Posted on 11/09/2015 8:04:01 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It’s time for a new approach to dealing with the scandal plagued offices of the Internal Revenue Service. It’s become obvious by this point that you can’t fire anyone. And until there’s a change in personnel at the highest levels in the Justice Department you can’t prosecute anyone either. Despite plenty of lip service by everyone from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton, it would seem that it’s just going to be business as usual at the tax collector’s office and they can essentially thumb their noses at us.
But perhaps there are some alterations which could be made from the ground up. Senator Tim Scott came out with a new plan this week which just might change the culture inside the offices of the IRS. What say we get the public employee unions out of there? (Government Executive)
The Internal Revenue Service should no longer employ unionized employees, a lawmaker proposed on Thursday.
The End the Partisan IRS Culture (EPIC) Act, introduced by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., would eliminate labor organization and collective bargaining requirements at the agency. Scott said he put the bill forward in light of the criticism the IRS has faced for its alleged political targeting and its use of official time.
The bill would “end the partisan culture at the IRS†evidenced by the National Treasury Employees Union — which represents the nearly 90,000 IRS employees — donating overwhelmingly toward Democrats, Scott said.
"We should put the 200-plus employees currently doing union work back to serving the American taxpayers," Scott said of official time, "not their union bosses and the politicians they support."
It’s a bold shot across the bow at both union corruption and the leadership of the department which still seems to be mired in Lerner’s legacy. It’s also not entirely without precedent. Under Title VII of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, some agencies such as the FBI and CIA are forbidden to unionize, with other provisions put in to ensure their far treatment as employees. That was an important feature of the legislation because even if the authors didn’t specifically define it as such, they may have recognized that justice needs to indeed be blind to politics and the presence of the union could unduly influence their work, either by ignoring the sins of their friends or inventing some new ones out of whole cloth for their political opponents.
Scott’s proposal would amend the act to add the IRS to the list. At the time it was written I suppose our elected officials didn’t imagine anyone going so far as to try to use the tax collection agency for political purposes, but reality has surely intruded on that pleasant vision by now. When you stop to think about it, we could probably improve on Senator Scott’s proposal by including the Inspectors General for every agency in the government as well as the rest of the Justice Department.
Unfortunately, this likely won’t go anywhere though it makes me sad to say it. The Democrats are pretty much owned and operated by the unions in terms of financing their campaigns so they’ll stop it from getting sixty votes, assuming it ever makes it out of committee. And even if it did, they could never hope to override the Obama veto which would assuredly land on it in record time once it reached his desk. Still, kudos to Senator Tim Scott for showing some out of the box thinking and at least trying to solve an actual problem.
The ONLY solution to the IRS is its abolishment.
The IRS union is very good example, but it would help to get the unions out of ALL government.
Nope. Simplify the tax code and exterminate the IRS. Raze the buildings and salt the earth to make sure.
END GOVERNMENT UNIONS
It’s government employees negotiating with government employees, about pay and benefits for government employees.
Anyone else see the problem here?
it would help to get the unions out of ALL government
easy way to kill the Democratic Party
Need to get the unions out of all gov’t agencies.
I used to think the same way about government unions until I married a woman who works for the VA. The only thing protecting white government employees from racist black superiors is the union. So, if you want to turn the IRS into a racist lynch mob, get rid of the unions. Otherwise, go for abolishing the whole corrupt agency, creating a new tax enforcement division, and prohibiting anyone who worked at the IRS from being hired there.
I’ve often also wondered if it would be helpful if we used the honorable and dishonorable discharge system for federal employees to help keep them honest. Anyone involved in the Lois Lerner debacle, for instance, would be dishonorably discharged and that would follow them around for the rest of their lives.
At one time, the IRS and US Postal Service were the two most heavily unionized entities in America. Pretty much speaks for itself....
THere should be no Public Employee unions in the Fed Gov period! I shouldn’t have to be working for DEM!
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. That would certainly be a good first step.
Correct. All public employee unions should be outlawed, but that won’t fix the irS. JFK authorized federal unions by executive order. That opened the door for unions at every level: local, state and federal. Can’t they be outlawed the same way by President Trump?
There should be no union for any government employee. Period.
I would propose to add a few things, for other departments after the IRS is abolished:
1. States can prosecute individual employees of fed agencies who violate the law, with full weight and credit as if they were the DOJ.
