Oh for the love of Pete!*

Iff'n you make 2.5 mill a year slappin' down the government, you probably oughta, you know, maybe, pay your taxes. Just sayin' is all . . . .

Having worked in the area of law euphemistically called Tax Controversy (yeah, there usually wasn't much controversy, our clients owed the money . . . . ), I still find it fascinating that folks won't pay up and will actively avoid paying their taxes through easily traceable activities. And this isn't even a personal judgement on whether or not Mr. Yagman is guilty or not, though for the reasons I'll outline, I suspect he is. (Though I will make a personal judgment, and argument Ad sitem, the argument against the website . . . dude, that site just ain't right . . . )

That said, the Judge, I think, has a brilliant take on the government's case: approached with a healthy skepticism of the charges.

I tended to find that our clients fell into two different, but not mutually exclusive categories: the dishonest and the dimwits. (We'll throw out weirdo tax protesters . . . . I've seen my share . . . . that be a whole 'nuther post.)

Some of them just didn't pay. Kind of inexplicable. Often these were bidness men/women who would get their money and not pay up. These guys, often wheeler dealer guys were pretty much convinced that they'd just get out of it somehow. It's an interesting mindset. These guys wheel and deal and because of that, I think they do make their own lives and expect that with regard to the government, they can do the same. Problem is, the wheels of American tax justice roll slowly, but they will grind you finer than pixie dust at the end.

The others were just kind of hapless. They knew they should have paid, but they didn't do it, or they didn't pay the payroll tax or they did this or that, and then intended to pay, but then, there was this other thing, and oh, I gotta make the money . . . . blah blah blah. These folks would seem to get in a death spiral: They wouldn't pay the payroll tax, then they'd spend that money on something else and then they'd get the deficiency, but then they'd ignore it, and then the penalties and interest would start being, well, interesting. It's not like a fine, where you just pay a set amount, you get dinged both penalties and interest, and quickly, they become the majority of the deficiency. So soon, what was a standard robbery of Peter, to benefit Paul, soon becomes a situation where the business can't operate due to the debts it owes the IRS.

(If there's one piece of advice you oughta take . . . it's pay the damn payroll tax. Don't even make it YOUR decision. Hire a payroll company and have them make you pay them. Income taxes? Child's play. Estate taxes? Sweetness and light. Payroll taxes? Fuggedaboutit!)

*Not to be confused for the love of Peet's, as mine runs long and deep . . . although unrequited as of late . . . because we've got no stores nearby . . . but I understand the one grocery store I do not frequent carries it. Must mount expedition for Major Dickason's Blend . . . .