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Chief IRS Counsel Got Jeremiah Wright's Church out of IRS Probe Before Joining Agency

breitbart

By Matthew Boyle 

News reports from the time indicate the now-chief counsel of the IRS, William Wilkins, helped a church connected to President Barack Obama’s friend Rev. Jeremiah Wright get out of an IRS probe in 2008 while working as a private attorney.

“Lawyers from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have won the dismissal of an IRS case against United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama's denomination,” The American Lawyer’s Zach Lowe wrote on May 22, 2008. 

The IRS initiated an investigation early this year after a speech by Obama at a 50th anniversary celebration of the church last June. It was a reference by Obama to his presidential candidacy in a talk otherwise focused on faith that caught the agency's attention. Tax laws prohibit non-profits--including churches--from engaging in political speech or promoting candidates. The IRS can withdraw an organization's tax-free status if the organization is found to violate the rule.

Lowe noted that Obama had been a “member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago--a UCC congregation--for more than 20 years. The church has been in the headlines for several months now as the congregation lead by the controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright.”

William Wilkins, then a WilmerHale law firm partner, said, “We were so interested in the case we offered to do it pro bono."

Lowe wrote that Wilkins and other firm lawyers worked with the church’s national counsel, Donald Clark, and proved they had invited Obama to the event before he announced his candidacy for president. “Evidence presented in a letter sent to the IRS in late March pointed to ground rules the organization had established for Obama's visit; the church even cautioned churchgoers against engaging in any political activity,” Lowe wrote. “Had the IRS pursued the matter, it would have raised serious questions about the First Amendment's application to church activities, Wilkins says.”

When President Obama nominated Wilkins to be the IRS’s chief counsel on April 17, 2009, his White House cited Wilkins’ experience as an attorney on issues relating to tax-exempt status organization. “He has a broad tax practice that includes counseling nonprofit organizations, business entities, and investment funds on tax compliance, business transactions, and government investigations,” according to the White House release announcing Wilkins' nomination. 

Prior to joining WilmerHale, Wilkins was Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Committee on Finance. Wilkins joined the Democratic staff of the Committee in 1981 and served as tax counsel before becoming Staff Director and Chief Counsel in 1987.

In the release, which included the announcement of a second Treasury Department nominee, President Obama himself said he was "confident in the abilities of these two fine public servants as we work to turn our economy around and give American families the relief they need during these difficult times. Under the leadership of Secretary Geithner, they will work to serve the American people and bring their unique areas of expertise to the job as we work to put America on the path to prosperity."

Upon the resignation of Steven Miller, several news outlets have pointed out that Wilkins will likely become a public target of congressional investigators digging into the scandal surrounding the IRS’s targeting of conservative and Tea Party organizations.

Reuters wrote that GOP lawmakers’ aides said their bosses will soon “focus” on Wilkins as they “seek to determine whether the White House acted improperly.”

“Wilkins' office was made aware of the targeting of conservative groups as early as August 2011, according to the inspector general report,” Reuters wrote. “The report does not make clear whether Wilkins - who reports to the Treasury Department's general counsel - himself knew of the targeting in 2011, or when he first learned of it.”

“Another question is whether Wilkins, whose office employs about 1,600 lawyers, might have taken the matter elsewhere within the Obama administration,” Reuters added. “The IRS issued a statement saying Wilkins did not participate in the August 2011 meeting, which the agency said involved ‘staff attorneys several layers below Wilkins.’”

As Town Hall magazine highlighted recently, White House spokesman Jay Carney has already been pressured by reporters on Wilkins' role in this scandal. 

NYT: Obama Administration Knew of IRS Scandal 5 Months Before Election

breitbart

By John Nolte 

In no uncertain terms and with no hedging, The New York Times reports that the Obama administration was aware of the fact that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups as far back as June of 2012. The Treasury Department's Inspector General confirmed that he told senior Treasury officials in June of 2012, a full five months before Election Day:

The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was investigating the Internal Revenue Service’s screening of politically active organizations seeking tax exemptions, disclosing for the first time on Friday that Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year.

