Posted on 08/16/2022 3:58:04 PM PDT by NoLibZone
Tax collectors and federal cops have always been rotten to the core.
There's no doubt that both the FBI and IRS are having a tough moment with the public. Perceptions that the national police agency is at war with half of the population have eroded its standing, while Biden administration plans to super-size the tax-collection agency further sour public perceptions of that never-popular arm of government. It might all be very depressing if you work in the public sector, or you could say that Americans are finally gaining a more realistic assessment of deeply flawed federal enforcers.
Over the past week, headlines have featured massive increases in funding for the IRS and a job ad seeking tax collectors "willing to use deadly force" as well as a high-profile raid by the FBI on the Mar-a-Lago home of former President Donald Trump unprecedented in the country's history. If any publicity is good publicity, this should have been a shining moment for government arm-twisters. But both agencies are viewed with suspicion by much of the public and suffer continuously sliding approval ratings.
Tax collectors are unpopular under the best of circumstances given that they function as licensed muggers in the service of a governing apparatus deeply resented by many of the people from whom they extract funds. In 2015, Bloomberg reported that "IRS workers are miserable and overwhelmed." The article noted that Americans are sour on the revenue service and that even agents' families and friends view what they do with horror. The service's standing has been further worsened by revelations that its agents are political players.
"The IRS has long been disliked, but its employees aren't used to being vilified," Bloomberg's Devin Leonard and Richard Rubin added. "In May 2013 the agency disclosed that it had given extra scrutiny to Tea Party groups that were seeking nonprofit status. To Democrats, the decision to group together Tea Party applications and other politically oriented groups was merely a misguided attempt to find a consistent rule after years of muddled policy. … To Republicans, the IRS's hard look at Tea Party groups proved the service has a political bias."
This is the government agency Americans see getting handed an additional $80 billion even as it advertises for hires eager to "carry a firearm" and "willing to use deadly force." That doesn't go down well with everybody.
Historically, the FBI enjoyed greater public trust than the IRS, though it really deserved nothing of the sort. In recent years, though, its reputation has taken a beating.
"Internal and external reports have found lapses throughout the agency, and longtime observers, looking past the partisan haze, see a troubling picture: something really is wrong at the FBI," Time's Eric Lichtblau reported in 2018. "The FBI's crisis of credibility appears to have seeped into the jury room. The number of convictions in FBI-led investigations has declined in each of the last five years."
In addition to leaks, mismanagement, and internal chaos, the bureau has been plagued by charges of politicization. Led by then-President Trump, Republicans saw a biased agency that favored their political opponents. That impression is fueled by continuing allegations of favoritism from current and former FBI agents compiled by GOP lawmakers, making it relatively easy for Trump to convince supporters that the raid on his home was politically motivated.
Unsurprisingly, public support for both the IRS and FBI have taken a hit. While it's difficult to separate disappearing faith in those two agencies from erosion in the government's overall standing, Gallup found approval of both the FBI and the IRS plunging by 13 points from 2019 to 2021. Like almost everything else these days, there's a partisan cast to those numbers. In this polarized environment, while Americans are divided about the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago, 76.5 percent of Republicans see "Trump's political enemies" behind the search, according to the Trafalgar Group, while 70.5 percent of Democrats attribute the raid to "the impartial justice system."
The recent empowerment of the IRS breeds more nonpartisan reaction, with 42 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans fearing increased audits, according to Politico/Morning Consult. While much of the public may believe empty assurances that tax collectors' efforts will be directed at the wealthy, a substantial number disagree, possibly because of recent reports that low-income wage earners are targeted much more often than those with more money.
IRS efforts "resulted in these low-income wage earners with less than $25,000 in total gross receipts being audited at a rate five times higher than for everyone else," Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse noted in March of this year.
You have to place a lot of faith in assurances from widely distrusted federal employees to think tax collectors will stop going after people who have limited resources with which to defend themselves.
While the headlines about the FBI and IRS are eye-grabbing, the related erosion in support is long overdue. Both government agencies have histories of abusive, corrupt, and high-handed conduct. They also have track records of political weaponization—not against one party alone, but on behalf of whoever is in power against critics and opponents.
"The FBI … has placed more emphasis on domestic dissent than on organized crime and, according to some, let its efforts against foreign spies suffer because of the amount of time spent checking up on American protest groups," the Senate's Church Committee complained in 1976.
"Two years after cases of gross misconduct by senior Internal Revenue Service officials began surfacing, a House committee has determined that the problems are widespread and probably include at least 50 to 60 'serious' examples of abuse of office," The Chicago Tribune reported in 1990.
