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The Corrupt, Dishonest, Venal, Despicable IRS
Townhall.com ^ | June 15, 2014 | Daniel J. Mitchell

Posted on 06/15/2014 8:24:18 PM PDT by Kaslin

Some statements are so lame that they now serve only as punch lines.

Nobody, after all, would ever claim to a teacher that “the dog ate my homework.”

Moreover, surely few if any people ever actually assert to bill collectors that “the check is in the mail.”

And I have to imagine that no guy would be dumb enough to think a girl would fall for the line that “I’ll still love you in the morning.”

But we now have a new champion in the contest for the most laughable and pathetic assertion ever made.

But first some background. Congressional investigators have been trying to figure out the level of criminality and malfeasance in the IRS’s campaign to interfere with the 2012 election by targeting Tea Party groups. Much of the attention has focused on the activities of Lois Lerner, a left-wing ideologue at the center of the scandal.

And it is because of this investigation that we have a winner in the most-preposterous excuse contest. The political hacks at the IRS are now claiming, with straight faces, that they can’t turn over thousands of emails sent and received by Lois Lerner because of a “computer mishap.”

Here’s some of what’s been reported by the Washington Times.

The IRS has told Congress that it has lost some of former employee Lois G. Lerner’s emails from 2009 through 2011, including those she sent to other federal agencies… Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he was stunned… “The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to congressional inquiries,” Mr. Camp said. “There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the Inspector General.” …the emails lost were “critical years” from the beginning of the targeting of conservative groups.

At this point, I suppose I should acknowledge that there’s an infinitesimally tiny chance that the IRS is being honest. Maybe, just maybe, the IRS’s immense computer infrastructure and multiple levels of redundant back up happened to fail. And, by an amazing coincidence, they can recover everything except the emails from Lois Lerner that were sent at precisely the time she was instrumental in the IRS’s harassment campaign.

Yeah, right, there’s a chance the IRS is being honest. Just like the Nixon White House could have accidentally erased 18-1/2 minutes of tape.

That being said, there’s a chance I’ll be playing center field next month for the New York Yankees. And an even bigger chance that the models from Victoria’s Secret will invite me for a weekend orgy (and just in case the Princess of the Levant is reading this, I naturally would say no).

Let me now detour into the world of public policy.

The IRS’s venal and corrupt behavior is only possible because the tax code is a Byzantine nightmare of about 75,000 pages. And that doesn’t even include all the tax court decisions and IRS letter rulings that also govern the internal revenue code.

It is this thicket of special-interest sleaze that enables hacks like Lois Lerner to wield unjustified power.

So if we want to actually reduce the chances of similar malfeasance in the future, then action is needed.

But I’m not just talking about prison for the crooks who tried to misuse the power of government.

We also need to rip up the internal revenue code and replace it with a simple and fair flat tax.

As you can see in this video, I’m mostly a fan of tax reform because it will help the American economy. But I’m also delighted the flat tax will reduce the discretionary power of politicians and bureaucrats.

In the long run, of course, it would be even better if we shrank the federal government so much that we didn’t need any broad-based tax of any kind.

The Flat Tax: How it Works and Why it is Good for America


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS:
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To: Kaslin
One more reason we need to repeal the 16th Amendment and replace the income tax with this:


21 posted on 06/15/2014 9:48:17 PM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: Kaslin
The IRS’s venal and corrupt behavior is only possible because the tax code is a Byzantine nightmare of about 75,000 pages. .... It is this thicket of special-interest sleaze that enables hacks like Lois Lerner to wield unjustified power.

Well Daniel is right about the root cause of the corruption. It is the Income Tax Code, in short the Income Tax of 1913. I know what drove the effort to amend the Constitution for an unapportioned income tax but the consequences are now clear and have been clear for decades.

We also need to rip up the internal revenue code and replace it with a simple and fair flat tax.

Well Daniel, just when you hone in on the root cause and the bigger picture, you stumble into circular logic.

Daniel, take a look at that insane chart you posted of Total Pages of Federal Tax Rules spanning 1913 to 2014. What is the cause of that Daniel? Yes indeed, it's the effect of the Income Tax. The Income Tax is the cause, and the effect is insanity.

And what is the Flat Tax Daniel? It's an Income Tax. Let that sink in for a minute. The Flat Tax is an Income Tax.

Have we as Americans ever had a Flat Income Tax before? Yes, several times. And what happens each time? It grows and grows like a cancer, it metastasizes until it chokes the American spirit. And when the American spirit suffers what does Congress do? Why they reform the tax code like giving a cancer patient radiation therapy until the cancer comes back with a vengeance.

So Daniel what you are advocating is to continue the insanity by making it look simple until of course it comes back with a vengeance, and it will.

A Flat Tax never stays flat.

Here's the real solution which should have been done in 1913 or earlier but the technology wasn't there for it:

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FAQs

22 posted on 06/15/2014 10:00:59 PM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: RockyTx

another example...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)_organization

Wiki seems to think that 501c3 corps should not be involved in politics, by law.

before I read that, everytime i heard ‘501c3’ it sounded
political...

what is the deal?


