Communists Think That Club Users Should Pay Their Fair Share
Certainly people can make the claim that the Baby Seal Clubbers want less government and the Communists want more, and therefore want to raise taxes through the roof. However, the Baby Seal Clubbers are also for "law and order" (let the flames begin). Specifically, one would think that if you're supposed to pay taxes, and you don't, you should be punished. Not necessarily:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is putting the brakes on efforts to give state investigators more tools to hunt tax evaders, following a period of aggressive enforcement that has generated billions of dollars for California coffers.
The governor has vetoed several bills that would allow agents to go after more businesses and individuals who cost the state millions by cheating on their returns, or not filing at all. He said the measures were flawed and would have unfairly burdened employers.
The resistance from the administration comes as some of the state's most influential business and anti-tax groups charge that investigators have overstepped their boundaries and begun harassing Californians.
The organizations, including the California Taxpayers Assn., the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and the California Chamber of Commerce, say officials need to find less invasive ways to reclaim about $6 billion in state taxes that are owed each year but not paid.
Supporters of the measures that Schwarzenegger rejected said they were common-sense reforms that would have closed loopholes that big businesses and wealthy individuals have been able to slip through.
"These vetoes basically say to these people that they can flout the law without repercussions," said Lenny Goldberg, president of the union-backed California Tax Reform Assn. "Ordinary taxpayers can't do that."
The governor blocked efforts to increase penalties on retailers who filch the sales taxes they collect, and on companies that don't collect taxes when they should. A proposal to help authorities garnish wages of convicted tax evaders for as long as their debt is unpaid also was vetoed.
State tax officials said another of the governor's vetoes could allow some people snagged by the Internal Revenue Service for dodging taxes to avoid coughing up California's share, costing the state tens of millions of dollars.
Republicans and business groups make no apologies.
"We need to encourage businesses to come to California," said Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee Vice Chairwoman Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Niguel). "If we start to penalize them for every little thing, we will push them out of the state."...
Sen. Carole Migden['s] ...bill, SB 323, would have increased penalties on retailers who collect sales tax but keep it.
"My measure merely stated that people can't pocket the state's money," she said. "Who could object to that?"...
The veto came after the Chamber of Commerce sent lawmakers and the governor's office a letter opposing the measure. "There could be many benign reasons why a retailer inadvertently fails to remit sales taxes," the letter said....
Actually, the Chamber of Commerce is right, as Steve Martin noted decades ago in a routine about how to earn a million dollars and not pay any taxes. Regarding the latter, you're simply supposed to say, "I forgot."
Migden said her bill would have given tax officials the authority to let businesses off the hook if they had a good excuse.
I like "My dog ate my tax bill" myself.
As for the proposal to garnish the wages of scofflaws until their debt is paid, Schwarzenegger said he was "supportive of the author's intent to increase tax collections," but the bill "does so at the expense of employers who have done nothing improper."
Um, actually no. In fact, this bill would have done employers a favor by letting them know of any employees that are "scofflaws." (Cool. Scofflaws.) The alternative argument is that if you have an employee that cheats on his or her taxes, the employer shouldn't know about it at all.
The author of the bill, AB 853, Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento), accused the governor of "letting people with significant tax debts off the hook."
And Democrats said they were bewildered by Schwarzenegger's refusal to sign a bill that would have required taxpayers to pay what they owe to California after an IRS judgment against them.
Such collections have long been the practice of the state Franchise Tax Board, California's version of the IRS.
But a state appellate court recently ruled that the taxpayer doesn't have to send in a check if the IRS judgment comes four years after the taxes were due. The court reasoned that Californians were protected under a state statute of limitations that tax officials said was never intended to apply to such cases.
The decision jolted the Franchise Tax Board....They said the governor's veto meant that the state would be unable to collect $30 million from known tax cheats....
Since Schwarzenegger took office two years ago with a vow not to increase taxes, Democrats have doubled their efforts to more aggressively collect the taxes already on the books.
Their push was given a boost early in Schwarzenegger's tenure, when an enforcement measure signed into law during Gov. Gray Davis' last days in office unexpectedly began to bring in billions of dollars.
The law gave taxpayers suspected of using illegal shelters a grace period to pay all they owed — while increasing penalties for those who didn't.
Thousands of invitations to join the amnesty were sent to individuals and businesses suspected of hiding profits. The initiative netted the state more than $4 billion.
That money flowed into California's coffers amid deliberations over the 2004-05 budget, when lawmakers had a huge deficit to overcome. They used the money to avoid some cuts in healthcare, social services and other government programs....
Comments