Al Capone, America’s “favorite” gangster, went to prison because he failed to pay $215,000 in taxes from his gambling profits. Al Sharpton, on the other hand, is still romping around screaming about racism despite the fact that he owes roughly $4 million to Federal and State revenuers. I guess the IRS is just too busy harassing conservatives to care about some uppity liberal who’s a few million dollars behind on his taxes.
The gaffable (is that a word?) Al Sharpton personally faces Federal tax liens for more than $3 million in back taxes. He has over $770,000 in state tax liens. Two of his for-profit businesses owe anywhere from $700,000 to $800,00 in back taxes, and Sharpton’s National Action Network owed roughly $813,000 in Federal taxes as of 2012…
I guess this explains why Sharpton supports Obama’s “soak the rich” tax reform policy: He doesn’t pay anything anyway.
Many people have gone to prison for much less; including a reality TV star, a hotel heiress, a Grammy winner, and even Chuck Berry. But then again, I guess none of them ever had their own progressive MSNBC talk show. (In other news: The IRS is still targeting conservative groups for harassment.)
And isn’t this kinda the problem? We have a 75,000 page tax code enforced by unaccountable bureaucrats with unfettered access to individual’s personal information. The IRS, if they put their mind to it, is the most daunting collection agency on the face of the planet. And yet, their enforcement often seems arbitrary, crony, and corruptible.
How else do you explain the IRS investigating some unknown tea party group while a major “civil rights” leader (AKA: race-baiting-liberal-hack) skips out on a roughly $4 million tax bill? The US tax code, as it stands today, is a perfect example of runaway government, and its enforcers are a prime illustration of government favoritism. A one sentence Amendment, adopted in the early 20th Century, led to nearly 75,000 pages of rules and regulations in an attempt to separate Americans from a portion of their hard earned money… And even if you believe in the Marxist theory of taking “from each according to his ability and giving to each according to his need”, our current system is ripe for abuse.
Which is pretty much the big problem with big government. Let’s face it: It’s hard to corrupt a system that only has a peripheral connection to the routine American experience. However, when government is involved in every diminutive aspect of daily life, it’s pretty easy to see where a little cronyism “Progressivism” might creep into the system.
Sharpton, Obama, and the rest of America’s predominant “left wing” might tout the virtues of increasing taxes on the “wealthy” one percent (cough*Sharpton*cough); but the wealthy, and the influential, will simply continue to avoid proportionately higher taxation by the simple virtue that they have more money to spend at avoidance and evasion. (Just ask Warren Buffet. . . His secretary saw a tax increase when Obama and the Democrats allowed the payroll tax cut to expire. But he sure didn’t.)
The truth is, I don’t want the government to take Al’s money. He earned it. Albeit, he “earned” this money through calling other people racist, and butchering the English language on TV; but it doesn’t really matter if I approve of how he raised the money. The bottom line is that it is his. And quite frankly, the IRS has no business trying to separate anyone from their hard earned paycheck.
On the other hand, Al seems pretty confident that the IRS is capable of implementing “social justice” through the plundering of the wealthy for the benefit of the poor… So, maybe we should up the interest charge. I’m sure the pro-tax MSNBC won’t mind signing Sharpton’s checks over to Uncle Sam. And if we’re lucky, a future Administration might hire this generation’s “Elliot Ness” to take a look at Al’s 1040ez.
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