More problems at the IRS
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As stated on its website, the Department of the Treasury's Office of Inspector General (OIG) was established in 1989 by the Secretary in accordance with the Inspector General Act Amendments of 1988. The OIG is headed by an Inspector General who is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The Inspector General reports to the Secretary of the Treasury through the Deputy Secretary and provides the Secretary with independent and objective reviews of IRS operations.
Given the incomprehensible Internal Revenue Code and the constant changes that Congress makes to it, the IRS really has an impossible job. Still, as long as the IRS exists, it should be required to meet at least minimum standards of care and efficiency for taxpayers.
OIG has issued two reports that show how the IRS, even with the new funding, is failing to meet minimum standards.
The first report was issued on July 31, 2023 and is entitled Actions Are Needed to Address Inaccurate, Incomplete and Inconsistent Taxpayer Assistance Centre Information Provided to Taxpayers.
This report is very critical of the IRS website because it fails to provide easily accessible and current information about the location and hours of Taxpayer Assistance Centers. These centers are promoted as locations where taxpayers can get assistance with questions about their tax returns, —or with any other questions relating to tax matters.
Someone might cynically think that this “oversight” was intentional because if taxpayers can’t find the Assistance Centers, that reduces the workload on the IRS employees who staff those centers.
The second report is much more concerning. The title of this report is, Sensitive Tax Information Is Not Being Controlled Adequately When Shipping to and From Tax Processing Centers.
This is from the report:
For requests that include a large number of taxpayer documents, IRS internal guidelines require employees shipping these documents to:
• List the total number of documents contained in the package and include identifying information, i.e., taxpayer name, Employer Identification Number, for at least the first four documents and the last document in the package.
• Include two copies of the Form 3210, the ‘Acknowledgement Copy’ and the ‘Recipient’s Copy,’ to be placed inside the secure package with its contents while the sender of the package keeps the ‘Originator’s Copy.’
Once the requesting functional area receives the shipment, the recipient of the package must:
• Verify receipt of the package by signing and returning the Form 3210 ‘Acknowledgment Copy’ to the sender. This can be returned to the sender via e-mail (electronic or scanned copy), fax, or mail.
After receipt, the sender must store the ‘Acknowledgment Copy’ with the ‘Originator’s Copy.’
If the ‘Acknowledgement Copy’ is not received, the sender must access the United Parcel Service website to track the shipment to determine if it was delivered successfully, confirm receipt of the package, and request the recipient complete and return the ‘Acknowledgment Copy.’
The report concluded that:
- Our review identified that the IRS is not adhering to its own internal guidelines when sending large volumes of sensitive taxpayer information to and from its Tax Processing Centers.
- Specifically, required tracking documents, i.e., Forms 3210, are not included with these shipments and/or not prepared properly.
- In addition, steps are not taken to ensure that the Form 3210 tracking acknowledgement is obtained to confirm requester receipt of this sensitive tax information.
- Furthermore, management is not performing required quarterly audits of its Forms 3210 processes and procedures to ensure compliance with internal guidelines.
- As a result, the IRS is unable to identify, notify, and/or offer protection to taxpayers when sensitive tax information is lost in the mail and at risk for potential identity theft.
CONCLUSION
As we all know, enforcing the income/payroll tax system requires that the IRS collect an enormous amount of personal and private information on every taxpayer.
While the IRS and Congress assure us that our personal and private information will be kept confidential, this report and the previous leaks of taxpayer information show us that that’s just not the case. Our personal and private data is not being treated in a way that ensures that it won’t be leaked to the public or surreptitiously obtained by identity thieves.
Let’s face it, there is no way to really ensure that the information needed to comply with the Internal Revenue Code will be kept confidential.
The question that the OIG should be asking is simple—why do we continue to use the income/payroll tax system when there is a much better alternative?
The Members of Congress that care about us don’t have to look far for an alternative to the present income/payroll tax system that abolishes the need for the IRS. It is H.R. 25, the FAIRtax.
The FAIRtax transfers power from the government and bureaucrats to the people. We, not the bureaucrats and D.C., decide how much tax we pay.
Congress and D.C. know that there is a better alternative to the present system—the FAIRtax.
Instead of spending time and money doing endless hours of paperwork that don’t create anything of value to yourself, your family or the nation, why not eliminate the unnecessary waste?
Isn’t it time to end this ludicrous tax collection system and the IRS?
When the FAIRtax is enacted, there will be no need to fear being audited by the IRS or raided by armed IRS agents because there will be no more IRS.
There is going to be a vote on the FAIRtax in the House of Representatives.
McCarthy and the other elites didn’t want it, but it was forced on them.
We now have the opportunity to force all Members of the House to show where they stand. They can:
- Vote for the present income/payroll tax system or for the FAIRtax.
- Support the corrupt income tax and the IRS or eliminate it. It can’t be any simpler than that.
- Hide the true cost of their government or pass the FAIRtax and show everyone the true cost of government on each retail receipt.
- Support the largest transfer of power from government to the people, the FAIRtax, or not.
Please stand with us and demand that your representative support a much fairer, much simpler and much more efficient way to fund the government—the FAIRtax!
The FAIRtax doesn’t pick winners and losers. Because it taxes spending, not earnings, the FAIRtax lets everyone save for their retirement tax free.
The FAIRtax will allow us to TAKE BACK CONTROL.
The income/payroll tax system is broken and no longer working—we can’t repair it but we can replace it with the FAIRTAX!
Join us and TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES—NOT WITH BULLETS BUT WITH THE ELIMINATION OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO OUR LIBERTY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY—THE INCOME/PAYROLL TAX.
We all should remember Edmund Burke’s warning that applies to our efforts to TAKE BACK CONTROL,
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
We should also remember this quote from George Orwell's 1984, which, if we do nothing, may foretell your and your children's future:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO?
We can write letters and make calls to our elected representatives and attend Zoom town hall meetings demanding that if they really want to allow Americans to “TAKE BACK CONTROL”, the first step is to eliminate the income/payroll tax system and enact the FAIRTAX!
TAKE BACK CONTROL! Help us PASS THE FAIRTAX!
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