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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
"In the United States, don't mess with the IRS if you mess with the president."
This is a very appropriate phrase in the United States, although the IRS is not as well known internationally as the CIA and FBI. But the IRS is well-known in the United States. It doesn't matter what you do in the United States, but you have to pay taxes, even if you're a robber.
Because you don't want to face an IRS agent more than the police or even the FBI......
(IRS)
1. No one can avoid it
In the United States, no one can hide from the IRS, and as long as you live in the United States, you will always have to deal with the IRS. Whether you're a U.S. citizen, a U.S. business, or a U.S.-based business, or even a financial institution that has nothing to do with the U.S., you will inevitably have to deal with the IRS.
Because taxation in the United States is very complicated, but once the tax is evaded, there will be a very serious problem, so many Americans will even hire a lawyer to handle the tax issues for themselves. This type of lawyer even takes orders related to tax issues and is also called a "tax lawyer".
(IRS)
Taxes in the United States are very high, even at the lowest level of 10%, so many people will try to evade taxes. The IRS's task is to "fight wits and courage" with these people. This also means that the IRS must have the scale, detection capabilities and enforcement powers to do so.
The IRS firmly believes that "only in the barrel of a gun can you pay taxes", so even robbers and drug gangsters must pay their taxes honestly, otherwise the end will be very miserable. You have to believe that the IRS, equipped with helicopter gunships, can easily take down the largest gangster den in the United States.
It is precisely because the IRS is so strong that all the people targeted by it are panicking. As a result, a large number of Indian fraud gangs on the other side of the ocean also like to impersonate the IRS and defraud a random American. Such scams have been tried and tested repeatedly, and they are not easy to detect, and now a large number of Indian fraudsters are living on the "taxes" paid by Americans.
(IRS Agent)
In fact, the IRS predates the FBI and CIA, and in 1862, during the American Civil War, President Lincoln single-handedly created the Internal Revenue Service, the predecessor of the IRS, to raise funds for the war effort.
After the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913, the Internal Revenue Service was reorganized into the Internal Revenue Service, and the high taxes imposed by the United States due to the war have continued to this day with the existence of the Internal Revenue Bureau.
Today, the IRS is the largest agency within the U.S. government, employing even more than the U.S. State Department by 115,000. In American movies, we always see the phrase "You have the right to be silent, but everything you say will be testified in court." ”
When you confront the American police, you can indeed exercise your right to silence. But if you're dealing with IRS agents and law enforcement officers, then sorry, you don't have the right to silence. Of course, your mouth grows on your own face, and it's also your freedom if you want not to speak.
(President Lincoln, who established the IRS)
But according to U.S. law, once the IRS suspects that you may be evading taxes, be careful that it is only a suspicion.
Then the IRS has the power to freeze all your accounts and personal assets without the need for court approval, and the IRS has the power to investigate all your information for evidence. There is even the power to send you to jail without trial, and you have to file a tax return even if it is illegal income.
So when you need to face the IRS, it's best to open your mouth and try your best to provide evidence that you haven't evaded taxes, otherwise you will not necessarily be greeted by a trial, but a black jail.
In other words, the police need to seize the suspect's evidence, but in the face of the IRS, the suspect needs to provide evidence to prove himself, which is also very interesting.
2. Bankrupt overnight
Compared to the police or even the FBI, the IRS enforcement process is very rigorous.
There was once a Japanese dentist who filed only $400,000 a year after immigrating to the United States, but the average American dentist filed at least $1 million a year. As a result, the IRS suspected him of tax evasion, and IRS agents secretly observed the doctor for more than a month and found that his monthly income was at least $150,000.
(IRS Armed Forces)
When it determined that the problem must have existed, the IRS visited every patient of the doctor, and the IRS found that many of the patients were paid in cash. In the U.S., it is not common to pay cash for large purchases, but patients say they can pay 10% less and will not be invoiced.
The dentist was arrested by the IRS and sentenced to three years in prison, $5 million in back taxes, a $24 million fine, and not granted bail.
And the same story happened to the famous American gangster Al Capone, who used to be the boss of the Italian gangster in Chicago, USA.
Among the Italian immigrants in Chicago, you may not know the President of the United States, but you must know Alcapone, because he is closely related to your life. In addition to being present among Italian immigrants, Alcapone was also the "king of the underground" throughout Chicago. During the day he had a drink with the mayor, and at night he was in Chicago to "conquer the city".
(Mafia boss Alcapone)
It doesn't matter if you're in the white or underworld business in Chicago, you have to give Alcapone a copy, or you won't be able to do it. But such a gangster ended up in the hands of the IRS.
On February 14, 1929, Al Capone became the enemy of the United States when he committed the infamous "Valentine's Day Massacre."
