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A word from GeoCities:

"Congress went beyond merely implementing an income tax law, and repealed Article IV of the Bill of Rights, by empowering the tax collector to do the very things from which that Article says we were to be secure.  It opened up our homes, our papers, and our effects to the prying eyes of government agents and set the stage for searches of our books and vaults and for inquiries into our private affairs whenever the tax men might decide, even though there might not be any justification beyond mere cynical suspicion." -- T. Coleman Andrews, former IRS Commissioner

"To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow it upon favored individuals to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes is none the less a robbery because it is done under the forms of law and is called taxation." -- United States Supreme Court, Savings and Loan v. Topeka

• people being severely harassed;
• people having false or erroneous taxes, fines, liens, etc. imposed;
• audits being used as retribution or punishment;
• help lines giving incorrect answers to questions (when a human can be reached at all);
• audits increasingly targeting those segments of society (small businesses, middle & lower-income people) least able to defend themselves;
• a two-faced IRS that says you owe more taxes, then no, you definitely don't, then slaps you with fines for not paying said taxes;
• people having their homes, businesses, cars, and other property "seized with little warning and no chance ... to respond."¹

   I would like to state for the record that I believe many of the IRS' 102,000 employees are decent, hardworking average Joes who make a deliberate effort to treat others with courtesy and professionalism.  My gripe is with those within it who, for whatever reason, unthinkingly or deliberately act in ways that bring harm to others.  And it is with the agency, the institution, as a whole.

   Several reasons have been cited for this callous and malicious behavior, including a pervasive "Us vs. Them" mentality.  (Gee, wherever could that have come from?)  Promotions are also said (by current & former agents) to be largely based on how much revenue can be brought in, no matter what methods are used to bring it in.  The hierarchy is full of "Master Sergeants," agents & managers who follow the orders of their superiors without regard to the consequences on those outside the IRS.

   These are symptoms of a terrible disease suffered by government agencies, a delusion that they are our masters, when in fact they are our servants.  This is further compounded by the complicity of the citizenry, who also believe the IRS (and the government in general) to be our masters.  The IRS, not an elected body and with no real checks & balances to keep it in line, projects itself on us as having authority over all we own.  Most people rightly feel powerless against such an entity.  Even Congressmen are not immune to the IRS terror they created and perpetuate.

   The IRS has lost its way.  They are not "of, by and for the people."  They are against the people.  Make no mistake:  The purpose of government is the well-being of its citizens.  A correlation of this is that government must also see to the economic well-being of the nation.  The IRS does neither of these.  Its purpose is to extract money.  But how can shutting down businesses, forcing people into bankruptcy, destroying lives, and taking such a huge percentage of our earnings, all for the sake of enriching the government (i.e. others), possibly be in our best interest?

   In 1996 the IRS processed 209 million returns, and collected over $1.5 trillion.¹  That's $1,500,000,000,000 in a single year!  Think about it:  if the average person makes around $1 million in their lifetime ($25,000/year times 40 working years), then in 1996 alone the IRS collected the equivalent of 1,500,000 lifetimes' earnings.  Put another way, that's nearly $6,000 from every man, woman & child in the U.S.  (Even those who pay no income tax pay taxes indirectly, through higher prices in everything we buy to cover taxes the seller [and his suppliers, and their suppliers...] must pay.)

   What can we, the little people, do?  The Libertarian Party, and some Republicans, have proposed dismantling the IRS.  While I certainly wish them luck, I don't think this is likely to happen for a few decades at least.  What about passing legislation making the IRS friendlier?  As most libertarians and many others know, you can't legislate good behavior.  Besides which, the IRS already has sets of rules governing conduct, impropriety, and taxpayer recourses--all largely useless for those who find themselves crunched by the IRS.

   The recent Senate hearings were a beginning.  Maybe something will actually come of them.  Michael Dolan, acting IRS commissioner, has said he will end the practice of ranking the districts by how much money they can bring in.  Nice, but probably a placebo cure.  Perhaps Congress and/or the IRS can come up with some new rules (something they're proficient at) to curb abuses.  That would, however, be a short-term solution.  One suggestion that has come up is to create an independent oversight committee with taxpayer representation.  This is one of the better ideas, but the trick will be in ensuring that it actually does remain independent of influence in years to come.

   Perhaps the best solution, one that will work long-term and still reap immediate benefits, would be a major revamp of the tax code.  A flat tax, together with Ronald Reagan's proverbial tax-return-on-a-postcard, would do wonders to greatly simplify the tax code, greatly reducing audit-triggering errors and all but eliminating the tax loopholes used by many (some unsuccessfully --> more audits) to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.  Let's face it, even those among us blessed with good mathematical skills still find ourselves burdened by even a 1040-EZ.  All the paperwork, looking up figures, wondering if such-and-such income should be included in box 43(e)ii., guessing at the meaning of vague wording, loss of time & money, and stress have become a yearly ritual.  Just ask the Amoco corp. how many hundreds of pages long their tax filings are each year.  No Mere Mortal is remotely capable of comprehending (never mind just reading) our Byzantine tax code in its entirety.

   Once we finally have a flat and greatly simplified tax code, the IRS will become less of a threat and more of a mere irritant.  More importantly, we will have taken a great step forward toward true tax equality (see my short article on the flat tax).  Perhaps then we can more ardently focus our efforts on reducing the government's overall burden, greatly reducing or eliminating unneccesary moneyhole agencies (including the IRS).  And we can start to breathe with the ease of one who has had a great weight lifted from their shoulders.

¹ Chicago Tribune, 9/25/97, "Traumatized by the IRS," sec. 1, page 1.
Copyright 1997 by Andrew Trapp

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