More Lipstick on a Pig--The Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews Bill
Last week there was a lot of fanfare when the House Ways And Means Committee, on a bipartisan and unanimous basis, endorsed the Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews Act (H.R. 5346) introduced by Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI),
Here is what the bill proposes:
- Amend Internal Revenue Code § 6751(b) (which currently deals with supervisory approval of certain IRS penalties) to tighten rules around how penalties are determined and approved.
- Any penalty that is “initially determined” by an IRS employee must be approved in writing by the direct (“immediate”) supervisor of that employee before any written communication proposing or notification of the penalty is sent to a taxpayer.
- “Immediate supervisor” is defined as the person the IRS employee reports to directly.
According to Congressman Grothman, the legislation is needed because sometimes a supervisor who does not directly oversee the employee making the penalty determination can provide approval. This undermines taxpayer protections, making it easier for potentially unjust or overly harsh penalties to be imposed without sufficient review.
This bill ensures that, unlike today, taxpayer penalties cannot be issued, or even threatened, without the immediate supervisor’s approval.
CONCLUSION
Mr. President and Members of Congress, everyone agrees that the IRS must treat all American taxpayers with professionalism and respect at all times. The flagrant abuses the IRS has perpetrated on people in the past must stop and must stop now. That’s a tall order given how badly broken and destructive the income/payroll tax system has become, but it must be done.
The problem is not so much that the IRS is full of rogue agents who delight in punishing taxpayers—although there are certainly some who fit that description. The problem is the Internal Revenue Code itself. It is incredibly complex and it’s constantly changing. The inevitable result is that no one really understands how to resolve the many common income tax issues about which paid tax professionals and IRS agents frequently disagree.
This is why it is almost impossible to get a group of professional tax preparers to agree on the federal income tax liability for a taxpayer who has income and expenses from sources other than just a salary. There is just too much ambiguity in the Internal Revenue Code that can be interpreted in different ways.
If there was no alternative to the irrational and unfair income/payroll tax system, maybe putting lipstick on the problem makes sense and U.S. citizens would just have to tolerate it “for the good of the country.”
However, there is an alternative—the FAIRtax, a national retail sales tax on new retail goods and retail services. The FAIRtax provides a family credit so that all purchases up to the poverty level for each family are not taxed. There is no withholding from your paycheck and YOU NEVER HAVE TO FILE A TAX RETURN TELLING THE GOVERNMENT HOW MUCH YOU EARNED AND HOW MUCH YOU SPENT, AND YOU’LL NEVER BE HARASSED BY THE IRS EVER AGAIN.
Many of you have labored tirelessly for freedom from the federal income tax and the IRS. You deserve a great deal of credit for your efforts to educate the American people on the need to fund the American government in a way that is good for America and returns freedom to the American people.
It is imperative, though, that we don’t replace the current income tax and the IRS with an alternative system that can still be manipulated by the Ruling Elite. We must let Congress and the President know that the best way to replace the income tax and the IRS is with the FAIRtax.
Make no mistake about it. The FAIRtax is a grave threat to the Ruling Elites. It will strip them of their power and their ability to control us though the tax system. Their opposition to the FAIRtax will be fierce and unrelenting. And don’t think for an instant that they won’t use half-truths, deception and downright lies in their desperate attempt to hang on to their power.
However, with the support of this President, we can finally eliminate the income tax and the IRS!!!
Of course, the best course of action is to not only repeal the income tax and abolish the IRS but to repeal the 16th Amendment as well so no future administration can ever shackle the American people with an income tax again.
We must come together and ensure that real tax reform, the FAIRtax, is not subverted by the Elites in D.C.
This will take the diligent efforts of all of us. We need your financial assistance, and we need your grass roots assistance.
If you have contacts that will allow us to get more information to President Trump about the FAIRtax please let us know.
Please email us at info@fairtax.org and we will give you some options on how you can best help us.
At a minimum, please call your Congressional representative and ask if he or she supports the FAIRtax. If so, thank him/her for their support and suggest they become a cosponsor of HR-25 if they’re not one already. If not, ask why not. If your representative claims to be unfamiliar with the FAIRtax, offer to have someone come to their office and explain it to them.
Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax. It’s an investment in your and your family’s future.
THE SOLUTION—PASS THE FAIRTAX!
Why would D.C. pass the FAIRtax and give up this almost unlimited source of donations? The only way that they will is if the rest of us demand it!
Isn’t it time to end this ludicrous tax collection system and the IRS?
HELP BRING ABOUT REAL TAX REFORM AND STOP FUTURE IRS ABUSES
By contributing (investing) $10.40 per month, you help provide a financial base to AFFT. If you can make larger contributions (investments), these will be used not for salaries, as we are all volunteers, but for the needed updates to our economic studies which will be vital for all future years.
Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax. It’s an investment in your and your family’s future.