Free Republic

There will be a tax preparer certification program after all. That was the word from Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen. If you’re scratching your head after Loving v. Commissioner and wondering how that’s possible, here’s your answer: the program will be voluntary. Following losses at the lower court and the appellate court which held that IRS did not have the authority to regulate preparers, the IRS dropped the matter. For the 2014 tax season, tax preparers were required to have a preparer tax identification number (PTIN) but were not required to engage in testing or continuing education requirements; similarly,...

Textbooks used in Iran's schools are instilling students with hatred toward the West, especially the United States, and urging them to become "martyrs" in a global holy war against countries perceived to be enemies of Islam, a new study says. An Iranian human rights activist, Ghazal Omid, praised the findings, saying they prove hard-liners in Iran are using the books to turn children into "ticking bombs." However, a U.S. academic who specializes in Iran and Islam, and a former Iranian teacher said they believe the textbooks are a reflection of Iran's history and its deep suspicions of the West, not...

Suspected Muslim insurgents have beheaded a man in the restive south of Thailand, an official said Tuesday. The body and severed head of Japakiya, 41, a Muslim who worked on rubber plantations, was found by villagers early Tuesday near a plantation in Yala province, said district chief Surachai Wongsupalak. More than 1,300 people have been killed since January 2004 in an insurgency in the Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia. Southern Muslims complain of discrimination, particularly in jobs and education.