IRS may be missing offshore tax dodgers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service may be missing potential tax dodgers who report their foreign accounts but who avoid paying penalties by not reporting previous years' returns, a government watchdog said in a report released on Friday.

To avoid steep penalties for offshore tax evasion, some taxpayers are making "quiet disclosures" to the IRS, reporting for the first time offshore accounts that could appear to the IRS as newly opened accounts, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress.

The government re-opened a voluntary amnesty program in 2009, the same year Swiss Bank UBS AG agreed to pay $780 million to settle charges the bank was helping Americans stash income abroad to escape U.S. taxes. It has collected $5.5 billion from about 38,000 complying taxpayers since then.

Under the program, taxpayers turn themselves in and pay a percentage of the account balance as a fee.

Taxpayers making quiet disclosure filings, on the other hand, would avoid paying any delinquent taxes and penalties, unless otherwise audited, GAO said.

In its analysis of tax filings from 2003 through 2008, GAO said it found "many more potential quiet disclosures than IRS detected."

From 2007 through 2010, the IRS estimates taxpayers reporting foreign accounts nearly doubled to 516,000, GAO said.

The IRS has not researched whether sharp increases in taxpayers reporting offshore accounts for the first time is due to efforts to escape taxes, GAO said.

Taxpayers who get away with quiet disclosures undermine the IRS's Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, resulting in lost tax revenue, GAO said.

The IRS has started analyzing the method GAO used to uncover quiet disclosures, Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner, said in a response letter to GAO accompanying the report.

"The IRS agrees that we must continue to explore additional methods for effectively identifying quiet disclosures," Miller said.

(Reporting By Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Kim Dixon and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irs-may-missing-offshore-tax-evasion-government-watchdog-172927270.html

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Politics on hold at the dedication of Bush library

President Barack Obama, and former presidents, from second from left, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center ,Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALES

President Barack Obama, and former presidents, from second from left, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center ,Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALES

Former president George W. Bush, wipes a tear after his speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. Left is President George H.W. Bush. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

From left, President Barack Obama, former president George W. Bush, former president William J. Clinton former President George H.W. Bush and former president Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Former president George H.W. Bush, left, applauds with Laura Bush after former president George W. Bush's speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Former President George W. Bush, center, shares a laugh with his wife, former first lady Laura Bush and father, former President George H.W. Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

DALLAS (AP) ? George W. Bush shed a sentimental tear. Barack Obama mused about the burdens of the office. Bill Clinton dished out wisecracks. Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush chimed in, too, on a rare day of harmony at the dedication of the younger Bush's presidential library that glossed over the hard edges and partisan divides of five presidencies spanning more than three tumultuous decades.

"To know the man is to like the man," Obama declared of his Republican predecessor, speaking Thursday before a crowd of 10,000 at an event that had the feel of a class reunion for the partisans who had powered the Bush administration from 2001 to 2009. Dick Cheney was there in a white cowboy hat. Condoleezza Rice gave shout-outs to visiting dignitaries. Colin Powell and Karl Rove were prominent faces in the crowd.

On this day, there was no mention of Iraq or Afghanistan, the wars that dominated Bush's presidency and so divided the nation. There were only gentle references to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And praise aplenty for the resolve that Bush showed in responding to the 9/11 terror attacks.

Clinton joked that the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center was "the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history." But he also praised Bush for including interactive exhibits at the center that invite visitors to make their own choices on major decisions that he faced.

Bush, 66, made indirect reference to the polarizing decision points of his presidency, drawing a knowing laugh as he told the crowd: "One of the benefits of freedom is that people can disagree. It's fair to say I created plenty of opportunities to exercise that right."

He said he was guided throughout his presidency by a determination "to expand the reach of freedom."

"It wasn't always easy, and it certainly wasn't always popular."

It was a day for family and sentimentality, Bush choking up with emotion at the conclusion of his remarks.

The 43rd president singled out his 88-year-old father, another ex-president, to tell him: "41, it is awesome that you are here today."

The elder Bush, wearing jaunty pink socks, spoke for less than a minute from his wheelchair, then turned to his son and quipped, "Too long?" He has a form of Parkinson's disease and has been hospitalized recently for bronchitis.

