Fraud investigators should focus their attention on wealthy conservatives

Since the resources of tax authorities such as America's Internal Revenue Service [1] and Britain's HM Customs and Revenue [2] are limited, they should target their tax evasion investigations on those most likely to offend by proactively probing the financial affairs of known supporters of right-wing political parties. That's because one of the main reasons unscrupulous and dishonest rich people support the Republican Party in the US, or the Conservative Party in the UK, is that they resent paying tax and these parties sympathise with their views. For example, the Republicans say: "The most important distinction between Republicans and the leadership of today's Democratic Party concerning taxes is not just that we believe you should keep more of what you earn. That's true, but there is a more fundamental distinction. It concerns the purpose of taxation. We believe government should tax only to raise money for its essential functions." [3] Meanwhile, the Conservatives say: "We will raise the Inheritance Tax threshold to ï¿½1 million" and "We do not regard the new 50p tax rate as a permanent feature of the tax system." [4] The tax protest movements in the US and the UK are coalitions of right-wing conservatives who object to government spending on public services paid for by taxes on the rich. In the US, conservatives have attempted to introduce a revised version of the Liberty Amendment that includes a section mandating the abolition of income, estate and gift taxes. This amendment has considerable support among extreme right-wing conservatives such as Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. [5] Meanwhile in the UK, the right-wing Taxpayers Alliance generally mirrors Conservative Party policies but goes further by calling for the complete abolition of inheritance tax, the scrapping of the top rate of income tax to benefit the highest earners and the slashing of spending on public services that the most disadvantaged members of society rely upon. [6] Now, I daresay there are some wealthy Republican and Conservative Party supporters who dutifully pay their tax in full and on time but with most of them harbouring a deep resentment of the tax system, many find ways to avoid giving money to the government. Some may exploit legal loopholes in the system to minimise their tax exposure but others evade paying tax altogether by using illegal scams such as having their income paid directly into offshore tax havens. However, there is a straightforward way to bring these conservative criminals to justice. Firstly, the tax authority should obtain a list of right wing parties' members and donors. Then they should establish which of these individuals live lavish lifestyles. Next they should check that these people's declared taxable income is sufficient to fund such luxurious existences, and if not, they should obtain search warrants to raid their homes and workplaces and seize personal computers and financial documents that may assist their investigations or be used as evidence in a court of law. Tax evasion is a serious crime that damages the economy and forces ordinary, hard-working citizens to pay more tax to make up for the lost revenue. The worst offenders are likely to be wealthy supporters of right-wing political parties and that's why tax fraud investigators should concentrate their efforts on them. Thank you. [1] http://www.irs.gov... [2] http://www.hmrc.gov.uk... [3] http://www.gop.com... [4] http://www.conservatives.com... [5] http://www.adl.org... [6] http://www.taxpayersalliance.com...