Supreme Court exposes more IRS abusive powers
diegograndi
SUPREME COURT EXPOSES MORE IRS ABUSIVE POWERSIf you’re going to have a federal income tax, there are three things that inevitably come along with it.
First, there are going to be people who try to cheat the system in order to pay less than they actually owe. Consequently, an income tax requires a large, powerful federal agency with broad investigative and enforcement powers in order to identify the cheaters and compel them to comply with the law.
Second, those powers must be precisely defined and delegated to the enforcement agency by Congress.
And third, there will inevitably be cases where the courts are going to have to decide if the agency is properly exercising those powers, or if certain enforcement practices are outside the law.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Polselli v. Internal Revenue Service confirmed that the IRS has a broad power to obtain information from third parties to aid in the collection of a tax debt without giving notice to the third parties even if there is no evidence that the third party accounts have any legal connection to the party who owes the IRS.
This article on the natlawreview.com site explains the effects of this ruling:
- The Court was tasked with determining whether the IRS, pursuant to powers granted in Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 7609(c)(2)(D)(i), is entitled to issue third-party summonses, without notice, for bank records concerning accounts in which the taxpayer being investigated does not have a legal interest.
- In Polselli, the IRS entered an official assessment against Remo Polselli for more than $2 million in unpaid taxes and penalties. The IRS then issued summonses on three banks, seeking the financial records of several third parties including Polselli’s wife and two law firms that represented Polselli. These third parties were given notice by the banks who received the summonses, and one of the third parties moved to quash the summons. In the litigation that ensued, the third parties argued that the no-notice exception in section 7609(c)(2)(D)(i) applied only if the taxpayer being targeted had some legal interest in the accounts or the records sought by the summons.
- The Supreme Court’s decision is based on its finding that section 7609(c)(2)(D)(i) sets forth only three specific conditions to exempt the IRS from providing notice. The Court found it notable that the statute does not mention a “legal interest” or require that a taxpayer maintain an interest in an account for the exception to apply.
CONCLUSION
Since the IRS would not have this power if Congress did not grant it to them, it brings to mind this statement by Mahatma Gandhi, “If there is an idiot in power; it is because those who elected him are well represented.”
Yes, we the people elected Congress and the responsibility is ours.
What does this mean for ordinary people like us?
if someone you know well or work with owes money to the IRS, the IRS can issue a summons on your bank to provide information about your accounts with no assertion that you have any legal relationship with the person the IRS is attacking. Worse, they can do this without you ever knowing that your records were turned over to the IRS.
Of course, everyone knows that the IRS would never abuse this power. Right!
Even though the Court ruled in favor of doing searches of third-party accounts having no connection to the taxpayer, the Court left an opening for an appeal. It did not determine what the key words, “in aid of the collection” mean, and this issue is going to be a basis for other appeals.
Was looking at the bank account of someone who has no connection to the party owing money really “in aid of collection?”
Like debating how many angels can dance on a pin head—it’s a huge waste of time.
Why do we waste money and time arguing over things like the definition of “aid”? The only people who win, and they really win, are the lawyers representing the parties who will sue the IRS and bureaucrats in D.C.
In fact, why do we waste time and money on completing the IRS forms and tax returns each year?
Congress and D.C. know that there is a better alternative—the FAIRtax.
Instead of spending time and money doing endless hours of paperwork that don’t create anything of value to yourself, your family or the nation, why not eliminate the unnecessary waste?
Many in D.C. oppose the FAIRtax because it would transfer power from the government to the people, while at the same time, giving the people a better chance of succeeding on their own.
Isn’t it time to end this ludicrous tax collection system and the IRS?
When the FAIRtax is enacted, there will be no need to fear being audited by the IRS because there will be no more IRS.
Under the FAIRtax, there will be no more tax returns. We will pay our taxes when we make retail purchases of new goods and services.
There is going to be a vote on the FAIRtax in the House of Representatives. McCarthy and the other elites didn’t want it, but it was forced on them.
We now have the opportunity to force all Members of the House to show where they stand. They can:
- Vote for the present income/payroll tax system or for the FAIRtax.
- Support the corrupt income tax and the IRS or eliminate it. It can’t be any simpler than that.
- Hide the true cost of their government or pass the FAIRtax and show everyone the true cost of government on each retail receipt.
- Support the largest transfer of power from government to the people, the FAIRtax, or not.
Please stand with us and demand that your representative support a much fairer, much simpler and much more efficient way to fund the government—the FAIRtax!
The FAIRtax doesn’t pick winners and losers. Because it taxes spending, not earnings, the FAIRtax lets everyone save for their retirement tax free.
The FAIRtax collects the revenue that the federal government needs to operate but does it in a way that has the least impact on our individual freedom and the least impact on our economic prosperity.
There are no tax returns to file and no records to keep. We pay our federal taxes when we make retail purchases of new goods and services, and there is no need for the IRS. If you sell a used couch or used jet ski online, there is no FAIRtax due on that transaction.
The FAIRtax will allow us to TAKE BACK CONTROL.
The income/payroll tax system is broken and no longer working—we can’t repair it but we can replace it with the FAIRTAX!
Join us and TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES—NOT WITH BULLETS BUT WITH THE ELIMINATION OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO OUR LIBERTY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY—THE INCOME/PAYROLL TAX.
We all should remember Edmund Burke’s warning that applies to our efforts to TAKE BACK CONTROL,
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
We should also remember this quote from George Orwell's 1984, which, if we do nothing, may foretell your and your children's future:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO?
We can write letters and make calls to our elected representatives and attend Zoom town hall meetings demanding that if they really want to allow Americans to “TAKE BACK CONTROL”, the first step is to eliminate the income/payroll tax system and enact the FAIRTAX!
TAKE BACK CONTROL! Help us PASS THE FAIRTAX!
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