San Francisco tax attorney Steve Moskowitz said this year’s program was structured so that participants had to admit to intentionally evading taxes.
“I found that horribly offensive,” Moskowitz said. “A lot of people inadvertently violated a law they hadn’t even heard of.”
Moskowitz said some immigrants don’t know they have to pay taxes on foreign income and would like to come clean when they find out. But admitting tax avoidance in the amnesty program, he said, could potentially get them in trouble later.
Moskowitz also argued that the punishment for those who didn’t participate – tax audits for up to 12 years instead of eight – is unconstitutional.
Cornez, the Franchise Tax Board’s tax counsel, said the $50 million in additional…