Anything that makes things “easier” and “more efficient” for those collecting taxes is probably not a good thing for those paying the taxes.
Not surprisingly, Elizabeth Warren — and Bernie Sanders — are all for it.
They have put forward legislation — the Tax Filing Simplification Act — that would require the IRS to “help” taxpayers not just file but figure their taxes.
It’s being touted as a convenience and money-saver for all. Instead of paying an accountant or buying tax software like TurboTax, the IRS would do your prep work “free.”
The model — which Warren and Sanders almost certainly know about — is Sweden, a socialist country in which taxpayers are simply sent a form for them to sign that tells them what the government thinks they owe.
And then they pay.
No more loopholes for the taxpayer. Instead, the noose.
Sanders, of course is an out-of-the-closet socialist from Vermont and Warren is an extremely left-wing Democrat from Massachusetts — one of the highest tax states in the country and the first state to force its citizens to purchase a health insurance policy.
The homunculus that grew up into Obamacare was born in Warren’s state — and now comes another Great Leap Forward.
First, don’t bank on this “service” remaining “free” for very long.
The government charges for everything, most especially things you can’t say No to. Think about, for example, the “processing fees” you get charged whenever you get a traffic ticket or apply for a permit or license.
Many state governments already charge a fee to file taxes, if not paid in the manner they demand (e.g., online rather than by check).
If the IRS takes over tax preparation as well as tax collection and enforcement, where will the staff to do the extra work come from?
Will they work for free?
It’s moonshine to think the government will handle all our tax prep work and not make us pay. Whether on the front end — or some other way.
The Warren-Sanders legislation, if it becomes law, will result in IRS demands for more staff — and a larger budget.
More taxes — to collect more taxes.
A win … for the IRS. And for socialists like Sanders and socialists-in-all-but-name, such as Warren. In their view, it’s all the government’s money anyhow; the government, therefore, ought to be the one deciding how much we’re allowed to keep (if any).
Keep in mind: Right now, you don’t have to pay an accountant or buy tax software; you can save 100 percent of that money by doing your taxes yourself, as many people still do.
Under the Warren-Sanders plan (liberal Democrats always have plans for us, don’t they?) the option to say No Thanks to the IRS’ “help” will almost certainly go the same way the ex-right to say No Thanks to buying health insurance went.
Away.
But won’t it be convenient to let the IRS do all the work? Sure, just as it would be convenient to let the waiter figure your tip the next time you go out for dinner.
The conflict of interest ought to be obvious. Like the waiter figuring his tip, the IRS is interested in getting the absolute maximum out of every taxpayer. Exactly the opposite motivation of a tax accountant hired by you — or the people who write TurboTax and similar software.
They work for you.
You pay an accountant to ferret out every legal way to reduce the amount of tax you pay. Same goes for the software; it is designed to benefit you — not the IRS.
The IRS, on the other hand, is not looking for ways to reduce the amount you owe. It will use every means available to maximize the amount you owe. Instead of looking for deductions and exemptions, the IRS will be doing its best to eliminate or reduce them.
Warren and Sanders expect us to believe otherwise. Might as well believe in the Tooth Fairy.
Putting the IRS in the business of tax preparation would also end the concept of voluntary compliance, a linchpin of the concept of government by consent. Americans choose to file their taxes. They have a say in what their taxes will be. In Sweden and other socialist countries, the people funding socialism have no say at all. The government simply decides how much it will take — end of story.
That’s what Warren and Sanders have in mind for us.
Certain things should not be streamlined and made more efficient — most particularly tax collection. Just as it ought not to be easy to convict people of crimes.
The Warren-Sanders legislation is a proposal to make what is rightly the most feared agency of the federal government much more powerful — and far less accountable.
Warren-Sanders think we — the taxpayers — ought to just trust the IRS to be “fair” because (in the Warren-Sanders universe) whatever the government does to taxpayers is always fair.
Except when it isn’t — as when the IRS was caught deliberately targeting certain taxpayers whose politics it doesn’t like.
The IRS, like any other government agency, is run by people — and people sometimes harbor grudges and misuse power. Warren and Sanders’ proposed legislation would not only give the IRS more power, it would be power largely unchecked; the fox guarding the henhouse.
The current system serves as a check on the power of the IRS; accountants and tax software working for us, making sure we only pay what we’re obliged to pay, as opposed to what the IRS believes we ought to pay.
And without voluntary compliance, paying taxes becomes not much different from a legal mugging. That may be what Warren and Sanders want for America, but it’s probably not what most Americans want for themselves.