We still don’t know for sure what the President knew or when he knew it, but this does confirm that the administration was aware of the fact that Obama's political enemies were under fire by the IRS and covered that fact up during an election year.

As Lisa Meyers of NBC News told "Morning Joe" today, "Imagine if we -- if you can -- what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012, in the middle of a presidential election? The terrain would have looked very different."

The first time President Obama was asked when he found out about the IRS scandal, he told the media that he learned of the news last Friday, the same way the rest of us did -- from the news media.

Thursday, a Bloomberg reporter asked the President when he or anyone else in the White House learned of the scandal. The President dodged the question.

With this latest news confirming when the Administration first learned of the IRS scandal,  we now know that, along with Benghazi and the unfurling Associated Press scandal, there were three scandals brewing and unfolding in the White House during an election year. But we are only now hearing about them -- six months after Barack Obama was safely re-elected.

This fact says as much about the failure of our lapdog national media as it does about President Obama. Why just this morning the Times itself dismissed the IRS scandal on its editorial page.

O'Reilly: Grilling the IRS

How to tell if the IRS is eyeing you

nbcnews

Kelley Holland CNBC

You consider yourself a law abiding citizen, and you are not starting a nonprofit organization with conservative ties.

Even so, you may be a candidate for a tax audit—and you may have no clue what you have done to warrant the attention of the IRS.

The nation's tax collectors have long made it a practice to look for discrepancies, omissions and suspicious activity to uncover tax evasion and fraud. And lately, the IRS has expanded its monitoring to include social media.

The agency now keeps an eye out for online discussions about nonpayment or underpayment of taxes, and even sale prices of goods on sites like eBay that don't match what taxpayers report.

In a world where companies like Amazon can keep tabs on consumers' online activities, the shift by the IRS is reasonable, says Edward Zelinsky, a law professor at Cardozo Law School. "This was always known to people in the tax community that the IRS, like everybody else in the 21st century, was monitoring online."

But Zelinsky is just one expert concerned about the lack of transparency around the IRS' practices. The agency "is so secretive about what is going on that that really erodes public confidence," he said.

(Read More: IRS Mess Could Yield Tax Reform: Baucus)

The American Civil Liberties Union has also expressed qualms about IRS secrecy. That group filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents explaining whether the IRS always obtains search warrants to read email and other electronic communications. "Unfortunately, while the documents we have obtained do not answer this question point blank, they suggest otherwise," wrote Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney at the ACLU.

So how can you know if you are under scrutiny? You can't know exactly, but some moves are more likely than others to attract attention.

Noncash deductions are a prime example, according to several tax experts. If you donate a car to the American Lung Association, or a large quantity of clothing to the Salvation Army, make sure that the deduction you take is reasonable, and that you can document how you came to that amount.

(Read More: Obama: Miller Out as Acting Commissioner of IRS)

Taxpayers who are self employed often appear to face more scrutiny as well. "If you are in business for yourself, or you work for someone who is, know that the IRS is watching," Frederick W. Dailey III, a tax lawyer and the author of "Stand Up to the IRS," said on his website.

The IRS also keeps an eye out for cash-based businesses, and for mismatches between what others file about you and what you file. For example, if you neglect to include a payment for some freelance work during the year, and the payer reports that as a business expense, you are likely to get some scrutiny. This would also hold true if you neglect to report gains from an investment account, and the investment firm reports them.

Wealthier taxpayers seem to be more likely to get chosen for audit, perhaps because that gives the IRS a greater chance to recover significant sums. (Every year the government collects only about 83 percent of what it is owed, a gap of several hundred billion dollars at a time when the budget deficit is a flashpoint.)

According to IRS data, taxpayers making $1 million or more are more than 12 times more likely than the rest of the population to be examined. In 2010, about one in 100 Americans were audited. The IRS audited 3.8 percent of returns for those making $200,000 or higher, versus 12.5 percent of returns for those making $1 million or more.

As for the online monitoring, Zelinsky says it may be simply the application of new tools to old agency search standards. So while he is deeply frustrated by the IRS' lack of transparency, he added, "If they are using social media to find cash based businesses, or looking for phony medical deductions or the other hot buttons, then I would applaud that."

