Guess which city is home to the largest number of tax cheats? Yeah. . . It turns out the Liberal elite city of Washington DC is home to more tax cheats than anywhere else in the USA. You know: The place where all those lobbyists, Congressional staffers, and government Bureaucrats work?
Under President Obama, the number of government employees that have cheated on their taxes has also increased – by nearly 13 percent. In fact, government workers are running delinquent by the tune of nearly $3.4 billion (including retirees) under President Obama. It also turns out that the Office of Government Ethics (I think Thomas Jefferson just screamed from beyond the grave) has one of the highest delinquency rates at 6.5 percent. (Of course, they are supposed to be paying taxes with paychecks provided by your tax dollars. . . So how angry can we be?)
These are just a few of the things that run through my mind each tax day, as I write a check to our Federal Government for the tremendous job they have done all year. But, for some reason, this year my animosity hit a new high as I thought about the authoritarian nature of April 15th. It is hardly an understatement to call the IRS “the world’s most abusive collection agency”. But it’s really their disregard for our American process that gets under my skin. One might even go so far as to say the IRS is “un-American.” After all, a bunch of anti-tax guys were involved in a little dust up in the 1770’s over this type of “tax” issue.
Just recently it was reported that the IRS is trolling Facebook, Google plus, and even your emails, for signs of tax evasion. Without a warrant. (I know, I know. . . “Warrants? We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants!”) Furthermore, the IRS continually operates outside of the normal course of action for a prosecutorial body of the government. Perhaps the method by which government separates hard working Americans from their hard earned money is due for some serious re-examination.
On April 15th, most Americans file their tax returns. (Ahem –DC– Ahem) For many Americans this means cutting a check on top of the taxes already paid to Uncle Sam. And for most of those people there’s a deep breath and a short prayer as they hope the IRS doesn’t decide to audit their return, garnish wages, confiscate property, or levy bank accounts.
The IRS operates with a separate set of standards than the FBI, ATF, State Patrol, City Police, or even the neighborhood watch. Evidently they don’t need warrants to look at your email. They don’t need a trial before they confiscate your wealth. They don’t even bear the burden of proof when asserting you – the citizen – is in the wrong. Hopefully you kept that Goodwill receipt for the TV, walnut dresser and 1987 waterbed you donated last summer; because you will need it if the IRS asserts you illegally deducted them from your tax bill. I think if they want to see the receipts from my deductible purchases and charitable donations, I should be able to see the receipts for 23 percent of my income they spent last year.
Some people who file returns (Ahem –DC– Ahem) are even given a check by the IRS for overpayment. “Overpayment”. . . Are we allowed to charge the IRS interest and penalties for taking more of our money than they were legally allowed to take? Why can’t I demand a 4.5 percent inflationary interest charge, and a $153 “processing” fee from the US Treasury?
Examples of government waste, double standards and increased taxes all come to the front of the mind right after tax season. But perhaps we should think a little about how our taxes are collected. Maybe we could even consider acting as if “We the People” were actually in charge.
Just a thought.
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