At 07:17 PM 3/28/02 -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote: >DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > >COURT APPROVES IRS SUMMONS FOR OFFSHORE CREDIT CARD RECORDS Records from >VISA International Will Identify People Who Use Offshore Credit Cards to >Evade Federal Income Taxes WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal court in San >Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday issued an order authorizing the IRS to >serve a summons on VISA International for offshore credit card >records. The court acted just two days after the Justice
I guess it must be almost April 15th. As sure as the crocuses bloom in the spring, press releases blossom in the Department of the Treasury. "Al Capone, Lou Costello, Willie Nelson caught by heroic Agents of the Infernal Robbery Service. You may be next." If I were one of those 2 million offshore card holders I'd really be sweating it. Why I might end up being like one of the 632 Americans prosecuted in 2000 for tax evasion. http://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/findings/national/aousc.html. 2 million offshore card holders (plus another 8-10 million non-filers and 8-10 million filing evaders who *don't* have offshore credit cards) being taken down at the rate of 632/year. It won't be long before they're all in stir. 3.16 convictions per 100,000 evaders in 2000 vs a murder rate of 6-9 per 100,000. http://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/findings/aboutIRS/keyFindings.html "The IRS's use of levies has continued a long-term slide. Liens, while going up somewhat last year, remain extremely low compared with past years. IRS seizures have for all practical purposes been abandoned. Tax delinquent investigations aimed at both individuals and businesses were down last year. (See graph and table.) The law authorizes the IRS to bring civil suits in federal court against recalcitrant taxpayers. In 1992, according to data recorded by United States Attorneys, the agency filed 2,519 such actions. In 1999, it filed 641. (See graph and table.) An even more serious sanction involves allegations of criminal tax violations. According to federal court data, federal tax prosecutionsmost of them by the IRSrecently have dropped by more than half1,550 in 1987 (at its peak), 632 in 2000. (See graph and table.) " DCF ---- [1] And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. [3} ... but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? [7] And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. 1 Chronicles 21.
