– Forget “Too Big To Fail”…We Now Have “Too Big To Audit” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, May 6, 2014):
One of the primary themes discussed on this site over the past several years is the growing realization that there is a two-tier injustice system operating in these United States. This fact is more disruptive to the smooth and healthy functioning of a society than anything else. It is more disruptive than financial theft, it is more disruptive that feudalistic levels of wealth inequality, and it is more disruptive than Big Brother illegal spying. Nothing will tear the fabric of a culture apart more decisively than the appearance and recognition of a “justice” system which carves out immunity for the rich and powerful, yet comes down like a ton of bricks on even the slightest of crimes committed by the average peasants.
I have highlighted some examples over the past month or so. See below:
The “War on Street Artists” – Puppeteer Unlawfully Arrested and Harassed in NYC Subway
Charleston Man Receives $525 Federal Fine for Failing to Pay for a $0.89 Refill
The Homeless in NYC Are Now Living in Tiny Spaces in the Frame of the Manhattan BridgeAdditionally, The Guardian published an excellent piece just yesterday on the verdict of Cecily McMillan, an Occupy Wall Street protester who faces an incredible seven years in jail for elbowing a cop who has a history of violent tendencies.
Moving along, we now discover that at the same time the tax collecting agency known as the IRS (with its 89,500 employees) was pestering tea party groups, it failed to audit a single large partnership. Yep, that’s right, the financial oligarchs are not just “Too Big To Jail,” they are also “Too Big To Audit.”
From CNS News:
CNSNews.com – In 2011, while the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was busy scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of 100 percent of Tea Party groups and other conservative non-profits, the tax agency did not audit a single high-value electing large partnership (ELP) with more than $100 million in assets.
That’s according to a preliminary report released to Congress by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) April 17th. (See GAO.pdf)
“No partnerships that filed a Form 1065-B from tax years 2002 to 2011 had their tax return audited and closed by IRS from fiscal years 2007 to 2013,” a footnote on page 14 of the GAO report stated.
White noted that GAO is doing a follow-up and “will be asking the IRS a number of questions to try to better understand” the tax agency’s audit decisions.
ELPs – which Elliott says operate under “extraordinarily complicated” tax rules created by Congress in 1997 – were not even subjected to the same kind of scrutiny that the IRS typically focuses on similar-sized corporations.
“The IRS will come in and ask questions, but they do not have to go through the kind of full-on audits that major C-corporations have to go through. A lot of these partnership structures are so complicated to unwind and figure out what’s going on that honestly, IRS agents wouldn’t know the questions to ask,” she told CNSNews.com.
Oh yeah, you know what I feel like shouting: USA! USA! USA!
Full article here.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger