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Tax Debts of the Rich and Famous
 By Tom Shoop | Monday, April 14, 2008  |  03:11 PM

What do the following people have in common?


  • Singer and Psychic Friend Dionne Warwick

  • Dick Morris, Fox News analyst and former political adviser to Bill Clinton

  • Comedian and actor Sinbad

The answer, USA Today reports, is that the IRS is after all of them for failure to pay taxes. The agency estimates that more than 21 precent of federal income taxes go unpaid each year. But IRS officials also take pains to note that the agency is collecting far more in delinquent taxes and penalties than it did a decade ago ($32 billion in 2007, up from $21 billion in 1998), with a smaller staff.



Comments


I just read an article that said that the IRS contractors failed to collect more than half the delinquent taxes and charged the IRS 24% to do so. Now what's this about collecting more with less? I don't think so. If we had user taxes, we could reduce the whole burden and reduce the size of at least one government agency.

Interested tax payer  | Tuesday, April 15, 2008 |  01:43 PM


Is the smaller staff due to outsourcing? I've seen recent efforts by Congress to forbid private collection contractors being used by the IRS. What's the adjusted dollar budget for the "smaller" staff? It is likely that we are still ahead (it's hard to believe the IRS private contractor budget for collection would exceed the 98-07 difference of $11 billion), but it may come at more of a cost than is described.

Just Curious  | Tuesday, April 15, 2008 |  10:59 AM



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Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.

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