All federal legislators and top fed officials should have their taxes audited

as a show of good faith.

After hearing about all these tax scandals, I think everyone from both parties should be reviewed to see just how rampant this is in D.C.

I believe such a proposal would be very popular with the public right now. With so many in crisis and struggling to pay their bills and taxes, we need to restore public faith in government by conducting a full audit.

And who knows? Maybe we can come up with a couple million in the process?

GOSH, THE TREASURY WILL GET A BUNDLE

or at least the ones appointed by Obama. I think it's hilarious that these are considered "tax scandals" considering.

I'm talking every federal legislator, A to Z. I'm wondering who the biggest cheats will be, Democrats or Republicans. Or, maybe it's just rich people.

We were audited about 15 years ago, and had to pay back taxes. I guess you can determine guilt by who the IRS chooses to audit, but I don't.

Or just made an honest mistake.

These people have money to pay accountants do their taxes to avoid such mistakes.

It's laughable that Geitner was using TurboTax.

but what difference does it make? Obviously if anyone has a 'tax-problem', they are a 'tax-cheat' right? We've has our taxes done by an accountant ever since..and guess what..he screwed us and filed late one year. So..that means we're really, really 'tax-cheats', right?

You sure are personalizing this.

No, if you've done due diligence and make a mistake or pay someone who screws up, no, I don't think you are a tax cheat. I think most people are clear that this is not what I am talking about.

BTW, I certainly hope you went after the accountant for any fines or penalties levied against you for it as a result of his negligence.

and when all was said and done, we got all our files and switched accountants. It wasn't so much that he made a mistake, but that he lied about it. But regardless of that why would I be any different than Daschle, or this woman, or Geittner? They are all judged to be "tax-cheats", why wouldn't I be as well?

or likely not what anyone else here thinks.

And, yes, it is VERY different for the reasons I state previously. If someone you paid lies to you and doesn't file your tax documents, how could you logically argue that this is the same as any of these cases?

and at the same time I can't argue that mine is any different. What is the same is that I obviously made a mistake..and I got caught in that mistake, and had to pay back taxes. It was years later that my accountant made a mistake...and got caught in it. Looks like we're all human, unlike so many others who claim perfection.

mechanically pretty goo, but the body was shot. It was in Pittsburgh, and suffered from a lot of body rot from the salted roads. We bought several cans of body putty, some sand paper, and a gal. of paint and fixed it up. Well, some little vegrant (age 12) from down the street stole it and totaled it by running into a tree. Alll we had was liability ins. on it, so I claimed the loss on my tax return. I carefully clipped the classified from several papers to document how I came up with the value and claimed the loss. We were audited that year, and the IRS said I couldn't claim that amount as actual value beecause I couldn't charge for MY LABOR TIME in fixing it up! Yep, I had to pay $200+ in back taxes. Am I a tax cheat? I don't think so.

HOWEVER, back when people were allowed to deduct a certain amount of the Fed. Tax that was paid on cigaretts, EVERYBODY I knew claimed they smoked! THAT included my old Aunt who wouldn't even let a cigarette inside her house!

Before computerized matching by the IRS, NOT ALL 1099 income was reported.

People who wore mandatory uniforms ALL deducted the cost of having their uniforms dry cleaned/laundered, wether they did them themselves or had them done.

Face it folks, the majority of taxpayers would pay less if they thought they could get away with it!!!!!! I'm disappointed in so many holier than thou's gripeing about Obama's picks.

that our tax code is so fucked up, and the real criminals write the frigging laws. People get played so easily.

No sympathy from me for them at ALL.

the tax laws are written by and for industry. I don't expect you to have any sympathy for anyone who makes a mistake on their tax returns, but I would expect you would know where the major fraud occurs in regards to paying taxes and the IRS itself.

Seems to me that's one of the characteristics of a decent person - having sympathy.

??

I think I ran 3 or 4 stop signs today while riding my bicycle. Many lawbreakers get caught speeding or failing to wear their seatbelt or smoking a blunt or some other minor infraction. That doesn't make them total a$$holes or mass murderers or cereal rapists.

n/t

There is no proof that he deliberately broke the law, except that the cynics "just know he's guilty". He's declared guilty and even though he paid for this "mistake" without ever being caught, there's no way for him to prove his innocence to a crowd of progressives who already hate him.

chose him for a cabinet position? Coincidence? :eyes:

or had taken care of it. That cannot be true though, can it? It must be a deep conspiracy involving bad motives. Simply must be.

it's not even the sympathy, it's the empathy. Who are these perfect people who have made no mistakes in life? The willingness to pounce on any human being that doesn't measure up to expectations stuns me. And this is politics.

filed a tax return more complicated than the norm (like most Americans who are employed by someone else and receive a W2) to go through an audit and come out 100% correct! There's always SOMETHING! Judgements are made that the IRS disagrees. Mistakes are made by accountants. Things are forgotten by the taxpayers.

The lady who was to be the Chief Performance Officer and resigned today was guilty of a very stupid error, but one she certainly KNOWN about. Geitner & Daschel, I honestly believe were stupid oversights.

But I'm sure they are not the only ones in D.C. who are doing it.

If it would have happened to us, how much trouble would we have been for the "mistake"? What fees or penalties are they paying?

The little people get slammed with these. The IRS doesn't say, "Just give us what you owed and we'll call it even."

The only time anyone gets into REAL trouble with the IRS is when they commit fraud. Laundering $$, claiming more dependants than you actually have. Those offenses are mostly considered fraud, and criminal.

n/t

Just going on a fishing expedition into the taxes of a targeted group of private citizens would be unconstitutional.

they are the law makers if they don't follow them why in the hell should we. Very bad examples they are setting