>

Ridiculously simple solution. Hold the tax dodger responsible for the cost of litigation in full.
Not overmatched, handicappped. The IRS has the tools they need to pursue these tax cheats, but they dont have the funding or they're directed by elected government officials to leave it alone. They can't do their job without the means. >

That’s not true, the IRS is constantly trying to hire high end auditors but has trouble finding them because the GS pay is too low.
EDIT: I read the article in depth and did some research.  There was only one auditor assigned to Trump’s 400 entities.  There just straight up isn’t the manpower rn to effectively do it. >

I almost want to volunteer my time to help on high end audits... I think it would be fun going after these cheating fucks >

Problem is; you would need a CPA license to prove understanding of all the concepts and 2-6 years of experience to actually know what you’re doing before being able to understand enough to know what people practically do.
Another aspect of this is the returns of the super rich are often airtight and take tax positions that were litigated long ago. And the ones that aren’t are hard to catch because some of the strategies are so esoteric your run of the mill auditor wouldn’t notice them. >

I'll just fetch the coffee, every little bit helps >

IRS “fluffer” eh? >

If “fluffing” would help to recruit the talent needed to take down people like Trump? If my oral services could save us from the 1% that are literally and actively destroying the entire planet? I’d be proud to serve. >

you are a patriot!! >

"the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed this summer, authorized a significant increase in funding for the tax agency to audit the wealthiest taxpayers."
Much of it was restoring what a goper congress had gutted after 2010. Republicans will be trying to reverse this. Media needs to shine a consistent light on this and note that the rest of us have to pay more taxes and deal with the costs of higher budget deficits when the very wealthy don't pay. >

An issue that we encounter is that when centrist and/or right-wing media disingenuously frames funding the IRS as "now they'll have more money to come after YOU, person scraping by, living paycheck-to-paycheck!" >

The best part about that is that they can come after me, it's fine. I'm not fucking cheating on my taxes.
I fucking pay my taxes.
The IRS having more auditors is only bad for people who don't pay taxes. >

Well yeah but if you’re the type to be scared by republican rhetoric, it’s easy to think that the democrats are funding the IRS to just create more headaches for honest working folk because evil democrats want to squeeze every penny out of hard working Americans. >

Much much easier to pick on struggling single parent households than take on the actual problem >

That's why I will get a notice that I underpaid $300 but Trump dodges audits while in office... >

The one that's sent to you is automated because your taxes are simple af. While auditing trump is probably a manual process costing thousands of dollars in man hours >

And yet it shouldn't be hard to take one look at it and go
"hey this fuck on the TV with his name on the buildings says he owes $0, something is probably up" and do it anyways, so we can discover something is up and pay for all of those man hours; as someone else pointed out for every $1 we spend on enforcement we get $5-$9 back, so we should probably like... do the thing. >

This is a misunderstanding of how this works.
Trump’s business losses are probably legitimate.  Cost segregation studies combined with 168(k) bonus depreciation create paper losses as long as you continue to buy new buildings (assuming bonus depreciation is around).
The potentially (I don’t know, these could be above board too) sketchy things that I see based on what I read, as a CPA, are the loans to children and the conservation easements.  If the IRS really wants to look into it they should look at the shareholder loan account in any Trump S-corp that’s depleted its triple A lol. >

Legal and legitimate are different things.
I might believe that his business losses, as applied to taxes, are legal under the framework of the tax system we have (which is pretty fucked to begin with).
I doubt they are legitimate, as in he and his businesses did not find multiple ways to make income without paying a percentage of that money to the government for the welfare of the people. >

By design. >

Came here to say just this. >

Well the rich people making the laws sure don’t want to fix it.  They are fine w making sure the peasants pay up though >

Sure, there's that.  But there is also a matter of 300 million dollars he claimed he gave to charity and used to lessen his taxes.  He provided not one piece of paper to prove he gave any money to charity.  But he got a pass.  Wonder why?  Trump appointed the head of the IRS during his term in office.  Yup.  Not wondering now are ye........ >


Wonder why?  Trump appointed the head of the IRS during his term in office.