The FBI tried every means to catch Alcapone, but it could never find evidence of Alcapone's crime. The head of the investigation team was "rewarded" by Alcapone on the underworld, and in a raid, the FBI investigation team was almost wiped out, and only Elliot, the head of the investigation team, barely escaped.
But even so, Elliot couldn't grasp the evidence of Alcapone, and could only hit his financial chain.
To this end, the FBI invited the IRS to jointly solve the case, and the IRS sent a man named Frank Brown. Wilson's agent, Agent Wilson looks like a nerd, and his men are a bunch of accountants. FBI agents are very skeptical of the group's ability to solve the case, after all, this time it is not a dentist or a manager, but a murderer who does not blink an eye.
(Alcapone in his later years)
But there is another one sent by the IRS, which is the undercover agent Mike Malone, who has been lurking in Alcapone's criminal empire for many years and has earned Alcapone's trust. The reason why it has not been exposed is that he has provided the police with almost no information about Alkapone's crimes, and only quietly collects tax evidence.
After getting Mike's intel, the IRS arrested Frank, the treasurer of Alcapone. Nidi. At that time, the IRS did not have any evidence of Fernedy's tax evasion, and arrested him only on "suspicion", and after interrogation, Frank learned that Nedy had evaded more than $100,000 in taxes.
So Flack did not hand him over to the court, but went directly to prison.
Through undercover and Nidi, Frank learns that Alcapone once lost a casino ledger and was confiscated by the police. Frank rummaged through the stacks of old papers and finally found the ledger, and in 1931 Alcapone was prosecuted for tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison, and Alcapone's criminal empire collapsed.
(IRS)
It can be said that the Alcapone case is a battle for the IRS's fame, and from then on, even the crime boss will not dare to offend the IRS. In addition to law enforcement powers, the IRS also has "armed tax rights", they have their own armed forces, all kinds of light and heavy weapons, and they are only better than the US Army.
During the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek's Minister of Finance, Song Ziwen, once followed the example of the US Internal Revenue Service to establish the "Tax Police Corps", whose equipment and training level far exceeded that of the national army.
It can be seen that the IRS is indeed very powerful, so those presidents above the IRS, are they afraid of the IRS?
Third, the president can't afford to mess with him
In fact, even if you are president, it is best not to provoke the IRS, although the IRS will not be able to help you while you are still in office, but once you leave office, the IRS will definitely punish you harshly.
(Trump)
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, for example, refused to disclose his tax and financial records during his presidency. But under U.S. law, Trump was exempt while he was still in office, and even the IRS had no authority to investigate Trump.
In fact, this matter should have passed like this, after all, you should always have some "privileges" as president. For example, former US President George W. Bush and his son, who are also bigwigs in the oil industry, have not been investigated since they left office.
But the bad thing about Trump is that he jumped too much after he left office, making the contradictions between the Democrats and the Republicans almost public.
At this time, the president of the United States is Biden of the Democratic Party, so the Democratic Party has an administrative advantage, and there is naturally no big problem in ordering the IRS to investigate Trump. I don't know if I don't check, it's really terrible to check, Trump only paid $1,500 in income tax in the first two years of his presidency! Proper tax evasion!
(Biden & Son)
Now Trump can be said to be entangled in various financial problems, and a lot of debts must be very troublesome. But is it possible to have no scruples when the presidency is in office?
Actually, no, the IRS can't do it to you, but it can do it to your family. For example, while the IRS is investigating Trump, it has also been investigating Biden's son Henry for tax evasion.
And Henry's tax evasion is also true, and in the end, Henry pleaded guilty in exchange for avoiding criminal prosecution. But for Biden, Henry's guilty plea has undoubtedly made his own reputation worse.
And Biden's son Henry even sued IRS agents for "invasion of privacy", but most of such prosecutions are inconclusive, because in front of the IRS, you have no privacy.
The IRS is actually quite independent within the US government, and in addition to Biden and Trump, Obama has also been mired in all kinds of troubles created by the IRS. Obama even fired then-IRS Commissioner Robert Miller as a result, but even that Obama's dilemma was not resolved, because the tax system was relatively independent from top to bottom.
(Terrible IRS)
is in line with the content of "The Shawshank Redemption", no matter how big the character is, you have to worry about the IRS.
Resources:
[1] Gao Rongwei. U.S. "Internal Revenue Service": the most frightening government department[J].Procuratorate Fengyun,2018,(23):52-53.)
[2] Gao Rongwei. Tax Collection,2018,(10):54-56.
[3] The global tax recovery road of the United States[J].Business Circle(Review),2014,(03):22-23.
[4] Xiao Yanru. Pay $20 million in abandonment tax and don't be an American[N].CBN Daily,2009-12-19(A14).
[5] Sentenced to 100 years, Trump is going to cry? It's the Americans who should be crying!.Straits Consumer News.2023-06-26