"Since the advent of the federal income tax about a century ago, several presidents—or their zealous underlings—have directed the IRS to use its formidable police powers to harass or punish enemies, political rivals, and administration critics," The Christian Science Monitor observed in 2013.
Things are different, this time around.
I don’t think libtards agree at all as long as their political enemies are being targeted they don’t care how corrupt it is
Liberals don’t really have a problem with the FBI or IRS. The FBI protects their party and the IRS keeps money flowing to the liberals favorite cause: a big and ever growing government which is the source of all their power.
We could end the IRS with a simple flat tax and no deductions. Everyone pays the same percentage and no one with fancy tax lawyers would get away with paying zero.
Thus no need for the IRS.
Y’all forgot the EPA.
Think about them next time you go to buy food.
If you can get there and if the store has any FOOD!
You pay mine for me. I’ve already paid tax on my income.
Who’s going to step up and say disband both? BJ once said”as we know it”. Government got bigger. Getting rid of the FBI-they’ll say it’s sour grapes and we’re against law enforcement. ‘Eliminating’ the IRS. That affects everyone and they’ll raise their eyebrows.
The FBI has corruption in their DNA. Ever since Hoover the FBI has been 100% about their own power and blackmailing politicians and abusing their authority to arrest those that don’t playball.
It cannot be reformed...it must be dismantled.
The missions can go elsewhere like the States, US Marshalls and Secret Service.
You can call them IRS agents-—
You can call them Animal Control officers——
This is Obama’s Private army against the USA.
Justice by administrators, not the American way, but hey, welcome to Amerika.
The IRS is not rotten to the core, they are now armed to the core and coming to get you as a National Police Force. Get ready and have your papers in order because it going to cost you big bucks.
Matthew and Zacchaeus were Tax Collectors.
They met Jesus and He changed their lives.
Jesus can change a Tax Collector’s heart.
I pray for these new Tax Collectors. AS these upcoming times
become more spiritually extreme, I expect to hear testimonies about “Tax Collectors” getting saved.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find any Flat Tax proposal that eliminates the IRS. It would still be a payroll tax and the IRS would still be the enforcement arm. A Fair Tax, yes it would eliminate the IRS, there would be no need for it.
Yeah, I checked over at Twitter. The progressives are all excited about more tax collectors. It’s bizarre.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, y’know. A wee little man was he!
The tax code is now so complex that several interpretations of one section is often possible. Unleash agents who will act in bad faith to maximize revenue and lots of people who can’t afford lawyers are going to be hurt with little recourse.
Just like everything else going to hell in the US by sheer ineptitude, corruption and stupidity the FBI is no exception and the recent raid on Mar-a-Lago is proof of it.
An Insider Perspective on the Mar-a-Lago Raid
John Nantz
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
An Insider Perspective on the Mar-a-Lago Raid
J. Edgar Hoover’s golden rule was, “never embarrass the Bureau.” Even if a relatively small infraction, by today’s standards, brought embarrassment to the Director’s office, it could result in summary termination. Whatever you may think of Hoover, he created an agency with a peerless reputation. Hoover’s FBI, where the suit and tie G-men bagged bank robbers, cuffed mobsters, or ferreted out KGB spies, was created to fill the professionalism gap in American law enforcement. The result was a national investigative agency that embodied the tip of the law enforcement spear — employing the latest in scientific innovation, staffed by highly educated, dedicated law enforcement professionals.
The troglodyte, ham-fisted buffoonery perpetrated at Mar-a-Lago would have resulted in an FBI HQ bloodbath. Hoover would have fired or transferred anyone associated with the Mar-a-Lago outrage. The empty suits and professional briefers who currently scuttle through the sterile Seventh Floor halls of FBI HQ must have known the search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida would create a firestorm of Biblical proportion. If they truly lacked the acumen to foresee the excrement-hitting-the-fan, then they should be fired for sheer stupidity.
Current Director, Christopher Wray, certainly knew the unprecedented, unthinkable, and obviously partisan execution of a search warrant at a former president’s residence would blacken the FBI’s reputation — very likely irreparably. But, it seems, nothing is too precious to sacrifice on the altar of political expediency. The top echelon of FBI management has become arrogant and entitled. But, why not? Former Director James Comey has yet to be held accountable for his role in running interference for Hillary Clinton’s criminal negligence in handling classified material. The bias is crystal clear. If you’re an establishment Democrat in Washington, you get all the top cover you need — clear, corroborated, scientific evidence of a crime will be expunged. If you’re a Washington outsider, or a threat to the bureaucratic state, you’ll be harassed, maligned, and persecuted at every opportunity. We are no longer a nation of laws.
