Thread: Cracking Down on Offshore Accounts

Cracking Down on Offshore Accounts

President Obama's plan to crack down on offshore tax havens was promoted as an attack on tax-dodging corporations. But wealthy individuals also hide millions in accounts from Switzerland to the Caribbean, costing law-abiding U.S. taxpayers some $40 billion to $70 billion a year.

Offshore tax evasion has grown dramatically in recent years as businesses and banks have become more globalized, says Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Douglas Shulman. Cheating is surprisingly easy. Wrongdoers falsely inform tax-haven banks that they are not U.S. citizens so that their financial information gets withheld from the IRS. Another common tax dodge involves deducting losses from bogus investments in phantom offshore companies.

The IRS has made strides recently, including an agreement under which Swiss banking giant UBS AG admitted to engaging in a scheme to help American clients hide their incomes and agreed to pay a $780 million penalty.

"As a matter of fundamental fairness, those who have the resources to operate in global financial markets must pay their fair share, just like the teacher down the street does," Shulman says.

If Congress passes the legislation supported by President Obama, the IRS could require financial institutions and their U.S. clients to prove that taxes are being paid. The proposed rules would also demand more openness with U.S. authorities, raise fines for violators, and provide funding for 800 new IRS agents. The President said his plan would crack down on wealthy tax cheats who "dodge their responsibility, while ordinary Americans pick up the slack."

http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence ... ounts.html

WHY COULDN'T OBAMA USE THESE SAME TAX AUDITORS AND BRANCH OUT TO EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN COMPANY, FEDERAL,STATE,PRIVATE AND AUDIT EMPLOYERS RECORDS?

PERSONALLY, I BELIEVE THIS WOULD BE THE BEST USE OF AMERICAN TAX PAYERS. THIS WAY, THE EMPLOYER GETS TARGETED WITHOUT THE RACE CARD AND ILLEGALS GET OUSTED OF OF JOBS.

THIS WOULD BE GRAND WAY CLEAN HOUSE ON SHADY EMPLOYERS.

Could it be that the more you overtax people to roll out big government the more likely some individuals are to try to get their taxes reduced without going through the legislative process.

The IRS could also pull in big bucks if they went after illegals and/or their employers. Example: In parts of NY ( Long Island) gardeners make about $2,000 dollars a week working full time and they don't pay any taxes. Their wives typically make about $800.00 a week under the table cleaning houses and/or child care. So that's $2,800.00 a week between the couple and they collect welfare and get free health care. The post offices in certain New York loctions, are busy on Fridays and Saturdays when the illegals send their money orders to Mexico.

The government knows where the illegals work in NY but they choose not to see it...............

The 2007 median household income of illegal aliens was $36,000

compared with $50,000 for U.S.-born residents.

Study traces plight of illegal immigrants'U.S.-born kids

By Hope Yen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:00 a.m. April 15, 2009

WASHINGTON – Growing numbers of children of illegal immigrants are being born in this country, and they are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty than those with American-born parents, an independent research group says.

The study released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center highlights a growing dilemma in the immigration debate: Illegal immigrants' children born in the United States are American citizens, yet they struggle in poverty and uncertainty along with parents who fear deportation, toil largely in low-wage jobs and face layoffs in an ailing economy.

The analysis by Pew, a nonpartisan research organization, estimated that 11.9 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States as of March 2008. Of those, 8.3 million, or 5.4 percent of the U.S. labor force, worked primarily in lower-paying farm, construction or janitorial work.

Roughly three out of four of their children – or 4 million – were born in the United States. In 2003, 2.7 million children of illegal immigrants, or 63 percent, were born in this country.

Overall, illegal immigrants' children account for one of every 15 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

“One of the most striking features is that it is a population largely made up of young families,â€

Paidmytaxes wrote:

"WHY COULDN'T OBAMA USE THESE SAME TAX AUDITORS AND BRANCH OUT TO EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN COMPANY, FEDERAL,STATE,PRIVATE AND AUDIT EMPLOYERS RECORDS?

PERSONALLY, I BELIEVE THIS WOULD BE THE BEST USE OF AMERICAN TAX PAYERS. THIS WAY, THE EMPLOYER GETS TARGETED WITHOUT THE RACE CARD AND ILLEGALS GET OUSTED OF OF JOBS.

THIS WOULD BE GRAND WAY CLEAN HOUSE ON SHADY EMPLOYERS."

To which I reply:
AMEN!

The 2007 median household income of illegal aliens was $36,000

compared with $50,000 for U.S.-born residents.

Out of this $36,000 median income for illegal aliens, how much was paid in taxes verses those paid by U.S. citizens? Also, how much are the illegals receiving in social benefits and shouldn't that be factored in, since U.S. citizens with a median income of $50,000 are probably ineligible for any benefits and therefore responsible for their own food, medical expenses, etc., etc.