Delinquent Taxpayers: Top 100 in Wisconsin | Revenue.wi.gov

[Greg Bernhardt]

I am curious how hard states and federal agencies go after delinquent taxpayers. I'm working on my taxes like many and went to my states dept of revenue website and found a link listing delinquent taxpayers. The top 100 is staggering and this is just for WI. I can't imagine what California or New Yorks looks like. Seems to me all our budget problems would be fixed if we could make these people pay up!

http://www.revenue.wi.gov/delqlist/Top100dlnq.html

 

[BobG]

Well, they obviously never forget. Number 8 on that list is Hall of Fame pitcher Rollie Fingers who pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers around 20 years ago. I don't think he's lived in Wisconsin since he left the Brewers.

I thought my daughters soon-to-be-ex-husband was bad. Since they broke up, he hasn't been contributing any child support because he has no income. They still filed jointly for 2005 since, technically, they're still married. Suddenly, my daughter gets an IRS notice saying they owe over $2600 in back taxes, interest, and penalties, because they didn't report any of his 2005 income on their tax return. He claims some outrageous number of dependents on his W-4, so they withhold virtually nothing from his paycheck, he hides the fact that he actually did find a job, then still denies having any income when it's time to file the tax return since including his W-2's would kind of blow the cover on the fact that he could have been contributing money for child support nearly all year.

I'm hoping that will put a crimp in his plans for getting shared custody. Heck, maybe it'll even get him deported, but that's probably being overly optimistic.

 

[Gokul43201]

The Feds will go after the big fish. I, for one, will be curious to hear, on the day after tomorrow, what the sentence for Kent Hovind turns out to be. He is currently facing a maximum of 288 years for tax evasion and related charges.

PS: This is somewhat offtopic, I guess, but if you folks don't know who Hovind (aka Dinosaur Man - there was a thread about his Dino Park here a while ago) is, you might want to YouTube him:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5A5J5evEru4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TNZCcTcOPV0

What part of "render therefore unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's" did he not get?

 

[Moonbear]

The will Feds go after the big fish. I, for one, will be curious to hear, on the day after tomorrow, what the sentence for Kent Hovind turns out to be. He is currently facing a maximum of 288 years for tax evasion and related charges.

The irony that after all that tax evasion, it's the tax payers who will be paying for his room and board for the rest of his life if convicted. I say seize all his assets and let him see what it's like to live in a world without any of the benefits taxes pay for...i.e., homelessness.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

The will Feds go after the big fish. I, for one, will be curious to hear, on the day after tomorrow, what the sentence for Kent Hovind turns out to be. He is currently facing a maximum of 288 years for tax evasion and related charges.

PS: This is somewhat offtopic, I guess, but if you folks don't know who Hovind (aka Dinosaur Man - there was a thread about his Dino Park here a while ago) is, you might want to YouTube him:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5A5J5evEru4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TNZCcTcOPV0

What part of "render therefore unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's" did he not get?

Watching this guy makes me cringe... I don't want to offend anyone here but watching these people say "Oh no, I am so sorry that you have been fooled by the scientists, I have known all along, now come and praise me and I will teach you the truth" makes me want to puke.

edit: I mean, heck, if he was saying that he had these beliefs and that they could possibly be wrong, then that would be ok. But when he goes on and on about how he is in the "know" as if he was some godly all-knowing being... that makes me mad. lol

 

[ray b]

but I thought not paying taxes was a vertue to the neo-con's

 

[BobG]

The will Feds go after the big fish. I, for one, will be curious to hear, on the day after tomorrow, what the sentence for Kent Hovind turns out to be. He is currently facing a maximum of 288 years for tax evasion and related charges.

They will go after tax protestors.

For one thing, Hovind and other tax protestors use really bad rationales for not paying taxes. The IRS can poke holes in their arguments and win their case with almost no effort.

Your more traditional tax evaders, the ones who make no dispute over the right to tax them but use questionable methods to minimize the amount they have to pay, usually take a lot more effort from the IRS. I think a pretty good percentage of them avoid jail and manage to come out paying less than really owe. At least unless the person is wanted for more serious crimes and tax evasion winds up being an easier way to get him off the street than convicting him of the more serious crimes (Elliot Ness and Al Capone, for example).

Rollie Fingers owing over a million in taxes on income earned over 20 years ago is a pretty good example. I'd be shocked if he ever paid the full amount and even more shocked if went to jail.

 

[SticksandStones]

This is why having a federal sales tax instead of an income tax makes sense. Imagine all the money we would save by not having to hunt down these people and prosecute them!

 

[Moonbear]

Imagine all the money we would save by not having to hunt down these people and prosecute them!

Another reason it's really not worthwhile to chase down and prosecute those who owe less than what prosecution would cost.

 

[Gokul43201]

For the sake of completeness...

A newly remorseful Pensacola evangelist, who still disputes the government's right to make him pay taxes, was sentenced Friday afternoon to 10 years in prison on federal tax charges.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070120/NEWS01/701200319/1006

 

[russ_watters]

This is why having a federal sales tax instead of an income tax makes sense. Imagine all the money we would save by not having to hunt down these people and prosecute them!

Since most of that list Greg posted was businesses (and those with just an "I" for the type still could have been), that wouldn't help much with delinquency.

It is pretty difficult for individuals with real jobs to not pay taxes. It goes beyond delinquency (simply not paying) since you have to commit real criminal fraud to convince your employer to not withold the taxes from your paycheck or report the income to the IRS (like in the case Bob was talking about).

 

[Curious3141]

Well, this is going to get interesting : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,244759,00.html