When Tax-Avoidance Shelters Collapse

Re “Snared by Their Shelters,” Column One, Jan. 10: As a tax professional regulated by the Internal Revenue Service, I applaud efforts by the IRS and California to crack down on the buyers and sellers of “abusive trusts.” These tax-avoidance schemes for the wealthy should be particularly offensive to most taxpayers who pay their fair share.

While there is no question in my mind that the accounting and law firms who perpetrate these fraudulent shelters are fully culpable, it is hard to believe that such participants as Pacific Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey and Assemblywoman Carol Liu are innocent “victims.” They are not tax experts, but they are well-educated and politically savvy professionals.

One needn’t be an accountant or tax attorney to remember that old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Lisa B. Karpf

Long Beach

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Peevey and Liu should know that you can’t avoid taxes, you can only reduce and defer them. It appears that they were consciously pursuing an aggressive, risky tax-avoidance plan instead of paying their fair (and legal) share.

David Placek

Mission Viejo