Reflections on United States v. Helmsley: should the 'impossibility' be a defense to attempted income tax evasion?

Article Abstract:

The no-tax-due defense should only excuse attempted tax evasion where defendants can show that they overpaid on other owed taxes and that the underpayment at issue is not the result of a willful attempt to claim undeserved deductions or fail to report taxable items. Just as the impossibility defense to criminal attempt is only available in cases of legal and not factual impossibility, taxpayers who plan to underpay their taxes should not be saved by the fortuitous event of overpayment of other taxes. Mistaken overpayments should not off-set intentional underpayments.

Laws, regulations and rules, Tax evasion, Intent (Law), Defense (Criminal procedure)

---

Much ado about $26 million: implications of privatizing the collection of delinquent federal taxes

Article Abstract:

Privatization of the IRS tax collection function is economically efficient and the 1997 congressionally instituted $26 million pilot program should be expanded. The pilot program was instituted to test collection results and costs of collection using contracts with private collection agencies and law firms. Loss of taxpayer privacy, abusive practices, and weakening of the self-reporting system are weak arguments against privatization of the tax collection function.

United States, Evaluation, Privatization, Privatization (Business), Case Note, Tax collection

---

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: United States v. O'Hagan: pragmatism returns to the law of insider trading. Unsettled standing: who (else) should enforce the duties of charitable fiduciaries?
• Abstracts: Litigation and settlement under the English and American rules: theory and evidence. Enforcement costs and the optimal magnitude and probability of fines
• Abstracts: Continuing protection: converting a limited liability structure raises key insurance issues
• Abstracts: The states can wait: the immediate appealability of orders denying Eleventh Amendment immunity. part 2 New Deal constitutionalism and the unshackling of the states
• Abstracts: Environmental law in Australia and the United States: a comparative overview. Environmental regulation in Michigan and Massachusetts: two states with two different solutions to the same problem

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.