Expose Obama’s abuse, then de-fang the IRS

Just an IRS demand for documents can virtually cripple an organization that can find itself needing to bring all hands on deck to comply with the demand.

The White House will claim, of course, that it had nothing to do with this and was completely unaware of it. Congress should certainly not accept that claim on its face. House Republicans should stop at nothing to bring the truth about this matter to light, because most Americans don’t realize the power the IRS has to harass ordinary citizens.

Do we have evidence that the Obama political team drove this in any way? No, we do not. But given their history, I would leave no stone unturned looking for possible evidence that they did. If none is found, fine, they are exonerated. They may deserve the presumption of innocence in a legal sense, but if I were running the investigation, I would operate under the assumption that there is something to be found – and I would be determined to find it.

By the way, in addition to being outrageous and scandalous, this incident is a very good object lesson in why we need to replace and simplify our tax code. The conservative groups experiencing IRS harassment ended up on that position because they applied for status as tax-exempt nonprofits.

The more we simplify the tax code – lowering rates and eliminating exemptions – the less power the IRS will have to force people and organizations through such rigmarole. When you need special treatment from the government, you are at the mercy of the government. A tax code that didn’t require you to seek such treatment would leave us all more freedom. The FairTax would eliminate the IRS entirely.

While the IRS was playing partisan politics, no one was taking care of IRS responibilities, as evidenced by the following:

While law-abiding citizens get slammed with higher taxes, incarcerated criminals who prepare fraudulent returns are getting tens of millions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the agency is doing little to stop the hemorrhaging.

It gets better; the number of fraudulent tax returns filed by prisoners—and the money doled out by the government—goes up every year because the IRS can’t seem to find an effective way to crack down on the scheme! From 2004 to 2010 the number of inmates that swindled the government increased from 18,000 to over 91,000 and the refunds claimed skyrocketed from $68 million to $757 million. The IRS pats itself on the back for blocking $722 million in tax refunds to inmates during 2010, but it still handed out more than $35 million.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/01/irs-gives-prisoners-millions-in-tax-returns/

I wish he would support the FLAT TAX instead of the “fair” tax.

It is anything but.

The Flat tax is the simplest and most transparent - WITH NO ‘PRE-BATES’ - everyone has skin in the game.

The fair tax is anything but. It is hidden, confusing, and comes with a convenient liberal gimmick to buy votes- the ‘pre-bate”. The democrats will be ALL wetting themselves over who can offer the biggest pre-bate next election if you just vote for them.

None of the low-income voters will care about the tax rate, only how big their ‘pre-bate’ check is. And it wont be spent all year, it will be spent in a month and then they will have to live on their meeger income for the next 11... so they need a bigger prebate next time.

And if anyone here wants to argue with me about the “tax-inclusive” rate being better than the normal sales tax you pay at the store, please do it in person so I can beat some sense into you.

many persons are incorrect to believe that the IRS has authority to force disclosure of private books and records. Even though the IRS may have authority to issue a summons in certain circumstances, it has absolutely no authority to compel disclosure of private books and records. This means that you must bring your books and records to an audit, if lawfully summoned to do so, but you are under no obligation to open those books and records, or to submit them to the Internal Revenue Service. As amazing as this may seem, this restraint is documented in the official IRS Tax Audit Guidelines (IR Manual MT 9900-26, 1-29-75), as follows:

242.12 Books and Records of An Individual

(1) An individual taxpayer may refuse to exhibit his books and records for examination on the ground that compelling him to do so might violate his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and constitute an illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. However, in the absence of such claims, it is not error for a court to charge the jury that it may consider the refusal to produce books and records, in determining willfulness.

(2) The privilege against self-incrimination does not permit a taxpayer to refuse to obey a summons issued under IRC 7602 or a court order directing his appearance. He is required to appear and cannot use the Fifth Amendment as an excuse for failure to do so, although he may exercise it in connection with specific questions. He cannot refuse to bring his records, but may decline to submit them for inspection on Constitutional grounds. In the Vader case [U.S. v. Vader, 119 F.Supp. 330], the Government moved to hold a taxpayer in contempt of court for refusal to obey a court order to produce his books and records. He refused to submit them for inspection by the Government, basing his refusal on the Fifth Amendment. The court denied the motion to hold him in contempt, holding that disclosure of his assets would provide a starting point for a tax evasion case.

[emphasis added]

Note, in particular, where this IR Manual uses the phrase “in the absence of such claims”. In general if you do not assert your rights, explicitly and in a timely fashion, then you can be presumed to have waived them. There’s the “law of presumption” again. You can, therefore, assert your rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, by refusing to submit your books and records for inspection, even though you cannot refuse to bring those books and records to an audit. This may seem like splitting hairs. However, if the federal government could compel your submission of books and records to IRS agents, then the federal government could compel persons to be witnesses against themselves.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.