Man helps people reduce taxes, government official says he is hurting everyone

Upstate New York has some of the highest property taxes in the country (see map below of property taxes as a percent of home price).  One man has started a business where he helps residents challenge government assessments which are used as the basis for calculating property taxes.

"The Tax Opposer" is the name of his business and he gets a percentage of the savings if he is able to reduce the assessment for a homeowner, nothing if he is unsuccessful.

Confiscation of savings accounts proposed in US

The Cyprus President, in cahoots with the EU, proposed a one-time tax on money in savings and deposit accounts.  The tax would range from 6% to 10% depending on the amount in the account.  If the proposal was approved the government of Cyprus would take the funds from peoples’ bank accounts.

How fantastically efficient and simple?  For some reason this has outraged many people who are correctly calling this action robbery.  Strange that taking money from peoples’ bank accounts is theft but taking it from their paychecks is just fine.

Why have other governments not thought of this approach?

They have.

Michael Arrington upset about Homeland Security taking his boat

Mr. Arrington ordered a boat from Canada.  Upon the boat's arrival in the US a Homeland Security official needed Mr. Arrington's signature on a form.  Mr. Arrington noticed a discrepancy in some of the financial information reported on the form so he refused to sign the form at which point the Department of Homeland Security seized Mr. Arrington's new boat.  Arrington complains about the "bastards" on his blog as well as "...how screwed up our government bureaucracy has become".

I agree with his assessment of the government however I find it hard to sympathize with his condition.

Let me explain.

America has low taxes

Henry Blodget at Business Insider posted an article essentially stating that Americans shouldn't complain about high taxes.

Tax reduction idea: become an IRS Whistleblower

The "IRS Whistleblower Informant" program has been in place since 2006. This program rewards people who inform the IRS of taxpayers who are not paying the appropriate amount of taxes. The IRS will award the informant with a percentage of the money they collect from the recalcitrant taxpayer. For incomes under $200,000 the whistleblower can receive up to 15% of the amount the IRS recovers.

So this gave me an idea on how to reduce my tax bill. First, I'll stop paying taxes. Then after I fail to file a tax return I'll become a whistleblower and turn myself in to the IRS. The IRS will collect the taxes I failed to pay and give me back up to 15% for being the whistleblower.

Genius. I'm sure nothing could go wrong.