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This whole "ducked taxes" meme
azstrummer — (archived)

I'm sorry Tom but every damned one of us from time to time in our lives has found our tax burden to be untenable and had to game the system a bit to get by. By game the system I don't mean anything illegal.

Not paying your taxes for a few years is not a federal crime. The government is perfectly willing to have you get delinquent and start piling on the interest and penalties. They won't send police to your door and drag you out for getting off base a bit. It's only when there's clear criminal intent to never pay your obligation that the law gets involved.

Sometimes it makes economic sense to put things off a bit despite the penalties and interest especially in the world of high finance. These folks are in a different plane than we are and often, keeping some cash on hand instead of paying off a debt can earn them huge profits which down the road will more than take care of the obligation.

Every time I hear about one of these top dogs being behind, the story seems to lack some important details. Did the individual submit the proper extensions? Did they contact the IRS and negotiate? Were there questions about their actual obligation and was the amount they owed in question? I gotta tell you that the IRS is a one way valve. If you have uncertainties about how much you owe, it's not a great idea to let them hold the cash until it's settled. I lost $600 once to them because the Navy put in a statement for money I never received. I'll never get that back. The time and energy I would have had to put into the appeal would've cost me more than what I lost.

Our tax code is so complex it's no wonder even the most savvy financial expert might be tripped up by it from time to time. Were it as simple as it should be I'd have no sympathy.

Art

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