We Will Not Yield to the Force of Opposition

My father was a federal civilian employee who voraciously adhered to his responsibilities under the federal Hatch Act. At that time, the Hatch Act prohibited federal employees from any partisan political activity, and violation penalties were severe including possible termination of employment.

In 1981, I became a federal employee and like my father before me, there was just something sacred about respecting and abiding by the Hatch Act. If for nothing else, it was the law.

The Hatch Act has stood for 75 years, and although major modifications were made in 2013, the prohibitions against partisan political activity during the workday and on federal property still stand.

And while most federal employees respect and abide by the tenants of the Act, IRS employees have chosen to ignore federal law.

On April 9, 2014, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel issued a press release outlining what can only described as outrageous violations of the Hatch Act by IRS employees and entire offices during the 2012 presidential election. The Counsel found:

    An IRS customer service representative, while fielding questions on the IRS customer service help line, urged taxpayers to reelect a presidential candidate in 2012 by repeatedly reciting a chant based on the spelling of that candidates last name.

    An IRS tax advisory specialist in Kentucky told a taxpayer she was assisting, that she was against a specific political party because “they are trying to cap my pension…and they’re going to take women back 40 years.” She then added, “My mom always said, “If you vote [she named the party], the rich are going to get richer and the poor are going to get poorer.”

    Employees in the Dallas, TX IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center wore partisan political stickers, buttons and clothing to work, and displayed partisan screensavers on their IRS computers.

Are we supposed to believe that the IRS, the same federal agency that targeted conservative non-profits, will conduct non-biased, non-retaliatory tax examinations and audits of American taxpayers?

Especially when our nation’s Attorney General refuses to appoint a special prosecutor to examine the allegations and evidence against former IRS senior manager Lois Lerner, our President preemptively declared that there is not even a “smidgen of corruption” at the IRS, and the minority leader of the Congressional Oversight Committee investigating Ms. Lerner apparently corroborated with Lerner and her team!

Of course, Congress, can solve this problem with the immediate enactment of HR 25/S 122, the FairTax Act of 2013. This is why another announcement this week was so perplexing.

Senator John Cornyn (TX) rightly announced that, “Americans should never face persecution from their government for exercising their constitutional rights.” We couldn’t agree more Senator. But the Senator went on to say he introduced new legislation to “help ensure that no one is targeted by the IRS for their political or religious beliefs and will work to repair the serious breach of faith caused by the IRS’ actions.”

Congress has had 100 years to “repair” the IRS and the income tax code and they have failed on all counts. It is not repairable – it can’t be fixed! As a co-sponsor of S. 122, we would hope the good Senator knows the FairTax defunds and disbands the IRS in its’ entirety.

With the FairTax®, the IRS is gone. No more persecution, no more targeting, no more invasion of privacy and peering into every aspect of one’s personal, financial life.

Next week is yet another Tax Day. To many, this marks another year in which the FairTax was not enacted.

In times like these, I am reminded of Sir Winston Churchill who said to his alma mater, the Harrow School,

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated. Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.”

Ladies and gentlemen, our cause is great and our convictions clear. We will not yield to the force of opposition and we are not alone in our desire to have a system of taxation that is fair and free of threats.

We are a force and we will never give in, never give up and never go away. We are the FairTax and someday, we will see April 15 become just another spring day.

Until next week,

Cindy Canevaro
Executive Director