23 posted on 06/15/2014 10:10:15 PM PDT by RockyTx
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To: RockyTx

The law is that no single candidate can be associated with the tax exempt organization. They are able to express issues that are important such as ‘Balancing the Budget’, ‘Limited Government’, ‘Constitutional Conformance’, ‘Pro-life Alternatives to Abortion’, ‘Voter Drives’, ‘Tax Reform’, ‘Border Security’ and so on. All of these are 1st Amendment issues that are political but do not endorse a political candidate.

Wiki is not a reference to be relied on for political facts. It is often populated by trolls.


24 posted on 06/16/2014 12:33:43 AM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: RockyTx

Also you are looking at the wrong part of the code. It’s not 501(c)3 organizations that are at issue but 501(c)4’s:

Commonly known as 501(c)4’s in the political world, they’re tax-exempt nonprofits that engage in issue advocacy and don’t typically disclose their donors. Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded conservative organization that’s a favorite for Democrats to demonize, has a 501(c)4 arm, for instance. The Karl-Rove-co-founded American Crossroads also includes a 501(c)4 operation.

The democrats also have their 501(c)4 political tax exempt groups. But they were trying to shut down Tea Party 501(c)4 groups and in fact intimidated many of them. Nothing of the kind was done to liberal or moderate groups, only conservative and Tea Party affiliated groups were harassed.


25 posted on 06/16/2014 12:43:23 AM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: RockyTx
people that have IRS problems, tend to be tax cheats. (or not, please enlighten me)

Kindly share your talking points with the DUmp. Your views are not welcome here.

26 posted on 06/16/2014 12:49:50 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: RockyTx
people that have IRS problems,
tend to be tax cheats.
(or not, please enlighten me)

Under the Obama administration, political opponents are targeted for IRS audits and IRS harassment.

examples
1) tend to try to deduct their house-expenses as a business expense.

There is nothing illegal about this deduction if the expenses such as internet bills, power bills, office space are all applied to a home based business. Of course there are abuses but the vast majority of Americans are law abiding. But what's this got to do with Lois Lerner and her contemptible and criminal conduct?

2) fail to deposit SS tax with the gov;t, even
though they took it out of their employee’s wage

Again what's this got to do with Lois Lerner and her contemptible and criminal conduct?

Are you trying to defend the criminal Lois Lerner because a few Americans don't do their taxes correctly?

27 posted on 06/16/2014 12:55:58 AM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: All

28 posted on 06/16/2014 4:51:43 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (‘You can avoid reality, but you can’t avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.’)
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To: sarasmom

Then you don’t understand that Lerner, as complicit as she is, is just a stooge, doing the bidding of her masters at the highest levels of government.

Skimming Lerner off to prison would be justice, but she would just be the scapegoat, leaving the ones ultimately guilty to skate free. Is that what you prefer?


29 posted on 06/16/2014 6:21:18 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: Kaslin

Time to clean sheet this agency.....the corruption is beyond obvious.


30 posted on 06/16/2014 6:30:22 AM PDT by Rockitz (This is NOT rocket science - Follow the money and you'll find the truth.)
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To: kiryandil
The IRS's computer software is junk. I know this for a fact.

They failed to upgrade thousands of their XP running computers, so they have a special deal with MS to support them for the next year, possibly beyond, for over $30 million dollars per year. Didn't they all get bonus's too?

31 posted on 06/16/2014 6:37:32 AM PDT by thirst4truth (Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point.)
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To: Hostage

thanks for posting that!


32 posted on 06/16/2014 6:45:00 AM PDT by RockyTx
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To: Kaslin
Nobody, after all, would ever claim to a teacher that “the dog ate my homework.”

Dogs don't eat homework; goats do.

33 posted on 06/16/2014 11:17:27 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: fwdude
You proffer a straw man argument.
Lerner herself, her underlings and by your definition, her “overlords” ALL need to be prosecuted for their crimes against the USA.

She is not a “whistle blower” deserving of protection.

There is evidence, already on record that many elected officials also were involved in this crime.

Perhaps you think government officials, elected or hired, are somehow all exempt from RICO laws.
I don't.
And I want every single one of the lawless bastards involved charged with crimes against the USA.

I'm not interested in partisan politics when it involves illegal government corruption.
I want EVERYONE INVOLVED to pay for ALL of their crimes against the citizens of the USA.

The opportunity to proclaim innocence in the criminal RICO IRS conspiracy has past.

Every damn person in this chain of corruption needs to be prosecuted.
From the lowliest GS7 clerk to POTUS, including the elected House and Senate members who participated.

No plea bargains are on the table.

Have I made myself clear to you yet? I completely understand this entire situation.So do hundreds of millions of my fellow USA citizens. You can crawl right back into whatever civil service crevice you crawled out of to attempt to "correct" my thinking! This is not a game.

34 posted on 06/16/2014 6:18:07 PM PDT by sarasmom (Extortion 17. A large number of Navy SEALs died on that mission. Ask why.)
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