Unclear on the concept
What was she thinking? From
The Oregonian:
Salem woman arrested in $2.1 million Oregon tax fraud case
Authorities arrested a Salem woman Wednesday who is accused of swindling the Oregon Department of Revenue out of more than $2 million by filing what could be one of the biggest fraudulent tax returns in state history.
Krystle Marie Reyes was booked into the Marion County Jail on charges of computer crime and aggravated theft, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Oregonian.
According to the affidavit, Reyes used Turbo Tax, a popular tax preparation software package, to file a faked 2011 income tax return that reported wages of $3 million and claimed she was owed a $2.1 million refund. The state authorized the refund, and Turbo Tax issued Reyes a Visa debit card with the full refund amount.
What is even more odd is that this return didn't raise any flags:
State revenue officials did not discover the fraud until Reyes reported the card as lost or stolen. In the meantime, she racked up more than $150,000 in purchases. Reyes, according to the affidavit, paid $2,000 in cash for a 1999 Dodge Caravan and used the card to buy $800 worth of tires and wheels.
And this:
According to the probable cause statement, Reyes spent $13,000 in Marion County over two days in February, $26,000 in March and more than $35,000 in April.
So she had been using the card for three months and nobody raised an eyebrow. And of course, the State of Oregon's Department of Revenue is on top of things:
In 2010, the state reported $559 million in delinquent taxes, mostly from unpaid personal and corporate income taxes. That's the amount the state knew about. Revenue officials estimate that, in 2006, Oregon's personal income tax compliance rate was 81.5 percent -- far lower than other states -- and translating to $1.2 billion in unreported or uncollected taxes that year.
No way to run a business let alone a state. It will be interesting to see if there is any shakeup at DOR.
Peter Principle. Tell me again just how big government is so much more efficient than small government?
Posted by DaveH at June 10, 2012 8:00 PM