By: Rob Stientjes

Rob Stientjes — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:16:39 +0000

Any talk about the budget must include a discussion of the current underfunding of the Tax Whistleblower Reward Program. Congress passed a law in December 2006 that standardizes the IRS practice of giving rewards for tips and information that leads to the collection of the underpayment of tax. Problems is….the program has been TOO successful. The IRS Whistleblower Office cannot process the rewards fast enough. The Office is grossly understaffed to handle the number of tips being provided. In some cases, informant information is laying dormant for 3 months or more as analysts scramble to catch up. The Tax Whistleblower Reward Program is revolutionizing the LMSB tax practice. Former employees are turning in their tax cheating employers faster than the IRS can process the claims. This is our chance to stop the cliche corporate tax evasion that we’ve heard so much about these last few years, but the IRS seemed powerless to stop. So, lobby your Congressmen to increase funding. For more information about the Tax Whistleblower Reward Program, http://www.RewardTax.com is the authoritative website on the internet that describes the program.

By: JBruce

JBruce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:52:25 +0000

I agree that money could be better spent than on tax credits for new hires, or for “working Americans”. Investment in infrastructure creates jobs in the immediate scenario, and pays dividends of efficiency and lower costs for a long time after that.
The inane $3,000 limit on capital losses should be raised at least tenfold, if not more; it certainly would help a lot of “middle-class Americans” who have seen their inventment portfolios tank lately, and could be applied to losses sustained in housing as well.
I, personally, never bought the claptrap about the “death tax”; the way the Bush tax cuts set it up was to be totally a high-dollar sop to the rich and, especially, the very rich. It’s reasonable, I think, to have exemptions in the $5-7 million dollar range; that would keep a lot of family businesses intact. But, as far as I’m concerned, huge estates should pay huge taxes. After all, they already get a very significant tax break: estates are not subject to capital gains taxes, and repealing the “death tax” leaves estates, no matter how large, virtually untouched by the tax man. Personally, I’d rather the dead pay taxes than the living — which includes me! And if some effete dorks don’t inherit quite so many millions, I can’t seem to work up a lot of sympathy (so there, Paris Hilton!!).
And the AMT — whay can’t we just fix it once and for all? It was meant to overcome tax dodges that benefit the wealthy, so let’s put it back that way. Yes, it will mean losses in revenues of some $billions over the years, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $trillions in defecits we already have planned anyway. And it certainly would qualify as “middle-class” tax relief. Okay, maybe “upper middle class” tax relief, but those taxpayers are included in the tax relief targets of the overall “plan”.

Comments on: Congressional Officials Critical of Tax Breaks in Proposed Stimulus Plan

By: Rob Stientjes

By: JBruce