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Australian Tax Office Scandal | Armstrong Economics

Posted on by johnbarleycorn12

COMMENT: The Hunt for taxes Just to bring to your attention a scandal coming out with the Tax office in Australia pursuing aggressive revenue targets, and using unethical practices to generate it. D ANSWER: The scandal in Australia with the head of the Tax office is shocking involving a $165 million tax-fraud ­syndicate scandal. The police have arrested people in Australia which is admirable. The 2013 US scandal about the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doing similar acts of abuse of power was never prosecuted or really investigated. It was revealed back then that the IRS had selected political groups applying for tax-exempt status for intensive scrutiny based on their names or political themes. This led to a pretend investigation by Attorney General Eric Holder. In January 2014, James Comey, who at the time was the FBI director and walks on water, told Fox News that its investigation had found no evidence warranting criminal charges in a neat cover-up. Finally, in late September 2017, a report by the Treasury Department’s inspector general found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used both conservative and liberal keywords to choose targets for scrutiny. Finally, in October 2017, Trump agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 400 conservative nonprofit groups who claimed that they had been discriminated against by the Internal Revenue Service. The settlement included an apology from the IRS and a very substantial monetary settlement. That’s how they do it in the States. Government is always above the law and people like Comey always protect the bureaucracy. He is now doing everything in his power to take down Trump for the bureaucracy. The Australian Taxation Office and all its tax-avoidance investigations are now in jeopardy since the deputy commissioner is facing criminal charges­ and four of its offic­ials stood down as well. This would NEVER happen in the United States.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/australian-tax-office-scandal/

Kidnapping for Profit | Armstrong Economics

Posted on by johnbarleycorn12

COMMENT: I read your piece on taking the profit out of prostitution to end kidnapping young girls. That has been a huge problem in Eastern Europe and girls were even getting kidnapped in Western Europe on vacation. Here in Italy, there was a huge problem of kidnapping people and demanding money from their families. The government passed a law that if a family member was kidnapped, they froze the accounts of the family to prevent people from paying. At first, it seemed cruel. But once it was no longer profitable to kidnap people, it stopped. I think your idea would probably work. VSZ, Rome REPLY: When they tried prohibition in the USA, it did not stop people from drinking. What it did do was establish the Mafia in the USA. Suddenly booze was profitable. When prohibition ended, the Mafia was well funded and expanded into other ventures. When you make anything illegal, it becomes tax-free and there is the incentive to expand whatever that business might be. We are talking about human nature. During a crisis, legal goods are suddenly going for a premium. They call it price gauging which is illegal in Florida but it still goes on in a storm. They are now warning Americans traveling to some parts of Mexico for they are starting the same scheme – kidnapping people for ransom. If there is a profit to be made from any illegal activity, it will be exploited. It does not matter what the subject might be from drugs, booze, to prostitution. Just follow the money.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/police/kidnapping-for-profit/