Every now and again we’re horrified to have to report some terrible malfeasance. Here are a couple of examples. Realtors, reports BusinessWeek, are sometimes canceling old listings and relisting a property as if the "For Sale" sign had just been hung out.
It’s against the rules in some multiple-listing services but as one realtor confesses it’s a good way to pump up the price because would-be buyers are much more reluctant to make lowball offers. The only thing that’s wrong with it, of course, is that it’s … wrong. But, hey, it’s a tough, really tough, seller’s market. As writer Peter Coy notes, it creates yet another imbalance in knowledge that Realtors can charge for.
And the other horrifying news: Senior IRS managers are pushing agents to close corporate audits and settle outstanding tax bills for a small fraction of the amount, reports the New York Times. “It’s catch and release,” one Colorado auditor tells the paper. He’s transferred to the small business division because he’s fed up with presiding over the loss of big revenue.
And all this is being done under rules designed to avoid delays. They’re being enforced so rigidly that companies cannot be properly audited. The IRS official in charge says that revenue from audits has more than doubled but agents tell the paper they’re not being allowed to follow up on other problems that emerge during the audit.
And the upper management is enforcing this quick and dirty audit policy with the threat of a bad performance review. On top of that one union rep tells the paper, supervisors earn performance bonuses for closing up audits on time.
A retired IRS economist compares the current procedure to an FBI search: “The way they limit audits,” he says, “is like the FBI going to the Teflon Don and saying, ‘We’d like to look around, so what are you willing to let us see?’ ”
Hasn’t anyone heard of quality performance rather than quantity performance? Or how about the whistleblower law? If one or two agents made an example of a delinquent corporate taxpayer, could they get a cut for their troubles? At best, the government is going for the low-hanging fruit, which will only encourage companies to keep their goodies on the higher branches.
