Conservative SCOTUS ruling making taxation of the wealthy unconstitutional in 3... 2...
this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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I wonder, given the whole equal protection thing….
Could we sue the IRS for damages? I mean, this is the fed government’s revenue. Them running out of money…. And running up the debt affects us negatively….
Silly rabbit; thinks we don't live in oligarchies masquerading as democracies.
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Can't wait for people in red states making <$50k to be really mad about this for some reason
For some reason? They're just looking out for their future self. Any day now they too will be millionaires. Any day...
It's just millionaires they are going after. If you get upset about this, clearly you don't think you have what it takes to become a billionaire.
Good but can we also do the billionaires?
No. They're just going to do it to people who have exactly 1 million dollars.
They won't go after those from fear or being defunded further..
Conservative's are agreeing to go after millionaires just to anger their base, the poor who think they'd be millionaires if it wasn't for all this "socialism".
Token victims chosen to placate the masses.
Millionaires are still fucking peasants to the ruling class.
There's surely a name for when people react with disdain to even the slightest move in the right direction.
"Should have done it earlier" "Not enough" "It'll probably get shot down in court" "Why bother"
Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
"Doomer" is a recent aphorism. It's deeply self defeating, and I'm sure at least partly pushed on purpose keep people weak and compliant.
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and 75 large business partnerships that have assets of roughly $10 billion on average are targeted for the new "compliance efforts."
From the article.
Anyway, I think billionaires are millionaires. Have to be to have billions. Which is to say, I doubt they're not targeting billionaires too and that I'm thankful that AI will help the IRS keep the rich accountable.
The difference in disposable capital between a millionaire and a billionaire is substantial. A millionaire might be able to drag out an audit and find clever loopholes.
A billionaire will simply fund Republican candidates that will defund the IRS so that they never even see the audit.
Q:What's the difference between someone who has 1 million dollars and someone who has 1 billion dollars?
A:Roughly a billion dollars.
Really, it's practically the same at 10M.
A billion is just so fucking much more that our brains have a hard time even conceptualizing it.
Yes very true. 0.1% and 1% respectively
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Grover Norquist, who heads the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, said the IRS’ plan to pursue high wealth individuals does not preclude the IRS from eventually pursuing middle-income Americans for audits down the road.
Lol love the complete lack of evidence with just a big ol dose of non sequiter fear-mongering, they MIGHT come for you next!!
how is it any different from now, when they come after us and NOT the rich? Like we never stopped getting policed that was rich privilege only, and only because of the complicated tax structures that open up to you once you start a business that has some cash throughput
total fear-mongering like you say
Yeah the tax structure already favors the wealthy in many ways, so the idea that more enforcement of existing laws on the higher end is somehow hurting the middle class is just laughable.
They were coming for middle class people because we can't afford audit defense, or massive bullshit campaigns like "omg they're targeting conservatives!!"
They targeted the poorest of us, because they are severely underfunded, the IRS cant afford extended litigation. They poor can't afford to fight back, you're 100% right
Okay. Audit me. I have W-2 wages and take a standard deduction. Like why are every day people afraid of being audited.
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I love that Republicans seem to have fully embraced a fear campaign based in the idea that if the rich can be forced to obey the law that yOu mIghT bE nExT as though they aren't also the people who gave police broad, sweeping powers to kick in our doors for any or no reason, to seize our money and then make us prove that we didn't commit crimes to get it, to engage in warrantless mass surveillance, to establish huge swaths of America where the 4th amendment just doesn't count if you "look like an illegal immigrant", to establish fetus checkpoints at state borders, to make a dog's opinion legally admissible in court if and only if that dog thinks you've committed a crime, and they're trying to let the police into your bedroom to make sure you're fucking correctly (in a cishet christian way).
We who have been overpoliced our entire lives know what they mean when they say "they might come for you next". They mean that the police might overstep their bounds as thieftakers and thugs to keep the minorities in line and start coming for Real Americans (cishet white men) just because of a few little felonies.
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Love the fear mongering for something that A) already happens, B) shouldn't be an issue for people that are in the up and up and C) should be music to the ears of members of the "law and order" party.
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I'm a cpa, and from what I can tell I'm the only one on Lemmy, god help me, so I'll chime in.
Partnerships with $10 billion assets are no joke so I would imagine they are businesses like real estate holding companies, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, things like that. Probably clients of a Big 4 like PWC Deloitte EY or KPMG.
