The_Big_Winter

Steve Harvey reveals he woke up owing the IRS $22,000,000 because his accountants spent SEVEN YEARS pocketing his tax checks and never filing a single return. The government told him he had to pay $650,000 a month, every month, for 4 years. Miss ONE payment, and you go to JAIL. He never would've known if his accountant hadn’t died. A woman cleaning out the office called his lawyer with a serious problem. STEVE HARVEY: “She had found on the floor all my tax forms for seven years signed and with the checks stapled to it.” “Well, they were cashing the checks, keeping the money and not turning in the tax forms.” Seven years of bank statements that looked like a man paying his taxes. “My lawyer called me, said, ‘Hey, man, we got a problem. You haven’t paid taxes in seven years.’” “He said, ‘Man, that’s tax evasion. You can go to prison.’” “I ended up owing 22 million. 22 million with the penalties.” When he told his wife, Marjorie, she cried for two straight days. “She says, ‘What you going to do?’ I said, ‘I’m going to go to work.’” And he did. “I took every comedy gig in this country, signed every contract. I went to work, man. I worked every single Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” “I never missed a payment.” He did that for four years. $650,000 a month, every month. In 2012, he sold 49% of his radio company and used the check to pay the government off to zero. “And that was the first time, man, I could breathe.” The thieves were his accountants. The $22,000,000 bill went to Steve Harvey. And the only one who got threatened with prison was the man who got robbed.

The IRS sent armed agents into a family bakery and drained $68,382 from its bank account. Their “crime”? Depositing their OWN CASH in amounts under $10,000. Then the government demanded ANOTHER $160,000 and a guilty plea to a FELONY. The IRS called it “structuring”: deliberately keeping deposits small to dodge bank reporting rules. DAVID VOCATURA: “I said to them, ‘Maybe I should get a lawyer.’ And they said, ‘You don’t need one, step in the back.’” “Until the day they came in, I had no idea what structuring was.” “I’m a law-abiding citizen. I can’t remember the last time I got a speeding ticket.” Nearly three years after seizing the money, a prosecutor came back with a deal that carried up to FOUR YEARS IN PRISON: DAVID VOCATURA: “They wanted us to pay another additional $160,000 in fines and plead to a felony charge of structuring.” They refused. You bake bread for three generations. You pay your taxes. You put your own money in the bank. And the IRS treats you like a criminal, demanding nearly a quarter million dollars. CONTEXT: Fortunately, the IRS didn’t get away with this one. Hours after the Institute for Justice sued, the IRS agreed to return all $68,382.22. Two weeks later, it withdrew a grand jury subpoena demanding eight years of the bakery’s business records. Crazy that they tried to ruin a business over depositing money into their own bank account.

Adam Carolla to the 40% of Americans who pay ZERO federal income tax: “F*CK YOU. You don’t get to vote.” He said what we’re all thinking. The f-bombs are completely appropriate here. CAROLLA: “We don’t need your vote. Your vote is MORE FREE SH*T for you.” “So, not only is it a thing where it’s like you’re you’re not creating anything, you’re actually voting for the free stuff.” “You’re not contributing, you’re not paying any taxes. I know how you’re going to vote in everything. It’s going to be MORE FREE SH*T for you.” “Okay, I’m doing the same thing with people who don’t get an ID. You’re NOT part of our society, F*CK YOU, you don’t get to vote.”