PEW SURVEY CONFIRMS THAT IRS IS LEAST LIKED FEDERAL AGENCY
A recent Pew Research poll confirmed what almost everyone in America knows—the IRS is the least popular of the federal agencies. Many Americans seeing the poll are surprised at the 36% favorable rating for the IRS. Many believe it should be much lower.
One of the reasons for its low approval rating is that the IRS is the only federal agency that directly impacts the lives of almost every working and retired American on a frequent basis, and that impact is almost always negative.
The IRS is the only federal agency that demands a written report of our earnings and requires us to justify our expenses and charitable donations.
In contrast, the National Park Service has the highest favorability rating. Yes, they do a good job of keeping our national parks accessible to all of us and we appreciate this when we travel to a national park. People see the park service as a government agency that actually provides a valuable service. Of course, the National Park Service doesn’t make us complete onerous and confusing forms justifying why we are going to the national park before we can enter the park.
While many of us complain about the U.S. Post Office and the price of stamps, we are willing to tolerate the sometime inefficiency of the mail delivery and appreciate that the Post Office delivers mail to our door at a much less expensive price than their competitors UPS and FedEx.
You can continue down the list and even Social Security, which also takes money out of our paychecks, is viewed favorably by 58% of us. Yes, they are taking money from our paychecks before we get them, but again, we are not required to complete confusing forms and we anticipate receiving something back when we retire.
The IRS takes money from our paychecks before we get them. We all know that the federal government needs money to operate, but why must the system that collects that money require us to share all the intimate details of our personal finances with the government? The IRS demands to know not only how much money we made and how we made it, but how we spend a large portion of it as well.
On top of that, the rules that govern it all, the Internal Revenue Code, are so incredibly complex that no one completely understands them. This includes the people who wrote them, the people whose job it is to enforce them, and the taxpayers who are forced to comply with them under threat of going to jail.
There is also a growing awareness that all of us pay much more in federal taxes than the amount shown on our 1040 tax return.
People innately understand that when they buy a product, the price they pay for that product has to cover all the costs involved in getting that product to market. Those costs include the federal taxes that every entity involved in the production and distribution of that product had to pay.
It is estimated that the price of every product and service we purchase is inflated by 20% or more as all the federal tax costs that were paid all along the supply chain are passed on to us, the consumers. The worst part is that no one can really calculate the precise increase caused by these federal taxes.
Also, in typical Washington fashion, it seems that every year Congress makes it worse by having the already inefficient IRS administer another program. An example of this is the earned income tax credit.
Instead of simply saying that if you make less than $X and have Y number of children, you are eligible for an income tax credit of an amount when you file the return, they had the IRS write the rules.
The IRS rules are so complicated that a study done by the Niskanen Center found that 33% of the earned income tax credit payments issued by the IRS are improper—in large part not because of fraud, but because the rules are so complex that people just don’t understand them.
According to the Bipartison Policy Center, audit rates for people filing for the earned income tax credit are about 5.5 times higher than for other taxpayers.
As more people come to understand the sheer insanity of the income/payroll tax system and the way it oppresses lower income earners and higher earners, it is not hard to understand the Pew Poll results.
CONCLUSION
There is a growing awareness that just because a government agency has been in place a long time, doesn’t mean that it is immune from having to justify its existence.
If there was no alternative to the irrational and unfair income/payroll tax system, 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 REPORT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF HOW MUCH YOU EARNED AND HOW MUCH YOU SPENT.
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
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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.