Fraud investigators should focus their attention on wealthy conservatives

However, I feel that there is a danger that the voters may be misled by his arguments so I should like to address the points he raised as follows: Targeting wealthy conservatives is not undemocratic, counter-productive or unfair: it is sensible, prudent and just. Let's consider another law enforcement agency for a moment – Customs and Border Protection. Border patrol guards can't stop, search and question everybody at ports, airports and border crossings – they don't have the manpower and, even if they did, the inconvenience caused to innocent members of the public would be unacceptable. That's why, in their efforts to prevent drug smugglers, terrorists and other undesirables from entering the country, they profile people and stop those individuals most likely to be offenders. This means that young men wearing traditional Arab dress chanting verses from the Koran, black men dressed in Armani suits and dripping in bling, and skinheads with swastikas tattooed on their arms are all more likely to be stopped than little old ladies pushing tartan shopping trolleys or wholesome-looking young families with pushchairs and beach toys. Sure there are left wing people that avoid paying their tax (shame on them) and no doubt there are old ladies who smuggle heroin resin through customs by concealing it amongst their knitting and soiled incontinence pants and possibly some young mums' bras are packed with high explosives and their babies' bottles are filled with nitro glycerine, but these scenarios are unlikely. That's why law enforcement agencies target their limited resources by concentrating on the prime suspects and it's why tax fraud investigators should apply the practice of social profiling as well. Tax investigators must focus on those with the motive and the means to evade tax and I have already stated that wealthy supporters of anti-tax parties have both, but I provided no evidence to support this assertion. Therefore, I did some research and found that in the 2004 US Presidential Election, of those voters with an income in excess of $200,000 p. a. , 63% voted for Republican George Bush while only 35% voted for Democrat John Kerry. Meanwhile, those voters with an income of less than $15,000 p. a. the figures were almost exactly reversed with 36% voting for Bush and 63% voting for Kerry. . http://www.cnn.com... Furthermore, according to a recent New York Times / CBS poll, supporters of the ultra-right wing Tea Party are wealthier than the general public and nearly three-quarters of them favour lower taxes even if that means spending less on public services that disadvantaged members of society rely upon. . http://www.nytimes.com... But wealthy conservatives should not resent being targeted – if they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear. And there's no reason why supporters of left wing parties should feel immune from prosecution – if they are identified as tax evaders they will be prosecuted just the same as anyone else. Now, with regard to inheritance tax trust schemes, I do agree that it is unfair that wealthy individuals who do not comply with spirit of the law and find devious means to avoid the tax while small businesses are obliged to pay in full. Perhaps if the government closed those loopholes that allow the rich to avoid this tax, the overall level of taxation could be reduced for everybody? Finally, the argument that lowering and simplifying taxes would encourage the rich to pay their dues doesn't wash for two reasons: 1 – Tax evasion is a crime and the law shouldn't be changed in order to accommodate criminals. 2 – Lower taxes for the rich, or a flat tax system, would push the burden of taxation away from the most able to pay and towards those least able to pay, which is patently unfair. By way of an analogy, if the age of consent was reduced dramatically, there would be a lot fewer paedophiles in society, but that's not desirable and neither is allowing wealthy people evade their taxes by changing the system to decriminalise their activities. In conclusion, the wealthy have a moral and legal duty to contribute towards the cost of maintaining the country that provided them with the platform for their success and those that refuse to do so must be punished. However, in the light of the widespread abuse of the system by affluent tax cheats and the limited resources of the fraud agencies, tax investigators must be proactive and target the most likely offenders – wealthy conservatives. Thank you.