There is no surefire way to prevent an audit. But experts say one practice definitely improves your odds: Don't do what the IRS does. Be open. About everything.

The agency declined to comment about this story.

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In wake of scandal, Obama ousts IRS chief -- who was leaving anyway

Fox News

President Obama announced Wednesday that acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller would resign in the wake of the agency scandal in which conservative groups were targeted -- though Miller was apparently set to step down anyway. 

An official close to Miller told Fox News, shortly after Obama's brief announcement, that the IRS chief was "set to resign the position of acting commission as of early June." He was planning to leave the IRS entirely a "couple of months later, regardless of the current controversy," the source said. 

These details were not mentioned by the president as he announced Wednesday evening Miller was resigning. Obama spoke following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew  and other top department officials in which they reviewed a highly critical inspector general’s report on the practice. The report concluded poor management allowed agents to improperly target Tea Party and other groups for more than 18 months, starting in 2010.

Obama said Lew asked for the resignation and Miller agreed, after being on the job since November 2012.

“Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it,” Obama said from the White House. The president is expected to name a new acting commissioner later this week. 

Republicans, who along with Democrats have slammed the IRS for the practice, welcomed the resignation Wednesday but made clear they would continue to investigate and press for accountability. 

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said the resignation "is a necessary first step but more heads need to roll." 

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., reacting to the claim that Miller was leaving anyway, said it seemed like he was a "perfect scapegoat" for the administration. 

Miller’s resignation was part of three-step plan Obama outlined to fix the problem.

The other steps are to put in place the safeguards recommended in the IG report and to work with Congress as it investigates. 

“The good news is we can fix this,” Obama said. 

Miller became acting commissioner after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.

The president has proceeded cautiously since the IRS controversy was made public Friday. While he initially said the accusations were "outrageous," he also said he wanted to wait until the report was released before addressing what should be done to hold accountable those responsible.

Obama said he would hold a press conference Thursday.

The report lays much of the blame on IRS supervisors in Washington who oversaw a group of specialists in Cincinnati who screened applications for tax-exempt status. It does not indicate that Washington initiated the targeting of conservative groups, but it does say a top supervisor in Washington did not adequately supervise agents in the field even after she learned the agents were acting improperly.

The Justice Department is also investigating the IRS targeting, as are three congressional committees.

Sources told Fox News that Miller will remain on the job "for a couple of weeks." 

The House Ways and Means Committee said after the announcement of Miller's resignation that he still will attend a hearing Friday.

And the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs sent a letter Wednesday afternoon to the IRS  requesting five employees named in the IG audit be made available for transcribed interviews by committee staff.

The Republican-led committee wants to start the interviews Monday.

The names and titles of the IRS employees requested are Holly Paz, a director; John Shafer, a manager; Gary Muthert, a screener; Liz Hofacre, a case coordinator; and Joseph Herr, a manager.

"The resignation of Steven Miller is a positive and important step as this agency struggles to try to regain the public’s trust," said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "A clean slate at the IRS with new leadership is imperative to fix this egregious encroachment on the lives of honest, hard-working Americans whose only sin was that they want to express their beliefs."

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney sidestepped a question about whether Obama still had confidence in Miller, saying he wouldn't discuss personnel matters. He said Obama has expressed his overall view that IRS personnel had acted inappropriately. 

"He wants to see that the actions taken, as revealed by the Treasury report, that are inappropriate, are met with consequences," Carney said. "He will make clear to Treasury Department leaders that he expects action." 

Carney said Obama wants the public to "understand and believe that the IRS applies our tax laws in a neutral and fair way to everyone."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/16/obama-to-meet-with-treasury-officials-over-irs-scandal/#ixzz2TTPQ7aqM

Boehner: "My question is who is going to jail over this scandal?” IRS disciplines 2 in probe into conservative targeting

usnews

By Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News

A senior official at the Internal Revenue Service has told congressional investigators that two IRS employees have been disciplined in relation to the special scrutiny applied to conservative groups, Congressional sources told NBC News on Wednesday.