Just as the public tends to view presidents more kindly once they've left office, ex-presidents, too, tend to soften their judgments ? or at least their public comments ? with time.

Obama once excoriated Bush for his "failed policies" and "disastrous" handling of the economy, for expanding budget deficits, and for drawing the nation into war in Iraq.

On Thursday, he took a detour around those matters and instead praised Bush for his strength after 9/11, compassion in fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa, bipartisanship in pursuing education reforms and restarting "an important conversation by speaking with the American people about our history as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants."

If the country is eventually able to enact immigration changes this year, Obama added, "it will be, in large part, thanks to the hard work of President George W. Bush."

Obama said the living presidents make up an exclusive club ? but it's more like a support group for the men who have held the position.

"No matter how much you may think you are ready to assume the office of the presidency, it's impossible to truly understand the nature of the job until it's yours," Obama said. "And that's why every president gains a greater appreciation for all of those who served before them."

The other presidents struck a similar tone.

Clinton praised Bush for his efforts to combat AIDS in Africa, his work on global health and even for the paintings he's doing in retirement. And he said he'd gotten so close to the Bush family that there were jokes that "I had become the black sheep son."

Carter praised Bush for his role in helping secure peace between North and South Sudan in 2005 and the "great contributions you've made to the most needy people on earth."

Bush has kept a decidedly low profile since leaving office four years ago with an approval rating of just 33 percent. That figure has been gradually climbing and now is at 47 percent ? about equal to Obama's own approval rating, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released ahead of the library opening.

If politics was absent from the podium on Thursday, it was still a prominent subtext.

Those in attendance included a number of potential candidates for president in 2016 ? another Clinton (Hillary) and Bush (Jeb) among them.

George W. Bush in recent days played up the idea of his younger brother, the former governor of Florida, seeking the White House, telling C-SPAN, "My first advice is: Run."

Their mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, did the opposite.

"We've had enough Bushes," she said Thursday on NBC's "Today" show.

The presidential center at Southern Methodist University includes a library, museum and policy institute. It contains more than 70 million pages of paper records, 200 million emails, 4 million digital photos and 43,000 artifacts. Bush's library will feature the largest digital holdings of any of the 13 presidential libraries under the auspices of the National Archives and Records Administration.

A full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it looked during Bush's tenure sits on the campus, as does a piece of steel from the World Trade Center and the bullhorn that Bush used to punctuate the chaos at ground zero three days after 9/11. In the museum, visitors can gaze at a container of chads ? the remnants of the famous Florida punch card ballots that played a pivotal role in the contested 2000 election that sent Bush to Washington.

Laura Bush led the library's design committee, officials said, with a keen eye toward ensuring that the family's Texas roots were conspicuously reflected. Architects used local materials, including Texas Cordova cream limestone and trees from the central part of the state, in its construction.

___

Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP .

___

Associated Press writer Nancy Benac contributed from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-25-Bush%20Library/id-79e93f347f4a473781d6eee4af000555

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St. Raymond's Society helps struggling families, single mothers

In 2003, Mike Hentges had settled in for a dreary, 22-hour bus trip to Columbia after a march against abortion in Washington, D.C.

He began to think about women who found themselves pregnant with nowhere to turn ? women without a family support system, home or job. He knew they could find help during a pregnancy, but what would they do after the baby was born?

"There is a void in the pro-life movement," Hentges said. "We're quick to tell them to have their children and slow to help them after the child is born."

For the next six years, he kept returning to the idea, tossing it out, then thinking about it again.

"It kept coming back to me that there needed to be a home in the central Missouri area to shelter women who choose life for their babies," Hentges said.

He finally confided in his wife in 2009, then brought the idea to a group of Catholic men he meets with weekly. He told them he felt he was being called to open a house that could offer women and their children a place to live while they saved money and became self-reliant.

By the spring of 2010, St. Raymond's Society was a reality.

The St. Raymond's Society owns a home for women in Jefferson City. The property, which it previously rented and has now purchased, provided a home and support system for 19 women and their children in the past year.

Hentges named the Society after his father, Raymond. St. Raymond is also the patron saint of unborn babies, newborn babies and expectant mothers, Hentges said.

