The IRS says that more than 3,000 people have come forward under the program which is set up to lower penalties and spare tax law violators time behind bars.
There are probably thousands and thousands of rich Americans keeping money in offshore accounts, so the number of people participating in the program is unimpressive. The amnesty does raise the issue of why the program is being confined to people who have assets outside of America’s borders.
The IRS is obviously desperate for receipts which are down sharply from last year because the recession has put so many people out of jobs or cut their incomes. Business payments to the agency have also fallen as more and more American corporations have gone into the red.
Tax cheats have created a number of ways to shield income, many of which the IRS will uncover even if it takes them two or three years. That means that the number of people at risk for prosecutions is well into the tens of thousands. Finding them people and making cases against them is expensive and the budget for the IRS is not likely to rise much during this Administration.
Amnesty, broader than that for offshore cheaters, could be revenue bonanza for an American government strapped for cash.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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