The Tax Punisher

J.D. Foster / May 04, 2009

President Obama’s new corporate tax proposals cover two issues: tax evasion and tax punishment. He may have it half right.

The tax evasion part is relatively easy. When U.S. taxpayers maintain foreign accounts with foreign financial institutions, Obama wants the financial institution to tell the Treasury about the accounts in the same way domestic institutions keep Treasury informed. This is quite an unacceptable intrusion into personal privacy, but it is just one of the inescapable pitfalls of having an income tax system. The one bit of good news is that all those rich liberals who voted for Obama thinking they could hide their income abroad will now have to pay their taxes. The best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it strictly. (more…)