Now the organization, which is funded by donations from the community and staffed entirely by volunteers, is looking to buy a property in Columbia.

A welcoming place to land

The six-bedroom home in Jefferson City had to be remodeled slightly to accommodate five women and their children at a time. One room is occupied by the "house mother." The first resident moved in before renovation was complete.

Krystle Good, diagnosed with cervical cancer and pregnant with her third child, heard about St. Raymond's Society through Birthright of Mid Missouri, a pregnancy resource center. She met Hentges when he brought her an application for a room in the house.

A few weeks later, she was told the sheriff would arrive that evening to evict her family from their Jefferson City home. Hentges found a group of volunteers to help move her family into St. Raymond's.

"He didn't want my kids to see the sheriff," Good said. "He didn't want us to go through that."

Good and her children moved into the home in February 2012 and stayed for three months. With the help of St. Raymond's Society and the family environment it provided, she received her GED and is now enrolled in Metro Business College to become a computer specialist.

"I promised Mike that I would get my GED," Good said. "I even wrote it on a piece of paper. ... We made goals, we did things in that house, so I had to finish that goal. I had to keep my promise."

Women and their children can stay in the St. Raymond's home for up to a year, but Hentges said the average stay is about three months. St. Raymond's volunteers help them learn to budget their money and find job opportunities. The organization, with help from other house guests, also provides child care while the women go to school or interviews.

From mobility to stability

Hentges' friend Steve Smith committed immediately to help Hentges start St. Raymond's four years ago.

Initially, the two men worked as a mobile organization in both Jefferson City and Columbia. They partnered with pregnancy resources such as Birthright and Love INC, offering families help when needed. Sometimes that meant paying for a hotel or assisting with utility bills or job searches.

"It can be a very small thing that needs to be done," Smith said.

Smith remembered one couple who were expecting their second child. They were considering abortion because the father had lost his job, the heat had been turned off, and there would be no way to warm their home through the winter.

Hentges and Smith filled the family's propane tank and helped the father find a job. The following spring, they received a picture of the couple's baby girl.

Today, the two divide responsibilities for the project. Hentges takes care of the structure of the nonprofit organization, finances and procedures. Smith focuses on networking and expansion.

The men's differing priorities help keep the organization in check. While Smith runs with the idea of becoming a national organization 10 years down the line, Hentges reminds him to focus on the local responsibilities they currently have.

"I'm kind of the accelerator;? Mike's the brake," Smith said. "He's a little more cautious, but that has also saved us on things."

Growing up in a family of faith

Hentges was raised in a Catholic family, the youngest of five children.

"They (our parents) did a good job of building our family on the foundation of God," he said. "They exhibited what it meant to live as a Christian in this world, and they gave a great example of what it meant to serve one another and love your neighbor."

He wanted his parents' name to be connected to his organization and began to search for saints called Raymond, his father's name.

"When I pulled up the story (of Saint Raymond Nonnatus), the first line I saw was 'patron saint of unborn babies, newborn babies and expectant mothers,'" Hentges said.

"His story kind of parallels what we do. He spent his entire life trying to free people from lives of doom, trying to free people from lives of slavery.

"We're trying to save the mother and get her help, so she is able to make a stable life for herself. If we can do that, then the baby is saved."

Hentges said balancing his time between his family, work and St. Raymond's has been a test of his faith.

"I think God has shown us that we give it what we can, and he will bless that time that we give and return it to us multiplied," he said.

Founders say it's not about politics

Smith said some people have been hesitant to offer support to St. Raymond's because of its connection to the anti-abortion movement.

One woman, an attorney, approached Hentges and Smith to express interest in the program but hesitated and said she was pro-choice. Smith asked if she wanted to help a woman who chose to keep her baby, and the woman said yes. St. Raymond's Society called on her to provide legal advice in the wrongful termination case of a woman they were helping.

"This isn't a battle with anybody," Smith said. "We have the best interest of the woman and the child at heart."

The mission is to support mothers, Hentges said. "If we can convey that support to them while they're still in decision-making mode, it might help them make a good decision, an informed decision and not one out of fear.

