Monday, November 15, 2021

GAO How the Pandemic is Changing the IRS

 GAO How the Pandemic is Changing the IRS - GAO Watchdog Blog: “At the onset of the pandemic, IRS had to temporarily shut down its onsite operations, including its mail processing facilities. The impact could be felt by taxpayers, who waited longer for returns to be processed or to receive COVID-related economic relief checks. But the pandemic also disrupted IRS’s tax enforcement programs used to check that information provided by taxpayers is verified, and that the correct amount of tax is paid to the federal government.  Today’s WatchBlog post looks at our new work on how IRS was impacted by COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, as well as the long-term changes the pandemic may have on its operations…”

Over 150 arrests made in 3-day operation against organised property crime


As COVID-19 disruption drains government budgets around the world, a major international tax avoidance operation has collected nearly $US300 million ($405 million) in otherwise lost revenue across Asia.

Large multinational firms would pay up to $4.5 billion more in tax and reveal far more about their inner workings in the Australian market while penalising promoters of tax avoidance schemes under a suite of policies from the Greens.

In a move that together with other policies the Greens admit would increase the tax take on large businesses and high wealth individuals by $391 billion over the coming decade, party leader Adam Bandt will on Saturday declare the “theft” of money by multinationals from Australian taxpayers has to stop.


The extra cash could be used to fund better public dental services, mental health care and affordable housing, alongside revenue from $338 billion in corporate and mining super-profits taxes and a 6 per cent wealth tax on “tycoons” already announced.


Greens release corporate tax policies to raise extra $4.5b per year



A great “launch” today of the Shoalhaven Greens’ council campaign. The ticket is led by astoundingly good ⁦

@GreensNSW

⁩ Mayor Amanda Findlay and with a real depth of talent in all the candidates. So glad to be here with them today in the beautiful Shoalhaven.

David Shoebridge




Let’s take a peek inside the great JobKeeper cover-up

New disclosure rules mean we have a small window into how some companies really used JobKeeper, but insight into the widely rorted scheme remains negligible.



The EU’s Decades of Tax Trick Tolerance

Many EU member states use low tax rates to attract large corporations, depriving countries like Germany of billions in revenues. A trove of hundreds of classified documents now reveals for the first time how Europe is failing in the fight against harmful tax competition.

A Communist Delegation Went to Karl Marx’s Grave, Then Were Fed Gold Steak by Salt Bae Vice. The deck: “There’s nothing more 2021 than Salt Bae feeding a communist party official gold-plated steak after a climate change summit.”



Norway To Reinstate National Measures As Virus Surges Barron’s (J-LS). We predicted that when Norway went into “Mission Accomplished” mode, they would have to roll it back. 


COVID-19’s epicentre again: Europe faces fresh reckoning Reuters (J-LS). Remember that the US opened up international travel to the fully vaccinated…even though the current Covid vaccines do little to nothing to prevent transmissions, as confirmed by surges in countries and counties with very high vaccine rates, plus the lack of correlation between vaccination and Covid case levels. 


Can you trust Dr. Google? - Fast Company – “Data scientists say search engines are giving bad health advice Using search engines to ask high-stakes questions about your health can be problematic, according to new research. The digital world is constantly evolving—Facebook is Meta now!—yet internet search remains a magic box where we type questions and answers just appear on the screen. Critics say this disconnect has led to cluttered design, ads camouflaged as search results, even a search algorithm that some say shows signs of wear: ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisinger recently tweeted he thinks Google searches have gotten “significantly worse,” and he got 1,000 likes and nods of agreement from everyone from Chris Hayes to Time national correspondent Molly Ball. A new study out this week looks at this from a different angle: The role of search engines as people’s go-to health advisers. Data scientists from Germany’s Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and Russia’s Ural Federal University wanted to see how search engines are managing medical misinformation. Given the myths that have circulated since the start of the pandemic, the authors argue it’s more important than ever to promote accurate and credible online health resources. After all, we live in a time when people panic-buy horse dewormer as a COVID-19 cure, and a White House press corps member raves on social media that the vaccines contain “a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked.”…


Employing My Law Librarian Skills on an Uncertain Road – As we all navigate through the era of Covid, it is critical to learn from the myriad other medical challenges that many Americans, as well as our professional colleagues, are facing separate from the pandemic. Taryn L. Rucinski, Supervisory Librarian, U.S. Court of International Trade, shares her ongoing experience with the diagnosis of acoustic neuroma. Rucinski believes in the value of showing that its okay to take a step back, to step down, to lateral, to just take a breath in the face of challenges and adversity. She continues, saying experience has also shown her that our skills as law librarians are far more valuable than we may give them credit for. She highlights four significant factors that have kept her on the road to recovery: the unflagging support of the LLAGNY community, the flexibility and skills she has honed in her profession, and the importance of self care.


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