The thing about entities like that is that they tend to be insanely complicated with TONS of moving parts. They'll be dealing with complex financial instruments, partners coming in and out, financing structures that aren't at all straightforward (if you've seen Shark Tank Mr Wonderful is infamous for offering complex financing deals rather than straight equity deals) plus international tax complications, book/tax timing differences, and all kinds of other stuff I can't begin to get into.
Oh, and that's just the tax side of it all. That's not even starting to talk about the actual accounting, recording the transactions, balance sheets, income statements, and so on, which is an enormous layer of complexity before we even think about tax. Zillions of moving parts with plenty of room for errors and omissions.
Partnerships don't pay tax at the business level so the individuals who own them need to report the income and activity on their personal returns and pay tax at that level. It's not at all easy reporting their share of activity from entities like hedge funds and PE so plenty of mistakes are made, some quite substantial. Im guessing they are going to look at the partnerships first and compare to the biggest owners returns to make sure everything jives.
I find this news great. Our industry often faces challenges due to time constraints, budget limitations, client-provided data quality, logistics, and so on. Unethical behavior is rare among practitioners, but there are some shady ones. Typically, we defer issues, leaving them for others to handle, which seldom result in consequences.
Throughout my career, the IRS has never questioned our filed returns for individuals or businesses. We've received notices, mostly related to administrative matters rather than full audits.
A strengthened IRS enhances compliance, but the accounting industry is strained with few professionals and a lack of future talent. We already cut corners for efficiency, so aiming for flawless accuracy could pose a significant problem. It's just another challenge to add to our list...
My spouse works for compliance and usually you are given a chance to right everything before it goes as far as being audited. Like you said, mostly administrative issues is taken care at the first level and it’s no biggie.
So if someone is being audited something is already very wrong and the first level folks have sent the case to audits or even criminal investigations.
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My issue with the taxman is that they have created and continue to allow those complications which only the rich can use, and therefore are elitist rules.
I wish the feds would/could go back to a basic tax structure based on wealth/income alone ... where there's nowhere for the rich to hide.
The thing is, much of the complexity is directly in response to the stunts jackasses have pulled over the decades, to prevent that from happening again.
Complexity aside, focusing on sheer logistics, to do a true full scale 'drop your shorts and cough' audit, the auditor would need to cross-reference receipts and bank statements to financial statements, then to the business returns, and follow it all to the individual owners.
That's a colossal task, and it's just too much work, not enough time to do it, and not enough qualified people to do it. Hopefully AI can assist in streamlining this process significantly in the future but who knows.
I'm glad you're here! We need more people than just tech people lol.
Deeply appreciate you taking time out of your day to write an opinion on this (career related) news!:) you're doing your part.jpeg
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This guy accounts
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In totally unrelated news: the GOP has announced war on the IRS; "too long have they preyed upon this nation's most vulnerable!".
Announced? It's been in full swing for ages.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/23/politics/irs-fair-tax-republicans-abolish/index.html
why exactly isn't it normal to get taxes from the rich?
I heard an interview about this new effort. IRS agents used to be rewarded by case count. It's much easier to audit people who earn salaries because you know exactly what they earned from employers' reports. Rich people often have many sources of income that take time to investigate. Agents audit normal folks because it's easy while the rich lie and get away with it.
The goal with this effort has been to change the incentive structure for agents to get the most money.
The more money a person makes, the more incentive and capability they have to design and structure their income, especially if they are a business owner or have customers overseas, and thus they have more opportunities to avoid doing the things that cause one to be taxed.
Also some are cheaters and just don't pay what they owe.
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Compliance means that if you made a mistake, the IRS will give you a chance to correct it. And if you decide not to fix it? then they come for your shit.
If you don’t want them to come to take your shit, FOLLOW THE FUCKING LAW. So simple!!!!! Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?
These right wing nut jobs are something else. Haha.
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In other news, 1600 millionaires have made significant donations to their Congressmen and paid lobbyists. Expect a new "The IRS is evil" campaign soon.
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"Plans to" ? okay...
So basically doing their job.
So, they weren't doing it before? What the hell have they been doing this whole time?
Because the IRS has continuously had its budget cut, most extensively under Trump
Good. Please do pay one's taxes and pursue those that do not.
If Wesley Snipes can do time for not paying taxes, so can some of these other millionaires.
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