There’s a subculture in America that lives in constant terror of the IRS. Between their Gadsden Flag tattoos and ignorance of the core concept of marginal rates, these folks will rant for hours about all the innovating and job-creating they could do with their high school diplomas and the extra $2,000/year that currently goes to bureaucrats who… well, innovate and job-create.
Those folks may find a new reason to worry about the IRS in this story: homeless people may be getting ripped off by the IRS.
Well, maybe not the IRS as an entity, but a federal grand jury recently indicted a rogue employee for systematically stealing from homeless people. Courthouse News Service reports:
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The grand jury found that [former IRS examiner Marcela] Heredia persuaded [transitional home] residents to give her their personal information under the guise of preparing tax returns for them. Then she told them they did not make enough money to file a return, filed one on their behalf without their knowledge and had the refunds sent to her own bank account.
There’s a romantic, Ocean’s 11 conception of grifting that imagines taking down the fat cats with an intricate plan, but the most effective scam will always be a simple lie targeting the least savvy. Homeless people, in this case young adults coming off foster care and trying to get their lives together at a transitional home, aren’t likely to have their guard up when it comes to filing taxes. They’re probably just happy to hear they don’t owe anything when the media is filled with people pining for a tax revolt and ginning up an overtaxation crisis that just isn’t there.
Heredia faces a $250,000 fine and up to 25 years in prison.
Happy tax day tomorrow!
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IRS Agents Accused of Tax Frauds [Courthouse News Service]
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.