicans working for cash. If you do get caugh thowever, deliberately not reporting income is criminal tax fraud and the government normally pushes very hard for jail time. You could ask Wesley Snipes.
the only way to not pay US income tax is , to handover your US citizenship and leave the country. there is no privacy in 'criminal activity'
accountants, lawyers, and even investment advisors telling you to evade taxes 'legally' can get you in trouble with the IRS selling offshore tax loophole to get your business......
yes, but you can then sue them for damages. much smarter to act on "advice from professionals" than to do it on your own for this very reason. surf
I don't advocate paying nothing for the services we receive as citizens of a country, but for them to say "$100 Billion in LOST revenue." What a joke!!! The people "running the show" will continue to spend money unwisely with or without this "Lost revenue." Think about it.....when most people get a raise....they spend it..and this continues for the rest of their life. Recouping this "Lost revenue" is like the IRS getting a raise. I have yet to see any reports or stories of large amounts of funds being recovered by the IRS and being used for something that is shown to be a direct benefit to any group of citizens. i.e. a school is built, scholarships, new roads, etc. They get it, but where does it go? And I don't mean diluted and spread out so everyone gets $0.01. (If anyone has anything concerning this I would love for them to post it) Proper money management is not a function of how much you make. And when you see the people "in charge" pissing your money away, why would you want to pay taxes on all that money??? They can't even make due with the billions and billions of dollars they have. Example (greatly simplified, but the only difference is there would be more steps, the tax rates would be different, money would be spent on different items, and there would be deductions, but the result would eventually be the same): John makes $100,000 per year and takes home $70,000 of that. John spends $70,000 on massage therapy for the year. The massage therapist makes $70,000 but takes home $49,000 because of taxes. The therapist spends $49,000 on in home hair cutting. The stylist makes $49,000 and takes home $34,300. The stylist spends $34,300 on lawn care done by hand. And the lawn care guy only brings home $24,010 because of taxes. Talley so far...private citizens are left with 24k in buying power while the gov has 76k. And so on, and so on until the IRS or gov has had their hand in everything. Tax my income or tax my purchases. Doing both is JUST NOT right! I actually live in a state that taxes food!!! FOOD!! Why again are we (The US) in debt as a nation?????? You will always have people who cheat the system for their own selfish reasons, but perhaps SOME of this cheating is a result of what the "system" is doing to cheat people.