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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2004)
^MATION m HE BATTALION Ik Monday, April 12, 2004 I 1 81 Audits of businesses declined ee ®ast year, a Syracuse study says the mersw By Mary Dalrymple THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The ternal Revenue Service audit- I fewer corporations, small isinesses and partnerships last y:arbut more individual taxpay- du,, L e s, according to a study of gov- . (,| as; e nment data. raizhinJ S y racuse University’s 0^,, Transactional Records Access jly 0 f J Clearinghouse, in its analysis of ''"'fflJS data, concluded that the >i anil aidit rate for businesses of all lh sn0 ;i szes slid slightly last year to 2.1 : Scue J a idits for every 1,000 businesses, fgen i dawn from 2.2 audits per 1,000 :tes alie] hisinesses the previous year. I At the same time, the IRS yggl^'lidited 14 percent more indi- vdual tax returns. The audit rite for individuals increased list year to 6.5 audits for every / l|00O taxpayers. Official audit rates released the IRS last month show a Imilar trend. Researchers said the declin- g audits of businesses expos- a flaw in the administra- ■on’s tough stance against cor- prate wrongdoing. “These and a number of (jther measures — documented f the agency’s own data — idicate that the actual perform- |iceof the IRS differs in signif- :ant ways from some of the ush administration claims ilica. pra^hen it comes to cracking down Tax audit rates The rate of tax audits for individuals increased in 2003 while fewer businesses faced inspection of their returns by the Internal Revenue Service. Audit rates per 1,000 returns HI Individuals H Businesses/ Other 1996 ’97 ’98 '99 2000’01 SOURCE: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse AP on corporate scofflaws,” the report said. Researchers point specifical ly to declining audits of the largest corporations and a type of business organization that passes income and taxes on to its shareholders or partners — an arrangement found to have been improperly used in some corporate accounting scandals. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said in an interview that the agency’s broad attack on corporate tax evasion does not show up in the audit numbers. “Am I satisfied with the numbers? No. I want to see them go up,” he said. “I’m not sur prised that that’s lagging the other indicators. And while I think it’s an important indicator, it doesn’t tell the whole story.” Some advocates said the trend appears troubling. “What struck me first was the commissioner earlier this week said that they’d increased enforcement and then I look at these numbers and say, ‘What is he talking about?”’ said David Keating, senior counselor for the National Taxpayers Union. “It really opens up a credibility gap.” Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said the study suggests corporations are not paying their fair share. “This is at a time when taxes have been drastically cut from the wealthiest in the country, and there are very heavy, legitimate demands on our government, between war in Iraq and home land security,” Pingree said. In a detailed written response, the IRS said the study ignores the reasons for the decline in corporate audits and other enforcement actions taken against businesses. The IRS said the decline can be attributed partly to the explo sive growth in tax shelters, which make audits more intri cate and time-consuming. Tax collectors worked more than 2,200 corporate tax shelter returns in 2003. Each takes an average 7 l/2 months longer than other corporate returns, and their number is growing. NEWS IN BRIEF essageir , Latin lor':| frank Lloyd Wright home saved, ransported to Pennsylvania LISLE, III. (AP) — A prefabricated home designed by Lloyd Wright and threatened with demolition lasbeen carefully dismantled and shipped 570 miles to Pennsylvania for reassembly. r the home’s owner died in 2002, a developer 'antedthe land underneath it, but not the house itself. The developer eventually donated the 47-year-old rumbling structure to the Frank Lloyd Wright uilding Conservancy. The nonprofit group then gave to a Pennsylvania man under the condition that he store and preserve it. The house was disassembled last week. "There hasn’t been a Wright building torn down for rer 30 years,” said Ron Scherubel, executive direc- r of the Chicago-based Wright Conservancy. “It would’ve been hard to say, ‘Well, now there is one.’” This is no free house, though. The high school teacher who’s taking it, Tim Baacke, said it will cost more than $100,000 to take the house apart and move it to Johnstown, Pa., and restoration will cost as much as three times that amount. He said corporate sponsors are helping to defray the cost. Survey shows gas prices rise another 2.5 cents in last 2 weeks CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — Gas prices climbed anoth er 2 1/2 cents in the past two weeks as high crude oil prices and tight capacity contributed to record prices at the pump, a national survey said Sunday. The nationwide average in the past two weeks that ended Friday was $1.82 for all grades, said Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg survey, which regularly polls 8,000 stations across the United States. Are you the kind of person we are looking for? Check yes or no to the following questions and see bottom of page for the final results... YES NO □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ Do you enjoy working with children? Would you be willing to take holidays off? Do you like to work with fun people? Are you available Monday-Friday from 2:45-6:15pm? Do you refuse to work weekends? Can you begin work August 10^? s If you answered yes to all of the questions above then you may want to apply to work with Kids Klub. Applications are available at the College Station Conference Center on George Bush across from the golf course. Application deadline is April 26 th . College Station ISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 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