HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

⬐ luckylion

I can relate to the experience he describes.

It was never that bad in my case, but the local IRS-equivalent set up two special audits of my personal business within a few months of each other, both times finding that I did everything 100% correct and everything was perfectly in order (no surprise there, I'm paying a tax consultant to handle everything, and they're very conservative).

Still, each time it created a lot of stress because you're essentially in the hand of some random bureaucrat who can make your life hell if they choose to with no oversight and no recourse -- they can single you out for audits whenever they like, and as often as they like, you only get your day in court when they claim to have found something. I did the same thing Louis did: I moved to a different state. And it worked in that regard: not a single audit in the past few years, they're happy taking my money.

That stuff is demoralizing, especially when it's combined with open corruption and support for organized crime in the same institution that's going after you.

⬐ thinkmcfly

You make the IRS sound like the police or CPS

⬐ ghoward

Because they are.

⬐ thinkmcfly

Just do business elsewhere then? You don't have to do business that the IRS can audit.

⬐ tpmoney

All government power is derived from the ability of the government to legally use force against you, and then be its own arbitrator of the rules and its own investigator when you think they aren't following the rules. That all branches of the government which wield that power sound similar is something you would expect and is a fundamental reason why so much of the government power was divided up.

⬐ O__________O

If I understood him correctly, at first NY state claimed he failed to pay taxes on 51% of taxable transactions, own $45,000 - but were unable to explain why. Only after he spent a year and thousands paying accountants and attorneys did they change the percentage of transactions to 0.11%.