pick A or B

Primary Task Response: For this task, you get to select one of two topics to respond to. Review topics A and B. Choose 1 to focus your response on. Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Topic A

Taxation is used by governments to provide revenue to fund operations. Complete the following:

• Provide a discussion on several other purposes of taxation and how the government might use it to foster economic growth.  
• What is the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit? 
  • Describe how they reduce a taxpayer’s tax liability.

Provide some examples of both tax deductions and tax credits, including both refundable and nonrefundable credits.

Topic B

A potential tax preparation client comes to you who suggests that maybe you could help him lower his taxes. The ways in which he wants to do this seem suspicious. You decide to do some tax fraud research to find some other similar cases on which to base your decision to take this client or not. Complete the following:

• Research, locate, and cite an article about a personal income tax fraud case. 
• Analyze the case by providing answers to the following questions about the case: 
  • Definition of tax fraud
  • Briefly summarize the article by explaining who was involved, how it was done, the tax issues raised, the amount of tax defrauded, the IRS position, and outcome (the punishment).
  • Include your opinion about the appropriateness of the punishment.
• Would tax amnesty have helped the taxpayer in this case? Why or why not?