I think game theory stipulates that everyone is wise to cheat on their taxes. The amount the average person usually end up paying in back taxes is less than the potential reward of getting away with it, jail time is almost unheard of, and the more people that cheat, the harder it is for them.
Not saying everyone should do it. But the only reason they have gone after people like Snipes and Stewart were to put the fear into everyday Americans.
You are correct and that’s an excellent demonstration of how fucking broken our tax system is. Notorious tax cheats like Trump should be in jail or be hit by fines many times over the discrepancy. Granted, our tax code is currently so convoluted (thanks Intuit I fucking hate you) that it’s extremely easy to accidentally make a tax error - we should adopt a system like Swedens’ of just precalculating taxes and allowing individuals to submit corrections but there’s a gigantic fucking industry that wants to keep shit as difficult as possible.
America has a lot of really deep problems tied to corruption and greed - UHC was recently highlighted but there are dozens of industries that exist parasitically that we should absolutely dismantle.
Unfortunately those industries have enough money to sway spinless politicians to their cause so getting rid of them is incredibly difficult.
Most of us are paid by a company, which is reported to irs. You can’t futz with that. People who get tipped, on the other hand …. There’s nothing but you conscience in the way. Or of course gig workers can play with what they write off, just like any other company. You know, it’s really only those of use paid a salary, whether hourly or annually, who have to follow the rules
Right, but when they go after people who fraudulently write things off (either intentionally or not), who do you think they go after? The gig worker, or the multi-millionaire with a stable of attorneys?
Or we could all pay our taxes and not waste taxes on chasing down those of us who don’t. Game theory says we want the government to have as much budget as possible with as little of our money as possible. Tax evasion means we spend more on taxes to cover the cost of recovering more evaded taxes and the budget is smaller. We are hurting ourselves.
Depends… Tax evasion is super illegal, and you will go to prison for it (unless you can afford good attorneys, then maybe not). That is different than simply not paying your taxes, but good luck getting away with that.
Always just for the rich. When they reduce IRS funding, they audit low hanging fruit because it’s much cheaper
I think game theory stipulates that everyone is wise to cheat on their taxes. The amount the average person usually end up paying in back taxes is less than the potential reward of getting away with it, jail time is almost unheard of, and the more people that cheat, the harder it is for them.
Not saying everyone should do it. But the only reason they have gone after people like Snipes and Stewart were to put the fear into everyday Americans.
You are correct and that’s an excellent demonstration of how fucking broken our tax system is. Notorious tax cheats like Trump should be in jail or be hit by fines many times over the discrepancy. Granted, our tax code is currently so convoluted (thanks Intuit I fucking hate you) that it’s extremely easy to accidentally make a tax error - we should adopt a system like Swedens’ of just precalculating taxes and allowing individuals to submit corrections but there’s a gigantic fucking industry that wants to keep shit as difficult as possible.
America has a lot of really deep problems tied to corruption and greed - UHC was recently highlighted but there are dozens of industries that exist parasitically that we should absolutely dismantle.
Unfortunately those industries have enough money to sway spinless politicians to their cause so getting rid of them is incredibly difficult.
Most of us are paid by a company, which is reported to irs. You can’t futz with that. People who get tipped, on the other hand …. There’s nothing but you conscience in the way. Or of course gig workers can play with what they write off, just like any other company. You know, it’s really only those of use paid a salary, whether hourly or annually, who have to follow the rules
Right, but when they go after people who fraudulently write things off (either intentionally or not), who do you think they go after? The gig worker, or the multi-millionaire with a stable of attorneys?
Or we could all pay our taxes and not waste taxes on chasing down those of us who don’t. Game theory says we want the government to have as much budget as possible with as little of our money as possible. Tax evasion means we spend more on taxes to cover the cost of recovering more evaded taxes and the budget is smaller. We are hurting ourselves.
Depends… Tax evasion is super illegal, and you will go to prison for it (unless you can afford good attorneys, then maybe not). That is different than simply not paying your taxes, but good luck getting away with that.