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This seems like a lot of fuss over a negligible amount of money going to the government. Who knows how many man-hours of highly-skilled labor are going to be w

by splat 16y ago

This seems like a lot of fuss over a negligible amount of money going to the government. Who knows how many man-hours of highly-skilled labor are going to be wasted trying to get around these new tax laws? And what does the government get out of this? "$25 billion over the next decade." That's ~0.07% of the US Federal budget per year. That doesn't even come close to the amount that the Office of Budget and Management acknowledges as being "improper payments" (i.e. fraud, waste, or abuse) of $98 billion.

tptacek 16y ago
(a) You can make the same claim about a lot of specific cases in the tax code, many of which you would not then imply we should just blow off. (b) You argue that the money is not worth the many man-hours of labor needed to recover it, but provide no evidence for that. What's the threshold gain (over enforcement expenses) the government should get to justify imposing or enforcing a tax? (c) You note OMB's fraud number, but don't acknowledge that two wrongs don't make a right, and that the number is therefore not directly relevant to the discussion.