To the Editor:
Leona Helmsley famously said “only the little people pay taxes.” More recently, Donald Trump made it clear to all Americans that paying taxes was unnecessary for wealthy individuals and businesses, by slashing taxes on the rich and corporations, and through his personal example of manipulating his own returns to avoid paying taxes.
When the little people see the big people not paying their fair share, it shatters the social compact and the concept of the general welfare enshrined in the Constitution.
Michael E. Mahler
To the Editor:
As an I.R.S. field agent/auditor around 1970 I would average $3,000 per day in taxes brought in to the U.S. Treasury. As a certified public accountant, in the 1980s I scared clients into properly reporting their earnings with threats of I.R.S. audits because they all knew businesses that had been audited. After about 2000 none of my clients knew anyone who had been audited and they would laugh at such encouragement to report all th