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I'm sure they'll come after them with the same fury they go after alleged billionaires paying $800 in taxes for a year.

ashtonkem 5y ago
The IRS stopped auditing those people a while ago, because they cost too much up front to audit and sue. It’s the middle tier where all the audits happen; rich enough to evade their taxes, but not so rich that they can afford good lawyers who make collecting difficult.
- Terretta 5y ago
  In general, the word isn't evade. In general, it's "plan" or "structure". It's less worth pursuing the ultra wealthy because they implemented the actual tax algorithm and paid every penny the law actually requires -- often zero -- when the algorithm is executed flawlessly. For the disciplined tax planners to pay more, the code has to be debugged and simplified to eliminate these unintended but fully accurate results.
  - o___ 5y ago
    Spoken like a true thief. "How can this be stolen? What is possession, really?"
- cryptica 5y ago
  That sounds like an excuse. The reality is that the government is controlled by rich crooks.
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    More a consequence of the IRS being systemically underfunded for decades. They simply do not have the money required to audit everyone, so they’re pursuing a strategy of maximizing the return per audit dollar spent. Culturally, I’m sure that the IRS wants to catch every tax cheat; it’s just that they lack the resources to try.
whywhywhywhy 5y ago
Expecting billionaires to ever pay seems naive. The amount you're threatening to tax them is literally the resources they have to mitigate that tax. If you want to tax them say 7 million, it's worth spending 6.5 million if it got that bill down to anything lower than 500K and if you ever had a way to hold them at gunpoint to get them to pay, they'd just move themselves and their HQ another country. Taxes are only for the working class and the middle class.

The IRS stopped auditing those people a while ago, because they cost too much up front to audit and sue. It’s the middle tier where all the audits happen; rich enough to evade their taxes, but not so rich that they can afford good lawyers who make collecting difficult.

Terretta 5y ago
In general, the word isn't evade. In general, it's "plan" or "structure". It's less worth pursuing the ultra wealthy because they implemented the actual tax algorithm and paid every penny the law actually requires -- often zero -- when the algorithm is executed flawlessly. For the disciplined tax planners to pay more, the code has to be debugged and simplified to eliminate these unintended but fully accurate results.
- o___ 5y ago
  Spoken like a true thief. "How can this be stolen? What is possession, really?"
cryptica 5y ago
That sounds like an excuse. The reality is that the government is controlled by rich crooks.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  More a consequence of the IRS being systemically underfunded for decades. They simply do not have the money required to audit everyone, so they’re pursuing a strategy of maximizing the return per audit dollar spent. Culturally, I’m sure that the IRS wants to catch every tax cheat; it’s just that they lack the resources to try.

whywhywhywhy 5y ago

Expecting billionaires to ever pay seems naive. The amount you're threatening to tax them is literally the resources they have to mitigate that tax. If you want to tax them say 7 million, it's worth spending 6.5 million if it got that bill down to anything lower than 500K and if you ever had a way to hold them at gunpoint to get them to pay, they'd just move themselves and their HQ another country. Taxes are only for the working class and the middle class.