HB 1265 establishes criteria for the regulation of occupations and professions by boards and commissions, and that an individual may engage in a legal occupation (such as cosmetology) without being subject to laws that regulate the occupation or profession.

Licensing and regulation of the cosmetology industry ensures proper training and protects the health and safety of consumers. Licensing is essential to ensuring the welfare of the general public.  Ensuring core knowledge and competency in areas such as bacteriology, sanitation, anatomy, chemistry, and health is absolutely necessary to maintain confidence in the profession and safety for the consumer.

Click here to sign onto our letter opposing HB 1265 in New Hampshire (letter available to New Hampshire residents only).

The following is abbreviated from the “IRS Newswire” for January 2011.

WASHINGTON — National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson released her annual report to Congress, identifying the combination of the IRS’s expanding workload and declining resources as the most serious problem facing taxpayers. The result, the report says, is inadequate taxpayer service, erosion of taxpayer rights, and reduced tax compliance. The Advocate expressed her continuing concern that the IRS’s expanding use of automated processes to adjust tax liabilities is causing harm to taxpayers and recommended that Congress enact a comprehensive Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

About the Taxpayer Advocate Service

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS.  TAS employees help taxpayers who are experiencing economic difficulties, such as not being able to provide necessities like housing, transportation, or food; taxpayers who are seeking help in resolving problems with the IRS; and taxpayers who believe an IRS system or procedure is not working as it should.  If you believe you are eligible for TAS assistance, you can reach TAS by calling 1-877–777–4778 (toll-free).  For more information, go to www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov or www.irs.gov/advocate.

Read the Executive Summary or download the Complete 2011 Annual Report to Congress.

HB1006 deregulates the cosmetology industry in Indiana by repealing the law governing cosmetologists and barbers, including professional licensing boards and all licenses.

Removing the Board and licenses for cosmetologists in the state of Indiana will have a detrimental health and safety as well as fiscal impact. Removal of licensing will kill cosmetology schools, and put local distributors in the state out of business.

Licensing and regulation of the cosmetology industry ensures proper training and protects the health and safety of consumers. Licensing is essential to ensuring the welfare of the general public.  Ensuring core knowledge and competency in areas such as bacteriology, sanitation, anatomy, chemistry, and health is absolutely necessary to maintain confidence in the profession and safety for the consumer.

Click here to sign onto our letter opposing HB1006 in Indiana (letter available to Indiana residents only).

If you would like to express your opposition to Indiana HB1006 and you do not live in Indiana you may email the bill sponsor Representative David A.Wolkins directly at h18@IN.gov.

HB 1006 is currently in the House Committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions. You may contact the following committee members directly to express your opposition to HB1006:

Chair: Representative Gutwein email h16@IN.gov
Vice Chair: Representative Ellspermann email h74@IN.gov

Committee Members: Bill Davis (h33@IN.gov), Robert D. Morris (h84@IN.gov), Mike Speedy (h90@IN.gov), Greg Steuerwald (h40@IN.gov), Jerry Torr (h39@IN.gov), Timothy Wesco (h21@IN.gov), David L. Niezgodski (h7@IN.gov), John Bartlett (h95@IN.gov), Craig Fry (h5@IN.gov), Clyde Kersey (h43@IN.gov), Chuck Moseley (h10@IN.gov).

You may contact Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels to oppose HB1006 at 317-232-4567 or via the Governor’s online email form.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2012 — The Internal Revenue Service released a new set of tax gap estimates for tax year 2006.  The tax gap is defined as the amount of tax liability faced by taxpayers that is not paid on time.

The new tax gap estimate represents the first full update of the report in five years, and it shows the nation’s compliance rate is essentially unchanged from the last review covering tax year 2001.

The tax gap statistic is a helpful guide to the scale of tax compliance and to the persisting sources of low compliance, but it is not an adequate guide to year-to-year changes in IRS programs or to year-to-year returns on IRS service and enforcement initiatives.

The following table summarizes the new estimates being released today, as compared to the 2001 estimates, along with the total tax liabilities in each year.

The voluntary compliance rate – the percentage of total tax revenues paid on a timely basis — for tax year 2006 is estimated to be 83.1 percent. The voluntary compliance rate for 2006 is statistically unchanged from the most recent prior estimate of 83.7 percent calculated for tax year 2001.

On a relative basis, the tax gap is largely in line with the growth in total tax liabilities.  In addition, some growth in the tax gap estimate is attributed to better data and improved estimation methods. For example, the IRS developed a new econometric model for estimating the tax gap attributable to small corporations which was then applied to newer operational data. Also, large corporation tax gap estimates for 2006 are based on improved statistical methods and updated data. Finally, the data related to individual income taxpayers continues to improve based on improved estimation techniques and newer data.

The tax gap can be divided into three components: non-filing, underreporting and underpayment.

As was the case in 2001, the underreporting of income remained the biggest contributing factor to the tax gap in 2006. Under-reporting across taxpayer categories accounted for an estimated $376 billion of the gross tax gap in 2006, up from $285 billion in 2001. Tax non-filing accounted for $28 billion in 2006, up from $27 billion in 2001. Underpayment of tax increased to $46 billion, up from $33 billion in the previous study.

Overall, compliance is highest where there is third-party information reporting and/or withholding.  For example, most wages and salaries are reported by employers to the IRS on Forms W-2 and are subject to withholding. As a result, a net of only 1 percent of wage and salary income was misreported. But amounts subject to little or no information reporting had a 56 percent net misreporting rate in 2006.