The disciplined employees are from the IRS’s Cincinnati office, which was responsible at the time for reviewing the applications of groups that wanted tax exemption, the sources said.

An internal report faulted the IRS for using “inappropriate criteria” in the screening and for bad management. The disclosure has angered members of both parties in Congress, and President Barack Obama has said it was inexcusable. The Justice Department has opened an investigation.

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that prosecutors are looking at several different criminal statutes, including one that requires IRS employees to do their jobs without favoritism.

“The facts will take us wherever they take us,” Holder said.

He said that the investigation, while based in Washington, will be nationwide in scope and not limited to the offices that have been the subject of complaints so far.

IRS employees used to terms search as “Tea Party” and “Patriots” to determine which organizations would be allowed tax exemption under federal law. An IRS official has apologized, but lawmakers want to know who within the organization, and perhaps elsewhere in government, was aware of the screening.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, demanded earlier Wednesday: “My question isn’t who is going to resign. My question is who is going to jail over this scandal?”

Surprise! IRS Boss Who Targeted Tea Party and Jewish Groups Investigated Anti-Clinton Groups in the 1990s | A Time For Choosing

A Time For Choosing

By Gary P Jackson

It seems we can never escape these evil Nazi sons-a-bitches! Yes, I used the “N” word, because these kind of tactics were used extensively by the Nazis to intimidate and take away the rights of their political opponents. Of course, Hitler wasn’t the only one who did this, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Castro, Chavez, and other Marxist tyrants did the same. Add Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to the list.

What gets me is people knew at the time Bill Clinton had the IRS attacking his opponents, and yet, when impeachment time came, this was never part of the Articles of Impeachment. Had it been, the Senate may have convicted and removed Slick Willy from office.

It’s not like there wasn’t a precedent for impeaching a president over this sort of evil. Another liberal president, Republican Richard Nixon, was about to be impeached for doing the exact same thing both Clinton and Obama have done, turning the IRS on political opponents.

This makes impeaching Obama a must.

By now you’ve heard all about the IRS targeting and harassing the Tea Party, and many Conservative groups as well as Jewish groups. The IRS even turned over confidential data to radical leftist groups so they could use it to destroy Obama’s opponents.

It started out with the corrupt media portraying this as “rogue agents in Ohio” but we quickly learned that this went all of the way to the top of the IRS, and several top leaders lied about knowing of these attacks, which have been going on since 2010.

Now we learn that this isn’t IRS boss Steven T. Miller’s first rodeo. In addition to doing Obama’s bidding, attacking Conservatives, Miller played a similar role during the Clinton years, attacking anti-Clinton groups.

Keep reading on A Time For Choosing >>

5 unanswered questions about the IRS targeting of conservative groups

usnews

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Outrage intensified in Washington on Monday over the disclosure that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.

President Barack Obama, at a White House appearance with the British prime minister, said that he wanted all the facts but used strong terms to condemn the reported conduct.

“I’ve got no patience with it. I will not tolerate it,” he said. “And we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this.”

The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration will release an audit report later this week. In the meantime, here are five big unanswered questions looming over the IRS.

How did this start and why?

In January 2010, a Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United touched off a flood of political spending, much of it classified under a section of tax law known as 501(c)4 that entitles certain “social welfare” groups to tax exemption.

Two months later, a special unit of the IRS in Cincinnati assigned to screen applications for 501(c)4 status began searching for groups with descriptions that included “Tea Party” and “Patriots,” according to a partial draft of the inspector general’s report obtained by NBC News.

Lois Lerner, head of the IRS division on tax-exempt organizations, said Friday that the targeting of conservative groups was “inappropriate” but “absolutely not” influenced by the White House. She also said that none of the targeted groups was denied tax-exempt status.

What has not been spelled out is who in the Cincinnati office decided to search for conservative groups and why.

At least one Tea Party group called on the administration Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the matter, which it called “un-American and Nixonesque.” One of the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon accused him of targeting political opponents for tax audits.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are determined to investigate.