"We want to actually follow through on our pro-life commitment and stand with them and say, 'If you choose to have this child, we will walk with you until you are able to walk on your own.'"

There has also been talk of expanding beyond Columbia and Jefferson City to Springfield and elsewhere, Hentges said.

The idea of St. Raymond's Society becoming bigger is scary, he said, but he is prepared to see it grow.

"Where it goes from there isn't up to me," he said.

?

This article was originally published in the Columbia Missourian.?

Source: http://columbiafavs.com/culture/family-relationships/st.-raymonds-society-helps-struggling-families-single-mothers

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Windows 8 Wins 7.4% Share Of Global Tablet OS Market In Q1 - ?Niche? Portion Still Beats Windows Phone's Smartphone Share

Don't write off Microsoft's chances in mobile just yet. It may still be struggling to make itself count in the smartphone space but early signs are more promising for Windows plus tablets. Microsoft has gone from having no share of the global tablet OS market in Q1 last year to taking 7.4% one year later, with 3M Windows 8 tablets shipped in Q1 2013, according to Strategy Analytics.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nhfbrexjkDY/

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Skin cancer linked to future risk of other cancers - LabSpaces.net

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

White people who have types of skin cancer other than melanoma (non-melanoma skin cancer) may be at increased risk of having other forms of cancer in the future, according to a study by US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

The analysis, led by Dr. Jiali Han, an Associate Professor from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School in the US, found that men and women with a history of non-melanoma skin cancers?the most common form of cancer in the United States and includes basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma?had a 15% and 26% increased risk, respectively, of developing another form of cancer compared with those who had no such history.

The researchers (also the authors of the published paper), reached these conclusions by analysing information from two large US cohorts (group) studies followed till 2008?the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (which enrolled 51,529 male health professionals in 1986) and the Nurses' Health Study (which enrolled 121,700 female nurses in 1976).

The authors identified 36,102 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer and 29,447 new cases of other cancers in white participants. When excluding melanoma, the authors found that a history of non-melanoma skin cancer was linked to an 11% higher risk of other cancers in men and a 20% higher risk of other cancers in women. After correction for multiple comparisons, the authors found that a history of non-melanoma skin cancer was significantly linked to an increased risk of breast and lung cancer in women and of melanoma in both men and women.

The authors say: "This prospective study found a modestly increased risk of subsequent malignancies among individuals with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer, specifically breast and lung cancer in women and melanoma in both men and women."

They continue: "Because our study was observational, these results should be interpreted cautiously and are insufficient evidence to alter current clinical recommendations."

The authors add: "Nevertheless, these data support a need for continued investigation of the potential mechanisms underlying this relationship."

###

Song F, Qureshi AA, Giovannucci EL, Fuchs CS, Chen WY, et al. (2013) Risk of a Second Primary Cancer after Non-melanoma Skin Cancer in White Men and Women: A Prospective Cohort Study. PLoS Med 10(4): e1001433. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001433

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001430

Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127871/Skin_cancer_linked_to_future_risk_of_other_cancers

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WH knew electric car maker Fisker was faltering: AP (cbsnews)

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Will the State Department Ever Listen to These EPA Concerns About Keystone?

RELATED: U.S. Rules Climate Change Won't Be a Threat to the Keystone Pipeline ? and Vice Versa

In a letter responding to the State Department's draft environmental assessment for the Keystone XL pipeline, the EPA finds several areas it deems insufficient. Perhaps the third time's the charm on State doing something about it.

RELATED: Obama Administration Pushes Keystone Pipeline Decision Until After the Election

The pipeline has become a focal point of the national ? and, to some extent, global ??environmental movement. Proposed by TransCanada, Keystone XL would shunt diluted bitumen, a sludge from which petroleum products can be developed, from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast. It's a 1,179-mile project, running through the heart of the country. To TransCanada and fossil fuel advocates, it represents a needed upgrade to the country's infrastructure. To environmentalists, it represents a major escalation of the systems behind and contributors to climate change.

