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The Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act (HR 5719) strengthens protections against identity theft and tax fraud, expands tax help for low-income taxpayers and stops taxpayer harassment by ending the private collection of federal taxes.
This bill also closes a loophole that allows government contractors to set up sham companies in foreign jurisdictions to avoid paying Social Security and Medicare taxes.
The bill passed the House on a vote of 238 to 179, according to Congressional voting records.
Congressman Mike Thompson voted for the bill, which he also had a hand in helping to draft in his capacity as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
“For too long, changes to the tax code have done little to benefit low- and middle-class families,” said Thompson. “But we took a step toward changing that.”
Data clearly suggests that the current tax code puts taxpayers at a disadvantage, Thompson's office reported.
For example, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that private debt collectors hired by the IRS placed over one million calls, many to innocent people, trying to reach only 35,000 taxpayers. And the IRS program that oversees debt collection has lost almost $50 million, in part because of the huge bounty paid to private debt collectors. This legislation would stop the IRS’s use of private debt collectors.
Many taxpayers are also not getting their fair share, Thompson's office reported. About 25 percent of households eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 1999 did not claim it, and according to the GAO, working Americans may have lost out on approximately $8 billion in unclaimed earned income credits in 2004. HR 5719 would strengthen IRS outreach to make sure people know they are entitled to tax refunds under the EITC. It also would permit the IRS to refer these taxpayers to tax clinics
The legislation also addresses the rise of identity theft by requiring the IRS to notify taxpayers if there’s been an unauthorized use of their identity and it cracks down on misleading Web sites that try to get personal information by imitating the IRS.
It takes steps to close egregious corporate loopholes and stop federal contractors from using foreign subsidiaries to evade Social Security and other employment taxes. Currently, companies can avoid paying their fair share of Social Security and Medicare taxes by creating shell companies in the Cayman Islands. The Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification closes this loophole, which costs American taxpayers almost $100 million a year.
“The average American’s tax payment covers about half a second of spending in Iraq,” said Thompson. “It’s ridiculous that we’re then giving contractors in Iraq a chance to take even more American tax dollars. It’s time we close these loopholes and use our tax dollars where they’re needed – here in the U.S.”
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On April 10 a jury convicted James Wade Roberts, 46, of the October 2006 murder of 63-year-old Ruth Donaldson at the Mullen Avenue home they shared in Clearlake, as Lake County News has reported.
Because Roberts had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges, the trial requested an additional sanity phase.
That sanity hearing started around 9 a.m. Tuesday, with testimony and closing arguments finished by noon, said District Attorney Jon Hopkins.
The jury was instructed that they could could consider all the evidence from the first phase of the trial, said Hopkins. After an hour of deliberation they came out with their verdict, which was handed down at about 2 p.m.
The jury found that Roberts was sane at the time of the murder, Hopkins reported.
Defense attorney Stephen Carter said that, after the jury's verdict last week that Roberts was guilty of first-degree murder, their finding that he was sane wasn't shocking.
Carter said there was competing evidence on the issue of sanity, and added that his client didn't cooperate with two of the three doctors appointed to examine him.
“That definitely affected the evidence,” said Carter, and hurt Roberts in the case.
Hopkins said Robert is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. May 9 in front of Judge Richard Martin in Department Two of Lake County Superior Court.
Roberts has five previous strikes, according to Carter.
“Under the law he'll get life in prison,” Carter said Tuesday. “Because of his prior strikes, under any possible verdict, he would have gotten life.”
Hopkins estimated that Roberts is likely facing 86 years to life.
Carter said he's confident an appeal will be filed in the case, although that's something that he likely won't talk to Roberts about until closer to the sentencing date. In cases this serious appeals are standard procedure, he added.
He said he expects to file a notice of appeal, which in and of itself isn't an appeal, but is the first step in the process. An appellate attorney would then be appointed to take the case through the process, Carter said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The quake occurred at 1:23 a.m. three miles northwest of The Geysers, seven miles west of Cobb and nine miles west northwest of Anderson Springs, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake was recorded at a depth of an eighth of a mile.
The US Geological Survey reported that 16 other smaller quakes followed during the course of the day in The Geysers and Anderson Springs areas.
The last quake measuring 3.0 or above was a 3.3 earthquake that hit The Geysers area on March 27, according to US Geological Survey records.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Firefighters were dispatched to the out-of-control burn on High Valley Road at about 12:30 p.m., according to Cal Fire.
Northshore Fire Protection District Fire Chief Jim Robbins said the permitted burn had included three small piles of materials, which had burned down when the winds became an issue.
“The wind really picked up and blew some embers out and caught some grass on fire,” said Robbins.
Green grass nearby actually caught fire, mostly because of the dry undergrowth, said Robbins.
The fire, he said, put up a lot of smoke but only burned about two acres.
Northshore Fire was assisted by two engines, a battalion chief, a dozer and three hand crews from Cal Fire, that agency reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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