How Delightful
Jul 15th, 2008 at 9:55 pm by Susie
This will be a lot of fun, I think:
Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme.
The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country’s bank secrecy laws.
He is now in hiding but scheduled to testify to the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Thursday via a video statement from a secret location, according to Congressional investigators.
Aides for committee chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) are scheduled to provide reporters with a background briefing later this morning in Washington on the committee’s investigation of tax haven banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
The IRS has actually been trying to subpoena the information. Maybe they offered a reward?
UPDATE: Via the comments, a lot more detail.
Add this to the recent embarassing leak of a memo from UBS (Hi Sen. Gramm) to its wealthiest US customers, advising them how to hide assets from the IRS by parking them in offshore accounts.
Reportedly costing US taxpayers about 70 billion per year. As Leona says….only the little people pay taxes. I would prosecute these folks criminally, or at least ask for triple penalties.
When will we hear the names of these wonderful people? Personally, I can’t wait.
This is a by blow of Kieber’s giving the list to the German tax authorities.
Sputnik,
Unless there are names of prominent Democrats on there, we’ll probably never hear the names. In any case, none of these people will do any time.
Isn’t there money to be made in ratting out tax cheats to the IRS?
If so, I expect GOPers to be barging in the line to rat out their fellows, party unity be damned.
Popcorn, anyone?
The easiest way to close the deficit, is give the IRS more money for enforcement. The “tax gap”, taxes owed but not paid (Cheating), is around $300 billion. Huge amounts of it could be recovered with modest investment.
I wonder why nobody in congress does anything about that. (sarcasm)
Steve:
“Unless there are names of prominent Democrats on there, we’ll probably never hear the names.”
But if there are names of prominent Democrats on there, we’ll never hear the names either. If there is one thing we’ve learned since Nov 2006 it’s that the Democrats have a keen interest in protecting their own even if it means papering over some of the most serious crimes committed over the course of the last… however many years. If there’s a D on the list, it’ll never make it out of Waxman’s office.
michael,
I am not certain what you mean by “cheating”. Were the tax code simple and not have so many grey areas, I might agree with you, but when top accountants disagree how to apply the code in certain areas, then you would be paying too much if you did not try to take advantage of every “loop hole”.
If an audit demanded the presence of the taxpayer, I believe there would be a lot less playing of the grey area.
When I read this: “Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS”, I have to admit I interpretted it as they had transformed into the IRS - figured GWB decided wealth transfer wasn’t going fast enough and had simply decided I would pay my taxes directly to Jenna
IntelVet - There are gray areas and then there are “gray areas.” Storing money in an offshore bank account and not telling the IRS about it isn’t exactly what I would call a gray area. Arguing the ambiguities of the instructions for a paticular complicated set of forms, but hiding NOTHING in the supporting documentation, is what I would call a real, forgivable, gray area.
This list will become public about the fifth of never. This will be the rationale: Privacy, tax information, unproven, illegally gathered.
Vince
Here’s another related bit of news. Multimillionaire (whose son writes “Vox Day” columns at WorldNetDaily) decides he doesn’t have to pay taxes. Goes on lam, found in Florida, extradited to MN. Launches plan from jail to have fellow nutjobs “arrest” judge _in court_ at trial. None of his buddies show up, is convicted. Now he and buddies in trouble for “conspiring to threaten and intimidate a federal judge”:
http://www.twincities.com/ci_9892798
The guy’s a multi-millionaire. Wouldn’t it be easier to just pay your taxes?
I read that the list of names was published in Italy. Don’t know if it’s true. I’m too lazy to look for it.
Let’s be clear on one thing. There is no such thing as a “tax cheat”.
“Cheating” on your taxes is the moral equivalent of telling a mugger you have no more money than what’s in your wallet when you’ve got a wad of currency crammed between your ass cheeks.
Stealing for thieves