2. Individuals who cannot conclusively prove they were ordered to undertake an illegal action are personally liable for the repercussions of that action. That means, if the order isn’t in writing, the person who did the act is held responsible.
3. There is no immunity for illegal acts.
4. If the individual can prove their supervisor (or further up the chain) ordered that they perform the illegal act, the supervisor (or further up) is individually responsible for all illegal acts undertaken in pursuance of the order.
5. The liability relief discussed in item 2, above, cannot be given absent proof of the order. If there is a dispute over a verbal order, then the higher level person has to be convicted before the relief for the lower level person kicks in.
6. In the event that two or more individuals from a department inside an agency are convicted of violating the law, the supervisor of that department automatically is fired, forfeiting their pension, for their lack of supervision.
7. Any illegal acts that support or allow illegal voting (which disenfranchises legal voters) is punishable by a minimum of 10 years prison, and a maximum of life without parole.
Can you tell I’m a little hacked off? LOL
Yours are mutually exclusive. It took ~100 years to go from “Oh, it’ll NEVER be more than 3% (for those over 100K/yr)” to the monstrosity we have today.
KILL the 16th
Abolish the IRS
Institute a 5-10% national sales tax (ala ‘modified’ Fair Tax) on all new sales
No exemptions, no carve-outs, no re/pre-bates
Get EVERYONE w/ skin in the game (esp. them kids!!) since they ALL use services
Keep The People as far away as possible (Fed <- State <- Biz <- People)
5-10% will NECESSITATE Fedzilla shrinks
Nope, I see nothing fishy in that scenario. *donning my Liberal thinking cap to reply*
TIMEEEEEEE!!!!!! TIM...TIM...TIMEEEEEEE!!!!
To buy a clue press 2 for Spanish.
The reek of dumb permeated the room.......
TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
The very sacred cow big D democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was quite clear on the point that federal employees can join any union they want, but that they cannot collective bargain, because under Civil Service law, Congress sets the wages. That is to say... unionize all you want, but you have no legal voice to collectivize your employment under Civil Service. That’s in the original. Somewhre, along the way through lawsuits judiciary activism and much else, we have arrived where we the People are dictated to by bureaucrats that are unionized who dictate to us what WE will pay them— and make zero line budgeting the servant of their pay raises (”give me a COLA”).
Scott would do well to invoke FDR to get the proper attention and respect from libs (maybe, they long ago found this power base to leverage total control)— which will expose the union libs from the elitist libs, and start the ball rolling. No one who has a federal job should be unionized, and this would devolve down to AFSCME and other “service” unions of govt. workers. And, good luck with all that thanks to the judiciary. But.. WE make the laws, and we can change them- nothing is “written” but what we write.
Two links: the page at FDR library (they take pains to indicate that FDR had no writings/records on municipal state, county employees unionizing/bargaininge etc) and
various covering quotes on private sector unionization to “balance” this
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/unions.html
A PDF of a press interview and exchange of letters with the Pres. of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937!! Depression commie laden pre WWII. The commies were at it inside our govt. and admin.
A quote in this pdf in the exchange of letters, from FDR to the President of the Natl. Fed. of Federal Employees:
“All Government employees should realize that the
process of collective bargaining, as usually understood,
cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures or rules in personnel matters.”
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/pdfs/union_pressconf.pdf
Given that the Founding States made the first numbered clauses in the Constitution, Sections 1-3 of Article I, to clarify that all federal legislative powers are vested in the elected members of Congress, not in the executive or judicial branches, or in constitutionally undefined agencies like the EPA and IRS, I do not see where the IRS has the constitutional authority to exist.
In fact, Congress seems to be creating unconstitutional federal regulatory agencies for the purpose of letting such agencies make unpopular regulations that hurt our constitutional protections. And by being able to blame unpopular federal regulations on so-called ”independent federal regulatory agencies” corrupt Congress is effectively escaping the wrath of low-information voters in blatant defiance of Sections 1-3 referenced above.
Regarding why unconstitutional federal agencies exist in the first place, note that the corrupt, post-17th Amendment ratification Senate is not doing its job to protect the interests of the states in Congress as the Founding States had established the Senate to do. More specifically, the Senate is actually helping the likewise corrupt House to pass unconstitutional bills that help to establish unconstitutional federal agencies that boss around the states and the people.
The ill-conceived 17th Amendment needs to disappear, and corrupt senators who pass bills that help to establish unconstitutional federal agencies along with it.
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