Denzel, Others Go to Bat for Snipes

Company going 'gangbusters,' boasts CEO

(NEWSER) - Hard times elsewhere haven't done any damage to Google's bottom line. The company has announced a whopping 26% year-on-year jump in profits for the third quarter of this year, with net income of $2.73 billion on nearly $10 billion revenue, most of it from advertising, the BBC reports. "The word that springs to mind is 'gangbusters,'" CEO Larry Page boasted, hailing Google+ as a success—although one senior engineer has a different opinion . More»

Let's cool the hatred before someone else gets killed

(NEWSER) - Watch coverage of the Tax Day rallies and you'll no doubt hear all about the evil IRS and the "jack-booted thugs" who work there. It's way past time to stop the demagoguery, writes EJ Dionne. Anyone remember the nut who flew his plane into IRS offices in Austin in February and killed an innocent man? "We should call this propaganda what it is: a sweeping falsehood that libels the work of committed federal employees," writes Dionne at the Washington Post . More»

Making bundles of cash doesn't guarantee you won't evade

(NEWSER) - Not too many of us are celebrating Tax Day, but some celebrities are probably even less happy about it than you. The Frisky rounds up 10 who owe back taxes:

• Pamela Anderson: Perhaps Dancing With the Stars will help her pay some of the $493,144 she owes California.
• Wesley Snipes: He actually went to prison after failing to file for a few years and racking up $2.7 million in debt. He was released on a $1 million bond.

Christopher Beam explores the potential evader's options

(NEWSER) - With millions of Americans enduring long lines at the post office today to file their tax returns, Christopher Beam of Slate can’t help wonder: What would happen if you simply didn’t file? The answer is probably not much—7 million Americans declined to file last year, and only 158,000 of them were investigated—although certain factors increase your chances of being an IRS target. More»

(NEWSER) - In an effort to increase revenue, the Internal Revenue Service is relaxing penalties on offshore tax evaders in hopes they will come forward, the New York Times reports. A penalty that was 50% of offshore holdings will drop as low as 5%. “They need to get money back into the system,” an insider said, “so they needed to sweeten the deal.” More»