MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

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November 24, 2009

Prosecute earnest evaders

While the federal government allows some people to settle taxes on offshore accounts, those who went out of their way to hide money should be prosecuted.

Nearly 15,000 people, according to the IRS, avoided prosecution for tax evasion by taking advantage of a federal amnesty program that ended in October. The federal government said it collected billions in past due taxes and late payments.

Most certainly, many of those people accepted bad advice from UBS, a Swiss investment firm. UBS paid a $780 million fine for its part in U.S. citizens secreting taxable earnings in Swiss and European accounts.

But it’s not right or fair to millions of lower and middle class Americans who pay their taxes faithfully if some U.S. wealthy wage earners went out of their way to hide income overseas and get away with it.

Some in Congress contend that wealthy Americans pay most of the taxes in this country. That’s not an excuse to hide it from the government.

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