What will it be this year? According to the IRS, over $300 billion, or $2,680 per household, of taxes owed last year went uncollected. That’s a HUGE amount of money and would go along way towards decreasing the national deficit.
Any bets on what it will be this year? Probably larger. I think a large part of the problem is that taxes are so complicated, it’s easy to make a mistake and underpay. It’s alway pretty easy to get away with lying. Do you drive 20 miles for work twice a week that you write off? It’s easy to claim it’s 25 and who’s going to know? If we closed many of these miscellaneous deductions and went to a flat-tax system, we’d probably have a LOT less in the way of uncollected taxes because it would be harder to hide.
I hear the IRS has its feet to the fire over this and is really stepping up audits of high-income earners. It’s probably not profitable to go after the guy who shaves $100 off his tax bill, but make it $10,000 and you can bet the IRS will be on your tail. You can screw with the FBI, you can screw with the CIA, but don’t mess with the IRS.
1 response so far ↓
1 fivecentnickel.com // Mar 17, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I’m sure it will be more this year than it was last year. The real question is: how much more will it be? Your guess is as good as mine.
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