(no subject)

We are all one and we are all individuals.

(no subject)

Feds eliminate 157 auditors of rich taxpayers: Move cuts ranks of IRS lawyers who inspect returns that include estate and gift taxes (thanks, brendand)

Sharyn Phillips, a veteran IRS estate tax lawyer in Manhattan, called the cuts a "back-door way for the Bush administration to achieve what it cannot get from Congress, which is repeal of the estate tax."

[Kevin] Brown[, an IRS deputy commissioner,] dismissed as preposterous any suggestion that the IRS was soft on rich tax cheats. He said the money saved by eliminating the estate tax lawyers would be used to hire revenue agents to audit income tax returns, especially those from people making more than $1 million.

Brown said civil service rules barred the estate tax lawyers from moving over to audit income taxes. An IRS spokesman said the agency had asked for permission to allow such transfers twice but the Office of Personnel Management had not responded.

Estate tax lawyers are the most productive tax law enforcement personnel at the IRS, according to Brown. For each hour they work, they find an average of $2,200 of taxes owed to the government.