Olympia Snowe: “Today millions of taxpayers, many owners of small businesses, will file their income tax returns while some States in…”

“Today millions of taxpayers, many owners of small businesses, will file their income tax returns while some States in the Northeast, including my home State of Maine, have rightfully been given an additional 48 hours to file due to the devastating storms resulting in disastrous flooding, wind damage, and power outages. As citizens file their taxes this week, I am very happy to say that a wide majority of Mainers and Americans alike will be fully compliant in reporting the appropriate amount of income, with the Internal Revenue Service estimating 84 percent of taxpayers are compliant. The unfortunate flip side to that statistic is that 16 percent of taxpayers either fail to report income or underreport income and thus fail to pay all the taxes owed. This misreporting of income has resulted in a $345 billion gross tax gap, which is the difference between taxes owed and paid. Unquestionably, we must ensure that taxes owed are taxes paid.”