Even the IRS Can See The Double Standard On Enforcement Of The Tax Code

Fiscal responsibility is one reason why we should be supporting all of the Tea Parites being held today. But personal responsibility isn't very far down the list of reasons to do so.

Tom Hamburger and Ralph Vartabedian of the Chicago Tribune have this to say:

The Treasury secretary, who oversees the IRS, didn't pay all his taxes. Neither did five other top nominees for the Obama administration, or their spouses. Now, as Wednesday's tax deadline looms, some Americans are wondering why they should comply with the arcane requirements of the Internal Revenue Service when top administration officials failed to do the same. Even some IRS employees are upset at what they see as a double standard. ... "Our members are upset and angry," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, referring to concern bubbling up within the IRS over unusually strict rules that can cost agents their jobs if they make a mistake. In some cases, IRS employees have lost jobs for simply filing a late return or failing to report a few hundred dollars of interest income.

And yet, people like Timothy Geithner got rubberstamped right through the Senate. Do you believe you would get such gentle treatment if you failed to pay your taxes the way Geithner failed to do so?

Probably not:

Robert Schriebman, a California tax lawyer who has testified before Congress, said his clients are seething over the tough treatment they get from the IRS, while some in the president's Cabinet apparently were able to duck paying their taxes. "Politically powerful people are less likely to get bothered by the IRS," Schriebman said. "It is more than a question of fairness. Not only is the IRS looking away from confronting influential people, the IRS is getting a lot tougher and nastier toward the little guy."

Which is one of several reasons why we need to scrap the current tax code and replace it with the Fair Tax as well as getting rid of the IRS altogether.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

IRS Workers See Double Standard On Tax Errors
Tom Hamburger and Ralph Vartabedian
Tribune Newspapers
April 15, 2009