As a retired FBI agent, I can assure you that if any FBI employee had handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did, “storing” it on a private server, he or she would immediately have their security clearance revoked, be immediately escorted out of any FBI facility, and become the subject of both criminal and counterintelligence investigations. To put things in perspective, Hillary Clinton placed classified information on a vulnerable system, directly connected to the internet, which any mid-grade hacker could easily exploit — she essentially took top secret files and left them on the steps of the Russian, Chinese, and Iranian embassies. That’s how bad it really was, and she got away with it.
Conversely, Trump secured his classified documents, which he was free to declassify (when President, Trump was empowered with original classification authority), in a secure location and complied with requests to enhance the security of the documents by likely installing Hirsch scramble pads, commonly utilized to control access to Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF). The entire Mar-a-Lago estate was under 24-7 Secret Service protection — access to the estate being monitored and documented. The documents in Trump’s possession were practically secured in Fort Knox compared to the clown-show Hillary Clinton was running with state secrets. Again, Hillary was demonstrably criminally negligent and destroyed subpoenaed documents. Whereas, Trump was in negotiation with the National Archives to comply with legitimate requests for documents.
Interestingly, The raid on Trump’s estate was requested by David Ferriero, former National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Director. Ferriero is the same individual who refused to request DOJ involvement in Hillary Clinton’s criminal negligence, even after receiving a request from Senator Chuck Grassley to do so. Apparently, NARA only cares about classified documents if there is a Republican presidential election to thwart. As a tangental note, former President Barack Obama absconded with approximately 33 million pages of government documents with not so much as a twitch from NARA.
A search warrant involving a political figure of Trump’s stature would involve a voluminous affidavit, would certainly be controlled at every step by FBI HQ, and would certainly include the electronic signature of the FBI Director. FBI investigations live and breathe in documents called Electronic Communications, or ECs. These documents reside within the secure structure of FBI computer systems. The search warrant process routinely involves copious amounts of documentation via EC that flows not only up and down the FBI management chain, but also horizontally to DOJ attorneys and/or to the Attorney General himself. Search warrants do not exist in and of themselves, they are one of an array of investigative tools utilized in an overarching investigation — and don’t be surprised if other investigative methods are utilized against Trump. An investigation of a former president, would be centralized at FBI HQ (the Hoover Building) and strictly compartmentalized. This is how a relatively small group of individuals can operate within the larger FBI structure without the knowledge of most “street agents.”
With investigations of this nature, there is always a massive paper trail, documenting approvals at every level.
It is farcical to assert that the FBI Director, the U.S. Attorney General, and the White House are not hand-in-glove participants throughout the development of an investigation of this import. I have personally been part of investigations, of far less sensitivity, where White House officials observed operational activity. For me, the assertion that Joe Biden didn’t know is laughable.
For me, it is less important to know that the Mar-a-Lago raid was a fishing expedition — that’s obvious from the details of the search warrant and from the refusal of agents to allow Trump attorneys some oversight. And, it explains why FBI agents have been reduced to rummaging through the former First Lady’s lingerie drawer. You can never be too sure where a former president may be stashing his flash drives.
The Mar-a-Lago raid becomes truly grotesque and diabolical in context.
The same political class that covered up Hillary Clinton’s criminal negligence is engaged in a transparent attempt to subvert the franchise. That means the Department of Justice and the FBI have been marshaled by the Democrat party to perpetrate tyranny at the ballot box. There could be no greater threat to our democracy. Was the Mar-a-Lago raid a fishing expedition? Certainly, common sense easily resolves that calculus. Is Trump being set up? Certainly. Is the FBI, particularly in this instance, a political patsy? Without a doubt.
The FBI can and must be salvaged. All it takes is an FBI Director with the fortitude and mandate to do what Hoover or former Director Louis J. Freeh would certainly have done — ferret out and fire those executives bent on embarrassing the Bureau. I know a host of retired agents who would cheer on the judicious operation of a professional guillotine. I know I speak for many, many FBI agents who are tired of being embarrassed by executive management ideologues. It’s not just our FBI, it’s yours as well. There are still G-men and G-women of the Eliot Ness mold who need all of us at the ballot box — we can still turn back the tide of Democrat and deep state tyranny.
Didn’t those guys work on commission?
The militarization of the IRS, is unacceptable.
When Trump comes in, I’d like to see him give those new IRS
agents their walking papers.
It was a terrible horrible idea.
It’s nothing less than an internal military force. You
know they won’t be limited to sidearms. They will have
military style weapons and armor.
Not buying into that nonsense.
As for ICE, that needs to be cut back to the bare bones
also.
They want a 200,000 strong military force that can turn
on us.
I say now is the time to neuter than plan.
They will be implementing the WEF guidelines if we don’t
put our foot down now.
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