Ancestors

Toot

Written by Tony Novak on 2024-12-18 at 09:23

Yesterday brought the biggest news story of the tax industry affecting thousands of individuals and small businesses. But the news reporting the story has been completely bizarre, eclipsing the underlying news itself.

In U.S. Disttict Court in Manhattan, a tax preparer pled guilty of tax fraud. But not just any tax preparer. Federal prosecutors say this this is one the biggest tax fraud cases in history affecting thousands of taxpayers. That should be big news in itself. But hardly a peep from business and tax reporters outside the legal community that reports on cases of the day.

But this is where it gets weird:

• AI powered news generators say that the guy who pled guilty is a different guy with the same name and same business brand than the famous, near celebrity, founder of a national tax firm with the same business name! If so, why didn’t a single reporter mention this? Why didn’t prosecutors mention it (They only mention NY companies, even though they are in U.S. District Court that could include businesses anywhere)? Why didn’t the national chain firm in Virginia Beach VA issue a clarifying statement? Not a single mention outside of New York State. I am skeptical.

Then, many hours after the news broke, I find not a single member of the tax news community - geeky writers some who I’ve known since the dawn of online news - have even mentioned this major news story.

The guy who pled guilty yesterday:

“Rafael Alverez, 61, of Cortland Manor, New York, was the CEO, owner, and manager of ATAX New York, LLC, also doing business as ATAX New York-Marble Hill, ATAX Marble Hill, ATAX Marble Hill NY, and ATAX Corporation (together, "ATAX"). ATAX was a high-volume tax preparation company located in the Bronx, which prepared an estimated 90,000 federal income tax returns for its customers.”

The guy named as head of the national chain firm in Virginia Beach VA:

“Rafael Alvarez is the founder, president, and CEO of ATAX Franchise, Inc., the first Latino-owned tax preparation franchise in the U.S. He established ATAX in 1986 and expanded it into a nationwide franchise in 2007, focusing on serving diverse communities, particularly the Latino population. Alvarez has received numerous accolades.”

The whole thing, collectively, makes me question my understanding of how the world works now. It’s as if the human news reporters have checked out and are letting machines run the show.

[#]tax #news

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Descendants

Written by Joe Cooper 💾 on 2024-12-18 at 09:27

@Onlineadviser I suspect they haven't checked out, so much as been laid off. The private equity owners don't care if news reporting is accurate, only that it draws eyeballs to ads.

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