The IRS spent $4.1 million on a single internal conference in Anaheim, reports the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Sure, it’s easy to mock the IRS for conferences, or for silly dance videos, though I find it reassuring to see that there are people in the IRS who have a sense of humor.
What bothers me is the priorities it shows. For tax pros in Iowa, the best thing the IRS does is its Practitioner Liaison program. Not only does our liaison do an excellent job of alerting us to processing problems during filing season and cutting through red tape, but she puts on well-attended and popular conferences that have to help the IRS get better-prepared filings.
Yet the Practitioner Liaison office is continually nickled and dimed. There is always pressure to limit travel to outlying towns. Our liaison has had to fill in for other states when their positions have been left vacant. It just seems wrong that the IRS can find $135,000 for speakers to inspire agents in Anaheim, but not to fill the gas tank of someone in the field in Iowa doing useful and popular work.
It also doesn’t help the argument that the IRS just can’t afford to answer its phones or process exempt organization applications.
David Henderson (Econlog) posts a summary of what $135,000 got for the Anaheim attendees.
TaxProf, The IRS Scandal, Day 27
Patrick Temple-West, IRS scandal prompts hope for tax reform, and more
TaxGrrrl has a wonderful story about the beneficiaries of a California jobs tax credit:
This practice made news in the state when a local news crew focused on two strip clubs, Deja Vu Showgirls of Rancho Cordova and Gold Club Centerfolds, found to have received thousands of dollars in tax breaks – without doing anything different from before. Those clubs benefited from their existing locations and were not lured to the area by the promise of tax incentives; additionally, their hiring practices weren’t influenced at all by the tax breaks. That isn’t the point of the credit, according to Sen. Hill and his supporters.
No, the point of the tax credit is to enable politicians to take credit for “creating jobs” by taking your money and giving it to somebody else.
Longtime readers know that The Tax Update has no use for any “economic development” tax credits. These credits are generally paying companies to do what they would have done anyway — in this case, to disrobe. At least these credits went for something people want, and there’s no questioning the stimulative effect.
Paul Neiffer, Update on Commodity Gifts
Missouri Tax Guy, Employee vs. Contractor… How to tell.
Peter Reilly, California Gets To Snack On Jerome James SuperSonics Salary If you keep a house in California, don’t be surprised if California thinks you live there.
David Brunori, On its 35th Birthday, Prop 13 Remains Flawed (Tax.com):
But I think Proposition 13 was a horrible policy choice. It devastated local government autonomy. Local governments in the United States have been the most efficient, effective, and democratically responsive means of providing public services. But that effectiveness is contingent on having an independent source of revenue. When the state finances local
government services, it is almost assured that those services will not be provided at levels demanded by citizens.
Joseph Henchman, Nevada Approves $20 million/year to Subsidize Film and TV Production. (Tax Policy Blog) They apparently have enough strip clubs.
Tax Justice Blog, Brownback’s Kansas is Taking Tax Cuts to Extremes
Jack Townsend, Swiss Enablers Are Worried, As Well They Should Be
Jim Maule, Code-Size Ignorance Knows No Boundaries. The tax law is enough of a mess without exaggeration.
Robert D. Flach rounds up reaction to his defense of doing returns by hand.
Not if you do it right. IRS Bashing Can Be Fun But Also Expensive (Joseph Thorndike, Tax.com)
Joe Kristan writes the Tax Update items, and any opinions expressed or implied are not necessarily shared by anyone else at Roth & Company, P.C. Address questions or comments on Tax Updates to
