My conscience is clean
My conscience is clean....on this issue.
Taxpayers who think they've cheated the US government have a place they can send their money anonymously. It's known as "The Conscience Fund" and the government uses it for miscellaneous expenses.
Well I called bull on this story. No way! The government takes more money and in ways that the constitution never gave the government and you feel bad when you keep a little. I wanted to check this out.
The earliest reference I could find online was from /1811/.
Did you know that ever since 1811 (when someone who had defrauded the government anonymously sent $5 to Washington D.C.) the U.S. Treasury has operated a Conscience Fund? Since that time almost $3.5 million has been received from guilt-ridden citizens.
/Swindoll, The Quest For Character, Multnomah, p. 70./
Ah! Since 1811 the government has robbed you.
The government is big on the whole "Take one for the team" patriotism. "Do your duty" and other such lines reminding me of WW2 propaganda fill the airs in a war frenzy against terror/drugs/etc. So taking money from the government must install a lot of fear and mental anguish in people. They must give crap loads of money.
/Nope! /
The Conscience Fund, set up for people who have cheated on taxes or stolen from the government, brought in $12,252.55 last year.
One person gave $5,370. One gave $7.65.
Who knows, Cooper said of the smaller gift. Maybe the person became Christian and had to make things right. That happens a lot. We get letters from people all the time saying they stole a stapler or something in 1965.
One note read, Dear Internal Revenue Service, I have not been able to sleep at night because I cheated on last years income tax. Enclosed find a cashiers check for $1,000. If I still cant sleep, Ill send you the balance.
For every person who fesses up, more stay mum. The tax gap, which measures how much people pay in income taxes versus what the law says they should pay, has been growing for years even as U.S. flag bumper stickers and public displays of patriotism have risen.
I think this is a bigger statement then the government wants to admit.
People on the whole are generous, he said. Individuals in the United States donate to various causes to the tune of about $180 billion a year.
12 thousand to the government verses 180 billion to private groups. looks like a statement of trust was delivered and Uncle Sam lost.
Tags / Conscience Fund / IRS
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