^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.
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