I haven’t written about the IRS in quite a while, but this CNN piece caught my eye. The IRS wants to know how much money American’s are hiding in Swiss bank accounts.
The Internal Revenue Service is taking the unprecedented step of seeking Swiss bank records in search of what it suspects could be up to $20 billion worth of assets hidden by U.S. taxpayers.
Just so you know, when the richest American’s hide millions of dollars off shore, it is the middle class taxpayer that takes the brunt of the shortfall. As I had noted in the past, the Bush administration had fired one-half of the staff auditors that worked on the taxes of the uber rich, nearly two years ago. And last year the GAO found that the IRS auditors are cut off at the knees between taxpayer tactics to keep their money and the rules that they must follow.
Justice Department lawyers said late Monday that they had filed court documents in Miami, Florida, asking a judge to allow the IRS to get information from the banking giant UBS.
Now, this is important. UBS vice-chair is McShame adviser Phil Gramm, who is also being considered for the spot of Treasury Secretary should McShame win the presidential elections. I must also note, that Gramm is one of the architects to the foreclosure crisis American’s are now faccing.
At this point, I don’t think the investigation will go too far, based on the past performance of the Bush administration, and perhaps this investigation should have been launched after a democrat takes the presidency. But, at this point, the people should be putting McShame’s feet to the fire and asking him why the hell he’d continue to keep Gramm as an advisor. Then again, corrupt people stick with their own kind.
