My thoughts on the UBS "scandal"

News articles repeatedly talk about ASSETS being hidden from the IRS, when it is INCOME that is taxed. As much as the extortionists in the IRS would love to, they can't go shake down someone for money just because they know the person has it.

As long as these people were paying the required taxes on any interest they earned, it is none of the government's business how much money they have or where they're keeping it. A free society requires that the power of the state be limited. The government should always have one hand tied behind its back, in some cases two. Hiding money from the state should not be a crime because ALL money held privately should be hidden from the state by default.

Now obviously the implications of this money being hidden is that taxes were not being paid on the interest earned. All I can say is that these people should have paid their taxes. This is what the news articles should be pointing out instead of implying that simply having money stashed somewhere is somehow a crime.

Call me jaded and cynical, but I'm having a very hard time looking at the antics of Levin as anything other than political grandstanding. When Democrats start whining about people paying taxes, I always think of the legal gymnastics that the Kennedy clan repeatedly pull whenever one of their lot kicks the bucket.