“I just don’t buy that this was a couple of rogue IRS employees,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Sunday on the CNN program “State of the Union.”

Who knew what, and when, higher in the IRS?

Lerner learned in June 2011 that agents had targeted groups with names including “Tea Party” and “Patriots,” according to the draft obtained by NBC News.

She “instructed that the criteria immediately be revised,” according to the draft. Ten months later, in March 2012, the IRS commissioner at the time, Douglas Shulman, testified to Congress that the IRS was not targeting tax-exempt groups based on their politics.

The IRS said over the weekend that senior executives were not aware of the targeting, but it remains unclear who knew what and when. Shulman, who left the agency last fall, has not spoken publicly about the scandal and did not answer a request for comment Monday from NBC News.

Members of Congress had sent letters to Shulman as early as June 2011 asking specifically about targeting of conservative groups, according to a House Ways and Means Committee summary obtained by NBC News.

The IRS responded at least six times but made no mention of targeting conservatives, according to the committee’s summary.

Will anyone be fired?

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Monday demanded the resignation of the head of the IRS. That is Steven Miller, who is serving as acting commissioner until Obama nominates a replacement.

The last commissioner was Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008, left the agency in November and has taken a position as a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution.

Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House speaker, told MSNBC on Monday that Obama should say “he’s going to fire everybody he can legally fire who’s been involved with this.”

How will the White House contain the political damage?

The IRS scandal presents a daunting political challenge for the White House, which is already being forced to defend its handling of the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, last September.

The furor over the IRS has come from both parties. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Monday the agency had committed an “outrageous abuse of power” and pledged a grilling.

“The IRS will now be the ones put under additional scrutiny,” he said.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia called it inexcusable, and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said the president “must immediately condemn this attack on our values and find those individuals in his administration who are responsible and fire them.”

How can this be prevented in the future?

Rubio, in his letter calling for the resignation of the IRS chief, called the behavior “seemingly unconstitutional and potentially criminal.”

But under existing law, the worst that can happen to an IRS agent who discriminates against taxpayers is getting fired, said Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who sits on the House Oversight Committee.

Turner introduced a bill Monday to increase the toughest penalty to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

“This is about protecting the rights of all Americans and their ability to freely express their political thoughts,” he said.

-------------------

Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News contributed to this report. Reuters and The Associated Press also contributed.

SCANDAL WIDENS: IRS Targeting Went Beyond Tea Party, Conservatives

Read on foxnews >>

House Republicans swiftly announce hearing on IRS targeting conservative groups

Fox News

The IRS acknowledging that it targeted conservative political groups during the 2012 election season has sparked bipartisan calls for investigation -- with House Republicans already saying they will hold a hearing on the issue.

House Majority Speaker Eric Cantor said Friday the Republican-led chamber would investigate the tax-collecting agency for flagging the groups for additional review to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status.

“The IRS cannot target or intimidate any individual or organization based on their political beliefs,” the Virginia Republican said.

Cantor’s comments were followed within minutes by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp saying he would hold a hearing.

The IRS on Friday apologized for targeting groups, but Camp, R-Mich., argued the agency had “repeatedly denied” such activity.

“The admission by the agency that it targeted American taxpayers based on politics is both shocking and disappointing,” he said.

The committee has jurisdiction over IRS, but it remains unclear whether other House committees also will investigate the issue, in which roughly 300 groups were flagged.

Republicans were joined by a leading Senate Democrat in the call for congressional investigations.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said members have already been looking into the IRS's failure to make sure tax-exempt groups engage only in social welfare activities -- not partisan politics.

“Today’s announcement by the IRS raises a second issue: whether the IRS, to the extent it has enforced its rules, has been impartial in doing so,” Levin said Friday. “Both issues require investigation.”

Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups, said that organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status.

In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, she said.

"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate," Lerner said. "The IRS would like to apologize for that."

Republican lawmakers appeared vindicated in part by the announcement, after complaining about the suspected harassment more than a year ago.

A dozen Republican senators wrote to the IRS in March 2012 expressing concerns about various accounts that the agency inquiries were "perceived to be excessive."

However, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told Congress in March 2012 that the agency was not targeting groups based on their political views.

"There's absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back and forth that happens to people" who apply for tax-exempt status, he told a House Ways and Means subcommittee.

Among Capitol Hill Republicans already raising further concerns or calls for investigations are California Rep. Darrell Issa, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky; Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

“The IRS’s political targeting of select groups based on their political leanings is reprehensible, and it should trouble every American to know that a federal government agency could abuse its power so outrageously,” Rubio said. “We need immediate congressional hearings.”

Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. She said no high-level IRS officials knew about the practice. She did not say when they found out.

The IRS has put out a written statement saying protocol was changed at the Cincinnati office in response to the rising number of applications for so-called 501(c)(4) groups. This classification grants tax-exempt status to social welfare groups. Unlike other charitable groups, these organizations are allowed to participate in political activities but their primary activity must be social welfare.

The agents tried to "centralize work" in response to the applications, the IRS said, leading to problems the agency claims have since been fixed.  Lerner said the number of groups filing for the tax-exempt status more than doubled from 2010 to 2012, to more than 3,400. To handle the influx, the IRS centralized its review of these applications in the office in Cincinnati. As part of the review, staffers look for signs that groups are participating in political activity. If so, IRS agents take a closer look to make sure that politics isn't the group's primary activity, Lerner said.

In all, about 300 groups were singled out for additional review, Lerner said. Of those, about one-fourth were singled out because they had "tea party" or "patriot" somewhere in their applications.

Cubans to start paying taxes for the first time

todaysthv.com

Lindsey Tugman

HAVANA, CUBA (CNN) -- Paying taxes is something many of us are simply resigned to, but not in Cuba, at least not until now. Economic reforms mean thousands of people no longer work for the state, but for themselves. And that's leading to big changes in the communist country.

A Havana car wash has only been open for a few months but business is already rolling in. it's privately owned, one of many small businesses sprouting up across cuba where capitalism, until three years ago, was forbidden. Owner Yasmani Claro Duran says, "It feel good, thanks to the changes happening in the country and easing of restrictions, people are doing better."

But people doing better means a growing disparity in living standards, something the Cuban revolution was supposed to have abolished.

After Fidel Castro took power nearly everyone worked for the government and made similarly meager salaries. but under after economic reforms initiated by his brother Raul over 400,000 Cubans have started small businesses, some making fortunes, at least compared to those who stayed on the state payroll.

So starting this year many Cubans will do something they have never done previously: pay taxes. Vladimir Regueiro Ale with the National Tax Office Administration says, "It's a form of redistribution that before didn't exist. Social participation was more passive. The taxes are being applied to a sector of the economy that's generating new wealth."

Everyone, except state workers and self employed farmers, will pay this tax. But government officials say in the future there may be taxes on property and state salaries.

Increasingly the government here is calling on citizens to contribute more if they want to continue to have free health care and education.

At an office outside Havana, government employees explain the new tax code and convince small business owners to pay up. There are new fines for those who don't, but no jail time. Tax collector Maria del Carmen Cárdenas Salas says, "When people began working for themselves there wasn't the same strictness placed on paying taxes that there is today. This is an obligation established with the state and we have to enforce it."

The government could not tell CNN how much money these new taxes will bring in but they say there will be an improvement in services.

But requiring people to pay taxes could be a double edged sword for the government here. As they pay more into the system, Cubans may finally stop simply hoping that officials will fix the broken streets, buildings and transportation system here and expect them to.

House Dems Want 45% Taxes on $1M Incomes

breitbart

By Ben Shapiro 

On Thursday, House Democrats proposed a new bill that would create a minimum 45 percent tax rate on income more than $1 million, and a rate of 49 percent on income more than $1 billion. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) is the mastermind behind this notion; she calls it the Fairness in Taxation Act. “Our country faces an inequality crisis,” she said. “While the amount of earned income – and accumulated wealth – by the top one percent of earners continues its dramatic rise, most Americans have seen little or no gain in take-home pay for decades. We need increased revenue to eliminate the sequester.” Other sponsors of the bill include the most liberal members of the Congress: John Conyers (D-MI), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Luis Guttierez (D-IL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), and John Yarmuth (D-KY).

