Two things in life are certain – death and taxes

March 23rd, 2010

Death and taxes
It’s a rather fatalistic and sardonic proverb. It draws on the actual inevitability of death to highlight the difficulty in avoiding the burden of taxes. The first to use the expression was Daniel Defoe, way back in 1726.

US states decides to publish the names of tax cheats
The US government has decided to get tough with tax cheats. Americans who don’t pay their taxes not only face hefty fines, can have their property seized or their wages witheld. The new decision means that they could find themselves named and shamed on the Internet. Imagine receiving a call from a buddy who tells you that he read all about you on Facebook.

Maryland
On Thursday the state of Maryland published its annual “Caught in the Web” list of the 50 biggest tax dodgers in the state, along with the amount the scofflaws owe on the Internet. Surprise! Not fair, I was waiting for my accountant! Hey, my wife forgot to post the check!

What you see
At the top of this year’s list is the name and address of a resident of a town near Baltimore, who owes the state more than half a million dollars. I wonder if he’s seen it? Hard on his heels is a company that owes more than $400,000. Maryland began publishing its list 10 years ago and since then, “We’ve brought in 25 million dollars as a result of shaming these folks into paying up,” says a spokeswoman for the comptroller’s office.

Connecticut
In Connecticut the internet system worked well, bringing 3,000 tax cheats to heel and adding 190 million dollars to the state coffers.

New York
Based on the success of Connecticut, Maryland and some 20 other states that name and shame tax cheats, New York launched its own “site of shame” this month, hoping to recoup billions in back taxes. Top of the 250 individual tax-dodgers appearing on the New York list is a guy who has tax warrants against him for more than 16 million dollars, including one for more than 14 million dollars in sales tax.

Public information
No one can complain about the bad publicity. The names and debts are public information because judgments were recorded in state courts against individuals and companies before they appeared on the lists.

It works here too
In the apartment building where I live we always had a few condo owners who were way behind with their dues. One year a tough chairman decided to solve the problem by sticking a list of names of the culprits on the wall of the elevator. The problem disappeared overnight and has never reappeared.

It’s just not fair.
Every time I hear about someone who cheats on his taxes I get annoyed, not because I am such a goody-goody, but for the simple reason that I feel that I am paying his taxes. How else does the government make up for the missing funds?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 8:25 am and is filed under Finance, Personal / Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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