The poor IRS

WorldNetDaily ^ | 09/25/02 | Joseph Farah

[Kwilliams]

"There are heartening signs that the Internal Revenue Service is beginning to recover from the largely unfair beating it took at the hands of the new Republican Congress in the mid-'90s."

A Democratic Party fund-raising mailer? A Hillary Clinton in 2004 campaign plank? A press release from the Treasury Department?

No, it wouldn't be believable that such a statement would be made in any of those venues.

Yet, it was the first sentence of a Rocky Mountain News editorial last week.

As you know, newspaper editorials are the official opinions of the publishers. They represent what the owners of the news organizations believe – deep down in their hearts.

So, it was with a sense of disbelief I read this short editorial over and over again – trying to figure out the motivation for this bit of puffery. It still has me stumped.

Maybe you can help me sort this out. Here's some more from this attempt at either poorly executed parody or inexplicable whitewashing of the most feared and heavy-handed agency in the federal government.

"High-profile hearings portrayed the IRS as rigid, uncaring and abusive," read the editorial. "Well, it sometimes is, of course, but the grandstanding lawmakers did not dwell on the inconvenient constitutional fact that the tax code is entirely the world of Congress. And many of the 'abuses' cited at the hearings did not stand up well under later scrutiny, although by then the damage to the agency had been done."

Now, let's analyze this for a moment. The very reason Congress held hearings on IRS abuses is because Congress bears direct responsibility for the tax code. What other reason or authority would there have been for such hearings? The newspaper cites no evidence to back up its statement that abuses revealed in the hearings did not stand up well under scrutiny. Nor does it offer any evidence of irreparable harm done to its precious agency. Last I heard, the IRS is, unfortunately, alive and well and coming after Americans with reckless abandon, intruding into the most intimate details of our private lives with all the subtlety and tact of a mastodon in a Lenox shop.

But it gets worse.

"The number of audits, the principal means of catching tax evasion, fell from 1.9 million in 1996 to 732,000 last year," the editorial continues. "One key reason: The number of auditors fell by 29 percent, a manpower shortage that Congress should rectify."

Now, let me ask you a question: Do you want to see more of your tax money used to hire more tax auditors, thereby increasing the chances you will be audited and required to pay more taxes?

I don't know upon what planet the writers of this editorial reside, but I have yet to discover anyone here on earth who thinks like this – unless, of course, they work at the IRS. Is the IRS actually providing editorial copy for major U.S. papers now? And what does the paper get in return? A wink and a nod at tax time, perhaps?

"No one likes paying taxes and the IRS is a convenient whipping boy, but it is vital to the health of a democracy that still largely relies on voluntary compliance that the taxpayers see that the tax code is evenly and fairly enforced," the editorial concludes.

Voluntary compliance? Is that what's it's called when the government throws you in jail if you don't file a tax return?

The press is supposed to hold government accountable for constitutional excesses, for outright fraud, for abuse of individual rights, for institutional waste and for systematic corruption.

Instead, as I have pointed out frequently, the establishment news media in America far too often apologizes for Big Government when it runs roughshod over the people. It excuses such behavior. It encourages it.

I can think of no better example than this official opinion of the Rocky Mountain News. While the IRS is abusing its authority, conducting armed raids on taxpayers, rendering citizens virtual serfs of the state and even allowing itself under current leadership to be used as a weapon of political retribution, the Big Media are portraying the agency as a victim. Incredible.

[Democrap]

voluntary compliance

Sounds like the Army,"You, you and you just volunteered."

[goldstategop]

The Sixteenth Amendment needs to be repealed and the IRS must be abolished. A system that confiscates your income at gunpoint, under the threat of fines and jail if you fail to comply, is inimical to freedom in America.

[Texas_Jarhead]

boy if we could do that the whole world (and future) would change

[FreeLibertarian]

I recently has a conversation with an IRS agent concerning an error they had made on my account. He told me that since the reorginization the IRS system is completely broken and that the agents can't make it work. No one can determine which offices are in charge of what functions. Agents have no controlling legal authorities over their actions. He also told me and I later had it verified by another agent that by law agents are not allowed and can't be compelled to testify before congress.