Of course, the Obama administration rammed through a tax increase at the beginning of 2013, and focused largely on measures designed to redistribute income to low-income earners throughout President Obama’s first term. The result: the weakest and most lopsided recovery in American history. In California, where taxes have been consistently increased for years, more and more businesses and high-income earners are leaving the state for greener pastures.

Our country does not face an inequality crisis. It faces a growth crisis. Cuba has no inequality crisis, but the people are still miserable. The same holds true of most socialized societies, where income gaps are smaller but growth is similarly minute.

Here Are the 5 Most Interesting Things in Obama’s & Biden’s Tax Returns

TheBlaze.com

Becket Adams

The White House on Friday released President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s tax returns.

“Today, the President released his 2012 federal income tax returns,” White House press secretary Jay Carney wrote in a blog post on the White House website. “He and the First Lady filed their income tax returns jointly and reported adjusted gross income of $608,611. The Obamas paid $112,214 in total tax.”

“The President and First Lady also reported donating $150,034 – or about 24.6 percent of their adjusted gross income – to 33 different charities,” Carney said.

Here are five interesting things we discovered about the Obamas and Bidens via their 2012 federal income tax returns:

5. President Obama’s Income Has Declined

“President Barack Obama made less in 2012 than in any other year since taking office, with about 40 percent of the nearly $609,000 in income that he and first lady Michelle Obama reported coming from book sales,” the Associated Press notes.

4. The Bidens Donated $2,000 Worth of Clothing, Boots, Toys, Pottery, etc. to Goodwill

“A look at the Bidens joint filing reveals that $2,000 of [their $7,190 to charity in 2012] was in the form of ‘donated property’ given to Goodwill in Wilmington, Delaware,” the Weekly Standard notes.

Screen grab.

“[O]n June 25 of last year, the Bidens gave ‘Clothing, Boots, Kitchenware, Glassware’ totaling $400 to Goodwill,” the report notes. “Earlier, on May 16, the Bidens gave ‘Furniture and Exercise Equipment’ valued at $1,100 to the Ministry of Caring. And on May 27 of last year, the Bidens gave ‘Bicycles, Toys, Glasses, Pottery, Kitchenware’ valued at $500 to the same Goodwill.”

Canada Revenue Agency struggling to put a lid on tax fraud

The Globe and Mail

KATHRYN BLAZE CARLSON 

It is a simple scheme that netted a Brampton, Ont., man’s clients thousands of dollars, all on the backs of law-abiding Canadians.

His crime was this: As a tax preparer from 2005 to 2010, Adegboyega Adenekanad Adebukunola filed $858,897 in fake donations on 129 returns, reducing his clients’ tax bill by a total of $245,602.

The case represents a tiny fraction of the revenue lost to false receipting, but it offers a fresh glimpse into a fraudulent enterprise that has cost Ottawa hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade. Because of people like Mr. Adebukunola and his clients, millions of Canadians filing returns next month will shoulder an unfair tax burden and suffer from fewer dollars flowing into federally funded programs and social services.

The Harper government has sought to boost revenues without raising taxes since 2006, introducing dozens of tax-fairness measures expected to bring in more than $2-billion by 2015. Last week’s budget was no exception – its fiscal outlook relies on raking in billions by closing loopholes and pursuing cheats more aggressively. Still, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s plan sent mixed signals to the Canada Revenue Agency: It will get $13-million annually to track international financial transfers and pursue fraudsters scamming its R&D tax credit program, but it is also the target of fresh cuts, taking a hit of $60-million annually on top of previous cutbacks.

And while the CRA is getting sharper teeth, its new-found authority will be limited. If the agency suspects people failed to pay their due taxes, it can now collect half of the disputed amount while the case is tied up in court. But that new deterrent applies only to charitable-donation tax shelters and it remains to be seen whether it will some day extend to unpaid taxes tied to fake receipts.