The thing is there's a good chance that isn't the reason. There's a good chance the reason is that rich people get this kind of special treatment all the time, and the only reason a spotlight is getting shone on it where Trump is concerned is because he was president. >

Perhaps.  But perhaps it's also because the man Trump appointed to head the IRS (Charles Rettig) also made over 100,000 dollars a year renting out Trump properties in Hawaii.  This while he was denying congress access to Trump's taxes and failing to to do a mandated yearly audit of his taxes.  So, there's that........ >

So you think that nothing short of the powers of the presidency would allow a rich man to get away with a spurious tax writeoff? >

Well, he did appoint him to run the IRS.  And that guy did refuse to give trump's taxes to congress.  And that guy did fail to conduct a mandated yearly audit of trump's taxes.  So yeah.  Power of presidency did accomplish this. >

Cool! So the system works unless the president is actively corrupt, but we can rest assured that all other millionaires are having their taxes audited fairly.
That's a relief. >

This is not an American problem, but an international one imho. And multiple problems at the  same time.
One, fighting for talent. Both IRS and accountants recruit the same people with the same knowhow. Which one will pay better money for the top talents that can create mindboggling complex legal structures? The IRS will have trouble to find the and keep the talent to be able to check those sort of legal structures.
Two, it has become much more easy to set up complex structures, most of them transnational. Double Irish with Dutch sandwich with a postbox head office on the Caymans to pay the IP rights to... It can be done with a few clicks and some paperwork. Out of reach for the average joe, but doable for any with a few million to spend/save on taxes.
Three, international corporation isn't perfect (it is getting better). Countries undercut each other. 
Forth, both national laws and international laws will always be lagging behind the newest financial constructs and tricks. So the rich can get away with it for a few years and then shift to something else when it becomes illegal
Fifth, digitalisation made it possible for IRS and similar ones in other countries to start checking average joes taxes an masse for problems. Which made it much more efficient and cost effective to start focussing on the middle and lower classes for the IRS. >

Almost no one in the US abuses international anymore because of the foreign reporting reqs but the others are 100% correct >

They've effectively admitted so much. They only go after us poors because they don't have the resources to defend ourselves. 
Land of the free my a$$ lol >

October 3, 2019 The IRS Admits It Doesn’t Audit the Rich Because It’s Too Hard. Only poor people have to pay back unpaid taxes. >

Appreciate the sauce! >

which is why the republicans want to keep it underfunded. >

By design. Republicans have squeezed the IRS by defunding it for decades. >

"We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes", - Leona Helmsley, Queen of Mean >

It’s not overmatched, it’s sympathetic to the rich and powerful. Big difference there. Kind of like our Justice system. >

This is why the Biden administration decided to hire all of the agents rightwingers fired over the last decade. Not to aggressively go after the rich, (which they should) but to actually be able to do their jobs under the law. >

High end taxpayers should pay a surcharge to fund an IRS team specific to the skills needed for handling their returns.  
Just like an accountant charges specific fees for complexity in a return, they can pay for the IRS service to handle their return. >

When you don't understand something because it's too complicated, it may mean you're being conned. >

Trump and many rich people are above the law would be a better title. >

The IRS has been sabotaged for decades by the GQP. It's on purpose. >

This looks more like collusion than “overmatched” >

Reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where the IRS were the bad guys because they wanted Krusty to pay his taxes. >

Basically, the complexity of their own tax code was their foil.  It does not need to be 4000+ pages long. >

Almost like there's a pattern of every system in the country being bribed and threatened once someone passes a financial threshold, and masses of tax dollars being free money for the rich. >

That may be the case but the guy was a corrupt tax lawyer handpicked by Dump himself for this specific purpose. Start with prosecuting that corruption. >

What do you expect when a GS 14 auditor makes 140k at the IRS when in Public Accounting you can make anywhere from 200-400k?
Pay auditors on a different pay scale and you will see a move. >

New partners at an accounting firm might be making $400k, after 12+ years of grinding 60 hour weeks for 4-6 months of the year. No low level manager with 4-6 years of experience are making $200k+. >

Im closer on the low end and I just got a raise to above what a GS-14 step 1 makes >

If your busy season was like mine in the last couple of years, you're probably working way more than a government employee with set 40 hour weeks is. 
Also locale also makes a difference too. You list someone being a GS14 making $140k, but the only locales this happens in in SF and NYC, which are definitely outliers for the vast majority of the U.S. Someone in SF or NYC is going to kill it because public accounting firms have to pay for the COL, whereas someone in Alabama isn't making half that. But auditors are located all across the U.S., so comparing it to someplace like SF or NYC isn't really reasonable. >

Take a look at tax director job listings at PA firms and compare to the IRS GS13-14 salaries and you will see why this is an issue >

Are they really overmatched? Or is it more an incompetent level of resource management that only goes after the lowest hanging fruit? >

It's an ROI thing. People like Trump will drag out a case for years. By the time you do get any money from them, it will have cost you more then what you recovered. Meanwhile, you get more back by going after people who don't have the resources to defend themselves.