If that isn't the definition of a system that is corrupt beyond repair I don't know what is.

[Democrap]

The Sixteenth Amendment needs to be repealed and the IRS must be abolished. A system that confiscates your income at gunpoint, under the threat of fines and jail if you fail to comply, is inimical to freedom in America.

That would be nice but it will never happen. You see us democraps have found a new form of slavery we call entitlements. Once we get a voter in an entitlement program he has to do our bidding forever.

[lockeliberty]

I'm kinda surprised this came out of the Rocky Mountian News. I would have expected it from the Denver Post.

[ampat]

Isn't it sad that not one post (other that that facetious one) was pro tax. So much for our representation in Washington.

[Ken H]

Amendments XVI and XVII were both ratified in 1913. The 18th was ratified in 1919.

These are some examples of the Wilsonian legacy.

[gridlock]

< asbestos suit >

The IRS needs to be able to do an effective job of tax collection and enforcement of the tax code. Since the current tax code is the size of a stack of Manhattan Phone Books, that means the IRS needs manpower, and plenty of it, to do it's job. The fact that the audit staff is under-manned should be of concern to us all.

If there is no effective audit and enforcement procedure, more and more people will attempt to skirt the law, and succeed. It will get to the point that only the virtuous and the fearful pay taxes. Since the Federal Leviathan is not about to shrink, that means that the suckers who do pay their taxes will have to pay more to keep the whole clanking, wheezing machine chugging along. The money has to come from somewhere!

Yes, it would be better if the tax code was simpler and easier to enforce. It would be even better if the FedGov made do with a lot less money. But neither of these things is going to happen anytime soon. So in the mean time, it is the responsibility of the IRS to make the current system work.

The law already exempts something like half the adult population from the income tax. Add to that an increasing number of cheaters, and you reach a point where tax policy is no longer the concern of the average voter. At that point, ever increasing tax rates are the inevitable result. The minority that pays taxes will be outvoted on every spending and taxing proposal by the majority that does not.

Like it or not, we need the IRS.

< /asbestos suit >

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Sounds like the Rocky Mountain News is so much Rocky Mountain Oysters...

[taxcontrol]

Nowadays - the same rag.

[taxcontrol]

Replace the 16th and income tax with a national sales tax on ALL goods and services. Requires an amendment - just make sure that:

1) The income tax is repealed (I dont want both income and sales tax)

2) The next calander years tax rate must be voted upon prior to the start of the new calander year. (otherwise it is 1% until the new tax rate is passed)

3) Each member of the House and Senate must vote on record for the tax rate. (Got to know how they voted to hold them accountable)

4) 60% vote required to increase the rate more than .5 % from the previous year's rate. (makes it tougher to raise taxes by a large amount)

5) All goods and services must be taxed at the same rate. (no special rates for NY or California, or for certain goods like milk or paint or whatever).

6) The tax rate must be based upon the final sales price of the goods or services. (If you get a discount from the vendor, you should not have to pay tax on the full amount)

7) The tax rate legislation is a "priviledged bill" and can not be ammended and must be limited to only the tax rate. (no monkey games about attaching the tax rate to appropriations, war resolutions, etc.)

8) The tax rate must be expressed as a percentage

9) The tax rate may not be changed during the calander year once the tax rate has been established (see #2)

10) There may only be one tax rate per calander year. (no "piling on" of tax rate legislation or incremental tax legislation)

11) The tax rate is only good for the year that it was inacted (no the tax rate will be x for the next x years)



I think that would just about cover it. Any other comments?

[THEUPMAN]

a lot of good IdeaS ..... JUST TO MUCH TO ASK FOR

REPEAL THE WITHHOLDING LAW .... until everyone has to write a check for their taxes nothing will change.

Employers would still compute the taxes, pay their part of whatever .... but the employee would get all his mony along with a note that said "Your tax for this pay period is ~~~~
please send your check to the IRS."

Until that happens taxes will only go up and all the surfs will dance with joy when the master gives them a little cash at the end of the year.