In charity lawyer Mark Blumberg’s view, one bright light from the latest budget is what was missing: Though it introduced a new first-time donor’s “super credit” that will increase the value of a receipt by 25 per cent (once per couple, and only up to $1,000), there are no other donation incentives. And that means there are no new financial incentives to file fake receipts.

After Mr. Adebukunola’s arrest in the United States on an international warrant, he pleaded guilty to tax fraud this month and was sentenced to house arrest. There are other cases: In October, 2012, for example, Penelope Donick was sentenced to one year in jail and a $200,000 fine after the CRA discovered she had filed $4-million in falsified receipts across 269 fraudulent returns; before her, there was Ambrose Danso-Dapaah and his estimated $39-million in fake charity receipts.

“Anyone with a computer and a printer at home could do this,” Mr. Blumberg said. “Anyone can, in about 15 minutes, create an official donation receipt for income tax purposes for any charity.”

Canada’s 86,000 charities issued $13-billion in receipts for the 2011 tax year. Ever since 2007, the CRA has focused on combatting charity-gifting tax arrangements and tackling this other lesser, but far simpler, scheme involving fraudulent donation receipts. In a newsletter last year, the CRA listed fake receipting as among Canada’s top-five tax scams.

Keep reading on  The Globe and Mail >>

Thieves make billions on fake tax returns

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Emilio Ichikawa » Razones para meterse a disidente [o cuentapropista] en Cuba

Emilio Ichikawa 

En una rueda entre amigos en Miami hablamos que lo de meterse a disidente no solo viene estimulado por la facilidad de visado en las Embajadas y las (a)cogidas en universidades extranjeras; también está el hecho de que el gobierno cubano lleva más cómodo a los disidentes que a humildes cuentapropistas de barrio. El gobierno cubano, en su afán por no ser percibido como extremista, no le grava los dólares que ganan escritores cubanos como Miguel Barnet y la propia Yoani Sánchez, y sin embargo en el pueblo de Bauta acaban de acaballar a un amigo con una multa porque dicen que declaró 50 pizzas de menos. Consejo para Felito Dientefrío: Funda un partido opositor, y ponte a vender croquetas que por acá te defendemos como seguidor de Martí.

Obama Spends Tax $$ Teaching People How to Use Microwaves

Fox Nation

(h/t Breitbart.com): In the new 'The Cook It Safe' campaign the USDA is running a series of mind numbingly stupid TV commercials trying to teach college students to use a microwave properly with the hight of absurdity coming in a scene where a food thermometer is inserted in a frozen, pre-cooked, chicken pot pie that one could theoretically eat as a frozen pot pie popsicle without the fear of undercooked food danger.

From  USDAFoodSafety

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O'Reilly: Righteous anger

Boehner: ‘I don’t think anyone quite understands’ how sequester gets resolved

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By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

In an exclusive interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, House Speaker John Boehner said there is no easy way to stop the budget cuts -- known as the “sequester” -- that began taking effect Friday night, and voiced uncertainty over how Washington can solve the overall fiscal problems that have consumed the nation’s politics for more than two years.

In an exclusive interview on Meet the Press, House Speaker John Boehner weighs in the economic impact of the sequester and whether or not it will hurt the country's economy.

“I don't think anyone quite understands how it gets resolved,” Boehner admitted in his interview with NBC’s David Gregory.

Boehner explained his strategy in the Republicans’ tax-and-spending standoff with President Barack Obama, saying that he didn’t want to “arbitrarily pull out a couple of tax expenditures” just to raise the revenue needed to avert $85 billion in spending cuts which are being made this year.

The president and many of his administration officials have warned of dire consequences to government services and national security if the sequester happens as planned.  But to avoid them and reach a deal, the president wants new tax increases, something Boehner and his fellow Republicans have insisted are off the table.

The spending cuts – which were intended to spur a bipartisan “grand bargain” on deficit reduction, entitlement reform and tax increases -- are part of the 2011 Budget Control Act which Obama signed into law.

Boehner voted for the law and urged his members to do likewise.

But now that the spending cuts are beginning, neither Boehner nor Obama wants them to continue. Yet they have been unable to reach an accord on an alternative measure.

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