States Raid Tax Shelters

The payoffs can be big and cash-strappedstate governments are reapingthe benefits. State coffers in Californiaand New York are just two of the bene-ficiaries of an IRS crackdown on abusivetax shelters, as the federal agencyshares its information with state taxauthorities. In California, tax officialsused the 3500 names they got from theIRS to collect $436 million in back taxesfrom individual and corporate taxpayerswho admitted to using abusive taxshelters. In New York, state tax collectorshave reaped millions in back taxesfrom the 230 cases that they have closedso far. In all, the IRS has handed over28,000 names of individuals suspectedof using or promoting illicit tax sheltersto tax officials in 48 of the 50 states.