Completely Inexcusable Level of Government Investigation
Newsday and other sources report, without comment, on a massive invasion of privacy by the Internal Revenue Service (motto: "How much did you earn? Send it in."). It seems that they'll go to any length to gather information about people in order to extract money from them.
For example, the IRS just went after a man and alleged that he failed to report some back income. This is a man who 2000 and 2001 tax forms but, in an obvious example of selective targeting, the IRS decided to hound this man, performed an unprecedented investigation, and determined that his tax forms were filled out incorrectly. Probably a minor clerical error or something, but the IRS literally chose to make a Federal case over it.
I don't know what clued the IRS in to the fact that the man, one Richard Hatch, owed over $1 million in back taxes.
I can't believe the lengths to which the government will go to investigate people these days. I guess the IRS agents must watch TV or something.
Here's what is being reported:
Richard Hatch, who became a millionaire when he won the first-ever "Survivor" reality show, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of tax evasion for failing to report income, including the $1.01 million he won on the show.
Federal prosecutors charged that Hatch, 43, filed false 2000 and 2001 tax returns, omitting his income from the CBS show, as well as another $321,000 he was paid by a Boston radio station.
The penalty could be up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge. However, as part of the plea agreement filed Tuesday in federal court, the U.S. Attorney's office said it would recommend a lesser sentence.
The agreement isn't binding, and Hatch could still choose to plead innocent and proceed to trial.
Maybe Hatch will plead innocent and claim selective prosecution.
I'm surprised that there isn't more of an uproar about the way in which the IRS has targeted this man. The following reaction from the New York Daily News is typical, actually placing the blame on Hatch himself:
"Survivor" winner Richard Hatch must think the IRS doesn't watch TV.
The corporate trainer from Rhode Island, famous for scheming against other contestants and walking around naked on camera, won "Survivor's" blockbuster first season in 2000 and went home with $1 million.
Fifty-two million people watched it happen.
Now the government says he didn't declare it on his taxes....
The IRS requires all taxpayers to report any kind of prize, whether from a TV contest or beauty pageant.
Tax experts say cash prizes of $600 or more, and any goods with a fair-market value of $600 or more, require the winners to fork over a little something to the government.
That means that big lottery winners and even those folks who took home a free car from "Oprah" last year had better count on paying up.
Generally, contest sponsors provide a 1099 form at the end of the year to the winners to include in their tax papers.
Those returns can then be checked against what was reported by the sponsors to see if they match....
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