How big a deal is tax evasion?
 

At what point does a failure to report all taxable income actually start seeming like deliberate tax evasion to you?

How mad does it make you that some politicians avoid penalties on the tax that they owed?

Does it compound your anger if the person in question is a politician who favors more government programs that rely on public tax support?

Oddly, it's not really making me that mad, but the absurdity is interesting.

Anyone know what percentage of the population has this problem? It seems like there's a disproportionate number of people in the political class who get busted for not fully paying taxes, taking advantage of programs they aren't really entitled to, or employing staff that they fail to pay taxes or social security for. Sure, some of it may be a reflection of more public scrutiny, but surely not all of it, particularly when you're talking upper tax brackets. Anyone know the general rate of non-payment or underpayment?

All I know is that that's what the Feds finally caught Capone on. Not his murders, mob crimes, etc., but tax evasion.

I personally don't care about tax evasion as long as people get caught and are required to pay penalties. What pisses me off is when people get caught and only have to pay back the amount they failed to pay...no penalties and no interest required.

That is a load of poo.

I work for an accounting agency. I can't really say details - confidentiality and all that - but I will say that IRS agents can and sometimes do carry guns ... you really don't want to get on their bad side.

Do you have a sense of how common not paying or not paying the full amount is?

Personally, since I've been married we've screwed up in underpayment once and in overpayment once. Neither was deliberate. But we're paying back taxes, interest and penalties for the underpayment which for us are pretty substantial. I love the idea of the "Rangel Rule," but I don't think it works as a systematic way of addressing the issue.

I think a lot more people cheat on their taxes than we realize.

Maybe deliberately cheating is pretty common too.

I just wonder how common it is to get caught or have it addressed.

I'm wondering how common Rangel, Geithner, Daschle kind of stuff is, basically, among the general population.

I think we could still hold politicians to a high standard since their failure to fully pay gives the impression that they are much more interested in spending other people's money than they are their own, but I just wondered if there were in terms of percentage that much worse than the rest of us.

No, not really. I don't think that our clients are at all representative of the general US population.

Apparently its not that big a deal anymore since it is okay for the Secretary of the Treasury to do it! ;)

He paid back though. (But, then again, no penalties that I know of.)

But, would he have paid it back if he hadn't gotten busted for it during the confirmation hearings? Like, out of the goodness of his heart? Somehow I doubt it. Daschle either..

That's a bit much to ask of a politician.

From the standpoint of someone who now pays A LOT of taxes, it's not always so black and white. My taxes are fairly simple since I don't claim lots of deductions or have multiple sources of income. However, I don't receive a W2 anymore. Determining my taxable income is easy since I only have one source, but for others, they often do the best they can. Tax codes are complex. I rely completely on my accountant to keep me in line with regulations. I could easily miss something that I would have no clue was taxable! They don't charge penalties for these "oops" evasions because they give people the benefit of the doubt that an error was not deliberate. If you do your taxes on a 1040EZ, you have no concept of how complicated taxes can be!

We're speaking more of those who intentionally do not pay. I cannot file my taxes on a 1040EZ. I also itemize because the standard deductions are never adequate. I still pay all of my taxes.

They are also talking about people who claim that they didn't intentionally not pay, ie. Daschle and Geithner. People who deliberately evade their taxes clearly wouldn't be up for cabinet positions.