RELATED: Critics of Keystone Pipeline Deal Surround The White House

Because the pipeline crosses an international barrier, the State Department is tasked will final permit authority over the project. And since it's in charge, it also has to complete an environmental impact analysis. In March, the agency released its latest draft, which indicated that State felt comfortable that the project wouldn't dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions and that a new proposed route that avoids the sand hills of Nebraska reduced the risk of a spill polluting a critical aquifer.

RELATED: U.S. Official: No One's Getting the $25 Million Bounty for Bin Laden

Each time an agency completes an environmental impact statement (EIS), the EPA reviews and comments on it. Three times the EPA has reviewed State's assessments for Keystone. And three times ??in 2010, 2011, and yesterday ??the EPA has found the assessments to be either insufficient or inadequate. In this case, "The EPA review has identified significant environmental impacts that must be avoided in order to provide adequate protection for the environment," in part because "the draft EIS does not contain sufficient information."

RELATED: The Benghazi Report Has Claimed Its First Big Jobs at the State Department

There are four specific reasons that the EPA faults the current iteration of State's draft EIS. (One, asking for more details on providing water to at-risk communities in the event of a spill, is fairly straightforward.)

It underestimates how much greenhouse gas will be created. This is a critical argument for opponenets of the pipeline. The product derived from the tar sands in Alberta, bitumen, is much more carbon-intensive to extract; State estimates it requires 81 percent more carbon dioxide emission to get out of the ground. But State's analysis relies upon the assumption that the bitumen will be extracted regardless of whether or not the pipeline is built ??an assumption that has been challenged. Without the pipeline, it may not be economically feasible to extract the product. And if the product is never extracted, its carbon footprint drops from an estimated 935 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over 50 years to a flat zero.

It downplays the risk of spills. In 2010, pipeline company Enbridge experienced a major spill near the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, the largest on-land spill in American history. What spilled is diluted bitumen, dilbit, the same product that Keystone XL would carry. And it's much harder to clean up.

In that spill, oil sands crude sank to the bottom of the Kalamazoo River, mixing with the river bottom's sediment and organic matter, making the oil difficult to find and recover. After almost three years of recovery efforts, EPA recently determined that dredging of bottom sediments will be required to protect public health and welfare and the environment. This determination was based in large part on demonstrations that the oil sands crude associated with the Enbridge spill will not appreciably biodegrade.

One problem Enbridge faced was that it took 17 hours for the pipeline to be shut off after the company ignored spill warnings. The EPA is suggesting that monitors for spill detection be greatly upgraded, in order to minimize the amount of dilbit that might leak ??and that TransCanada be required to regularly monitor groundwater near the pipeline.

It doesn't consider alternate, safer routes. The main concern regarding a spill is what's called the Ogallala Aquifer, a massive underground repository of fresh water covering the Plains states, replenished slowly as rain and surface water seeps back down into it. In eastern Nebraska, that seeping happens more quickly through the Sandhills, which act as a natural sponge. When TransCanada first proposed running the pipeline through that area, the state ??including its Republican governor ??objected.

The pipeline's new route avoids the Sandhills, but still goes over the aquifer. The EPA would prefer it not, regardless of the economic impact.

The Keystone Corridor Alternatives were determined not to be reasonable alternatives primarily on the basis that these routes are longer than the proposed Project's route, and that additional pipeline miles would be needed to connect to Bakken MarketLink project, which would allow the proposed Project to also transport crude from North Dakota and Montana. As we have indicated in the past, we believe these alternative routes could further reduce risks to groundwater resources.

One criticism, popular among pipeline opponents wasn't included in the EPA's review: revelations that two consulting firms with ties to companies that stand to profit from the pipeline contributed analysis to the draft EIS. Nonetheless, the Natural Resources Defense Council's Anthony Swift said the EPA's response was "exactly right."

The extent to which the State Department incorporates the EPA's feedback remains to be seen. History may provide some guide. In 2011, the EPA's response to a draft EIS asked for it to include analysis of the effects on wetlands and migratory birds. Oh, and also concerns it had about oil spills, greenhouse gas emissions, and the effects of a spill on at-risk communities. The EPA rated that draft EO-2, meaning it had environmental objections and that the report lacked sufficient information. That's the same rating it issued yesterday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/state-department-ever-listen-epa-concerns-keystone-163235003.html

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