E-Mail Us! E-Mail Us!
The IRS - A Mess, or Republican Plank for 1998?
Senator Roth - Cheif IRS Inquisitor
Monday, September 29th 1997: It's no coincidence that Republicans began hearings last week that promise to lure an ever-widening audience of disgruntled American taxpayers into a witch hunt designed to set the stage for next year's congressional elections -- and what will be the main plank of the GOP platform in 2000 -- Tax Reform.
Mark Penn - What's the strategy?
I'll bet you that White House strategy guru and presidential pollster Mark Penn is busy measuring American voter attitudes on income tax and the IRS right now. Why? Because the President has to decide whether to try to take the lead from Republicans on IRS battering and whether to support, fight or "amend" Republican-defined tax reform.
Republicans have already done their own research and know that tax reform promises to be a super launching pad for the 1998-2000 season-- a two year period during which the entire house, two thirds of the Senate, and the next president will run for office.
Listening to some Republican strategists last week, the more than 1,000 federal elections taking place over the next 37 months will rely heavily on new issues -- the brightest being the total dismantling of current income tax law.
The hearings on IRS abuse merely set the stage for a wide-ranging debate on the American tax system, with over-zealous IRS agents providing the fuel for what Republicans hope will be a growing fire of voter disgust over the current tax system. Republican National Committee strategists, fueled by data from a plethora of sources including think-tanks, private pollsters and GOP presidential hopefuls, didn't miss the spike in voter approval cultivated by ivy-geek candidate Steve Forbes' flat tax suggestions.
Goofy Steve Forbes - Hope, Growth and no IRS!
Forbes, who constantly dogs the paid-airwaves with his "hope, growth and opportunity" message, won bigger than expected blocs of support pushing the simple "flat tax" which would allow most Americans to file their income tax returns on a box top.
But the White House and most Democrats believe the flat tax is regressive and penalizes those that need our system of graduated tax brackets most. Whether the President and his still heir-apparent Al Gore can drive a wedge in tax reform is the question. For if the White House chooses to defend the current system, it takes the risk of alienating those voters who most-often go to the polls --Families, who may be convinced they'll pay less under a flat tax -- and with no hassle. With voting at an all time low -- less than 50% of eligible voters in 1996 --Democrats would have to rely on tired explanations of bloated and confusing tax law in a "social framework" while at the same time dousing the flames of what promises to be a wave of tax revolt come Spring.
With wide television coverage of testimony heard in the Senate last week - Americans saw victims of IRS abuse and Internal Revenue Service employees tell of alleged abuses described as Gestapo-like tactics overemployed by the nation's tax collectors.
Katherine HIcks - Scared to Death of the IRS
"You don't eat, you don't sleep, you're afraid to talk too much to each other for fear you will take it out on your spouse," a tearful Katherine Hicks of Apple Valley, Calif., told the Senate Finance Committee. "If you do talk, it's about the IRS."
IRS employees, some wearing hoods and using voice-disguising equipment took the chance to lash out at the agency:
Agent Jennifer Long - Brave beyond words
"As of late we seem to be auditing only poor people," said IRS agent Jennifer Long -- soon to be a centerfold in Howard Jarvis' Playtax Magazine. "The current IRS management does not believe anyone in this country can possibly live on less than $20,000 a year, insisting that anyone below that level must be cheating by understating their true income.
"Currently, in a typical case assigned for audit, there are no assets, no signs of wealth, no evidence that would support a suspicion of higher unreported income. So when the IRS does initiate an audit on these people, these individuals were already only one short step away from being on the street," added Long.
"I can personally attest to the use of egregious tactics used by IRS revenue agents which are encouraged by members of the IRS management," Long said. "These tactics, which appear nowhere in the IRS manual, are used to extract unfairly assessed taxes from taxpayers, literally ruining families lives and businesses, all unnecessarily and sometimes illegally."
The IRS denies charges that it targets low and middle-income people because those cases are easier to win and it probably doesn't -- as policy. But agents and middle managers seem to learn early that professional advancement is based on how much they collect, not how fairly they treat taxpayers.
Shelley Davis - IRS "historian?"
IRS historian Shelley Davis, described the IRS as "the best secret-keeping agency in our government today. They are better than the CIA, better than the FBI."
"I discovered that the IRS does keep lists of American citizens for no reason other than that their political activities might have offended someone at the IRS; about how the IRS believes that anyone who offers even legitimate criticism of the tax collector is a tax protester; about how the IRS shreds its paper trail, which means that there is no history, no evidence and, ultimately, no accountability."
Robert Schreibman - Tax Professor - soon to be audited?
Robert Schriebman, a tax professor slammed the IRS for flaunting its almost unlimited power:
"The IRS can take a taxpayer's home by just the signature of the district director alone. There's no court hearing, there is no notice, there is no opportunity to litigate the merits of the IRS' claim. The IRS can close down a business ... and take away a taxpayer's livelihood by merely filing a few papers in federal court. The judge simply signs the seizure order and that's all there is to it. The taxpayer gets absolutely no notice, absolutely no opportunity to contest the legality of the assessment that the IRS claims is owed."
Sounds pretty bad, but you can bet the IRS is well-prepared to defend itself -- most likely by testifying to a decline in receipts -- unprecedented in American history -- and the need for tougher enforcement as a result.
Dick Armey - Cheered by his new strategy
The writing was on the wall as Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey announced that not only will the House pass legislation this year to cut IRS abuse, but will also proceed with an overhaul of the tax law to counter IRS targeting of conservative groups who are deemed enemies of the White House. Not only will Republicans become the champion of besieged taxpayers -- which we all feel we are -- but will also try and link abuses to the White House.
Armey of Texas, during a television interview, told a few sleepy Americans Sunday, that a bill is being authored that would reform the IRS.
"We'll pass that before this year is over. I expect the president will sign it," Armey said.
Armey aligned the President with the IRS saying he "would not be surprised" if it were proven that the administration has used the agency to target anti-Clinton groups and individuals.
"It's very hard to ignore the possibility that there may be a conscious singling out of people that are seen as not friendly to this administration," Armey said.
White House spokesman Barry Toiv denied White House involvement in IRS activities.
No matter what your perspective, it's clear that reining in the IRS is a precursor to a protracted and "designed for television" debate which Republicans hope will catapult them into the hearts and minds of America and turn voters against Clinton and Gore for ostensibly cavorting with the tax man.
Its a good plan and Democrats had better pay close attention. Despite inherent frailties, and silly charges of White House huddles with IRS , attacking the agency and the tax code could be a winner for Republicans over the next few years.
It's money in the bank.
Copyright© - UDR Inc