Texas CPA Claims John Kerry Owes Extra $12,000 in Capital Gains Tax – There appears to be an error in how JFK or his tax preparer reported the gain on the sale of a collectible, which has a higher tax rate than other kinds of capital gains. Interesting analysis by Bob McCombs.

The Audit Defense Network, which used to run a lot of ads on the Rush Limbaugh show, is being charged with tax crimes. I first saw this in the paper Wall Street Journal and found the following coverage via a search in Google News

DOJ Files Suit Against Audit Defense Firm

Sham Websites And Home Businesses Allegedly Sold To 100,000 Customers For Obtaining Improper Tax Benefits-Bilking Treasury Of An Estimated $324 Million

Justice targets alleged tax scam

In a Lawsuit, U.S. Accuses a Tax Adviser of Fraud

Tax Business Accused of Bilking 100,000 Customers

An interesting visual analogy for us taxpayers from the very creative Jay Dyson.

Once again, David Letterman failed to invite me to be part of his annual Tax Day Top Ten. Of course, my being 1,200 miles away from the Ed Sullivan Theater does make it a bit more difficult.

Top Ten Things You Don’t Want To Hear From Your Accountant

10. “Listen, I’m not good with math”

9. “The good news is you’re getting a huge refund — the bad news is you’ll have to hide in Costa Rica for a while”

8. “I’ll gladly waive my fee for a night with your wife”

7. “Hey, get me a drink!”

6. “Do you have any dedemptions or exuptions or whatever?”

5. “Relax, everything here will be fine — I used to work for Enron”

4. “Screw the computer — I do all my work on an Etch-A-Sketch”

3. “What’s your rush? The deadline is June 15th, right?”

2. “You can’t claim yourself as your own spouse”

1. “I was late filling your return so I could appear on Letterman”

And the Extras that didn’t make it on the show, but are on the website.

“If I go down, I’m taking you with me”

“Are you cool with tax evasion?”

“Mininum-security federal prisons are actually pretty nice — just ask my other clients”

“What do you call that squiggly number between 7 and 9?”

“If the IRS calls, you’ve never heard of me, okay?”

“Your paperwork might say 1040-ES, but that dress says 1040-EZ”

“Isn’t White-Out delicious?”

“I have this little quirk where I can only fill out tax forms if I’m naked”

“Would you mind if I list my imaginary friend Curtis as one of your dependents?”

“If only there was a machine that could add numbers for you”

“I’m allergic to ink, so I’m going to fill out your form in my own blood”

“See you in six months for the audit”

“For legal reasons, we should probably take a few minutes to get our stories straight”

This reminded me of a professional wrestler client I had back in the Bay Area. We deducted huge amounts for his food in order to maintain his 400 plus pound fighting weight, and IRS never had any problems with any of that.

Tax Scammer Irwin Schiff, who is still amazingly able to attract gullible followers with his ridiculous claim that taxes are completely voluntary:

In a Lawsuit, U.S. Accuses a Tax Adviser of Fraud

Anti-tax author appears in Vegas federal court on tax charges

Linder attempts to sell “Fair Tax” approach to Bush administration – Replacing the income tax with a national sales tax is too fair and rational an idea to ever become a reality. Such a radical change would remove far too much power from our rulers to ever be acceptable to them.

How Did He Make That Money? – Some analysis of John Kerry’s 1040. I will have more on this in the next few days.

Civilize the Tax Code

A Tax Code Report Card

The Taxman’s Dirtiest Secret

Bush: Tax Cuts Boosting Economic Growth – A simple basic fact that the Left wants to ignore.

28 Hours Needed to Fill Out Tax Forms – Why I have no sympathy when clients complain about how long it takes us to prepare a tax return. If we were to charge based on the amount of time IRS itself estimates it takes to prepare the various forms, our fees would be hundreds of times higher.