License to Steal

One of the ways the Bush family likes to reward itself and its rich friends is by handing out licenses to steal. Bush failed to get the estate tax repealed, so he found a clever way around the problem, as described by David Cay Johnston in the the NYT:
The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others.

The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency’s 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an I.R.S. deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The New York Times was given internal documents by people inside the I.R.S. who oppose them...

But six I.R.S. estate tax lawyers whose jobs are likely to be eliminated said in interviews that the cuts were just the latest moves behind the scenes at the I.R.S. to shield people with political connections and complex tax-avoidance devices from thorough audits.

Sharyn Phillips, a veteran I.R.S. 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.”

Of course that's just a repeal for crooks. Honest people will still be paying.

This is just SOP for Bush of course. One of his first acts as President was to let Ken Lay dictate the composition of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Lay & friends took advantage of the lack of oversight to steal about $40 billion from California. Similarly, he appointed a head of the Securities and Exchange commission who let it be known that he didn't take regulation seriously - though he was forced out after the first series of corporate looting scandals.

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