IRS vs. privacy

There was a neat piece on NPR Friday about why it's a bad idea
to evade filing Federal tax returns.  Among the spine-tingling
techniques used to pinpoint tax cheats:

*	The IRS knows about big cash transactions (we knew
	this already here.)

*	The IRS has all data from states concerning individuals
	registered as licensed persons in any field of work;
	thus, if you're a doctor, lawyer, plumber, electrician,
	or registered professional engineer, the IRS knows it.

*	[This blew my socks off] The IRS has subscription data
	for many national magazines.  Thus, if they know you're
	getting Time & Newsweek & Barron's and USNews but they
	see no tax return, they nab you.

This builds a good case for the notion that the IRS will have big,
big problems with digital cash economies.  They also probably have
problems with electronic magazines mailed through anonymous
remailer chains :-)


m5

> 
> There was a neat piece on NPR Friday about why it's a bad idea
> to evade filing Federal tax returns.  Among the spine-tingling
> techniques used to pinpoint tax cheats:
> 
> *	[This blew my socks off] The IRS has subscription data
> 	for many national magazines.  Thus, if they know you're
> 	getting Time & Newsweek & Barron's and USNews but they
> 	see no tax return, they nab you.

hahah!
Maybe this is another reason not to let Safeway get you in their database-
I guess the IRS wouldn't quite believe you not filing a tax return if they
were to see you buying bottles of Dom Perignon champagne!! Big Brother
truly *is* watching you, I guess!!

-- Julie
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Julie M. Albright          "Passions elevate the soul to great things"
Ph.D Student
Department of Sociology
University of Southern California
albright@usc.edu               * * * Fight Big Brother- Oppose Clipper * *
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Julie M. Albright          "Passions elevate the soul to great things"
Ph.D Student
Department of Sociology
University of Southern California
albright@usc.edu               * * * Fight Big Brother- Oppose Clipper * *
*
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
__ _

Mike McNally <m5@vail.tivoli.com> wrote:

> This builds a good case for the notion that the IRS will
> have big, big problems with digital cash economies.

No, they will have big problems with ANONYMOUS digital cash economies. 
The IRS loves the current digital cash systems, such as ATM cards,
because they let them spy on your bank account. :) 
digital-cash!=anonymous-transactions

> They also probably have problems with electronic magazines
> mailed through anonymous remailer chains :-)

heh.  Maybe we ought to convince phrack to publish this way?

C'punks,

On Sun, 17 Apr 1994, Matthew J Ghio wrote:

> . . .
> The IRS loves the current digital cash systems, such as ATM cards,
> because they let them spy on your bank account. :) 
> . . .

Remember what Duncan I keep telling you:  The ATM card issued by your 
banking secrecy, offshore bank, doesn't give the IRS squat.


 S a n d y