The Internal Revenue Service is inept to such a degree that it could rightly be called criminal. The problems go beyond the numerous cited issues, such as only answering 10% of taxpayer calls or a backlog of 21 million unprocessed tax returns. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (Tigta) 2017 report stated that the IRS took to seizing property from its targets before even conducting interviews. Tigta also reports that even when interviews were conducted, the IRS failed to advise the accused of their rights or the interview’s purpose and to consider “realistic defenses or explanations.” Tigta found that “most” of those targeted (owners of gas stations, jewelry stores, scrap-metal dealers, restaurants) had not committed crimes, though many were never able to regain their property. The IRS is engaged in theft on a scale, not of thousands or millions, but billions of dollars. The IRS is rotten to the bone and giving them more funding will only exacerbate the corruption.
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” A conglomerate of heavy government hitters, including Sen. Joe Manchin, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and last but not least, President Joe Biden, have come together to unleash what they call “beast mode” executive power. The bill would increase by 600x the current annual IRS budget over ten years from $12.6 billion to $80 billion. Let’s not mince words. Despite this President’s claims, the IRS will not be targeting the 1%; they will be targeting middle-class Americans and small business owners like they always have. The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’s official tax scorekeeper, says that 78% to 90% of the money raised from under-reported income would likely come from those making less than $200,000 a year. Only 4% to 9% would come from those making more than $500,000. This is because the middle-class is ill-prepared to defend themselves; the IRS knows that wealthy individuals have the funds available to hire accountants and lawyers to put up a fight. But even those who fight do not go unscathed as there is a tremendous cost to defense, so even those who “successfully” defend themselves are out roughly the $200 to $400 per hour they pay their tax attorney. Like a bully picking on the smallest kid on the playground, the IRS comes after the electrician, firefighter, supermarket worker, and small business owner. Like the Government, the IRS is not your friend and will undoubtedly fail to solve this country’s money problems.