“One of the critical elements of your job is protecting the government's interest. You are a federal agent, not a Public Advocate.” – Confessions of a Tax Collector
In 2022, the Biden Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the addition of 87,000 new IRS agents over ten years, to increase revenues through expanded enforcement. While the Democrats would have you believe they will be targeting millionaires and billionaires, a 2018 study by a former IRS economist revealed something very different. During the four years from 2012 to 2016, the most audited county in the US was a poor majority-black region in Mississippi. Other highly audited groups included Hispanics in south Texas, Native Americans on Indian reservations, and poor whites in Appalachia. The primary reason for the high rates of audits among these lower-income groups is the probability that they will file using the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is often misapplied. While the wealthy have accounting firms and tax lawyers handling their obligations, the working class has no such luxury.
The IRS is the largest civilian division of the federal government with nearly 80,000 full-time equivalent employees. With federal income tax officially enacted in 1913 under the 16th Amendment, the legislation was initially passed to fund war expenses. Now, half of all federal revenues come from individual income taxes. Payable under a system of voluntary consent, the United States has one of the highest rates of compliance with nearly 85 percent of citizens dutifully handing over the government’s fair share without incident. In 2019, the last full year preceding the COVID pandemic, the US government taxed Americans 1.7 trillion dollars in individual income tax and employee payroll taxes. Before the income tax, the government relied on tariffs and excise taxes as there were no welfare benefits, no agricultural subsidies, or entitlements.
In 1943, legislation called the Current Tax Payment Act began the automatic withholding of taxes from employee paychecks, making it easier for citizens to keep up with their tax liability. Before that, anyone with a federal tax obligation made quarterly payments the following tax year. The unfortunate result of the pay-as-you-go scheme is that most people have little knowledge of the actual cost of taxes. If citizens were required to write a check every quarter, the government’s attempts to regularly raise tax liability would likely fail.
In Richard Yancey’s 2004 book, “Confessions of a Tax Collector”, Yancey tells his personal story of life inside the IRS by describing the adversarial relationship with the American public made possible by their unique power to levy taxpayers’ bank accounts and wages for nonpayment of taxes. As one of the most dreaded and feared divisions of government, the IRS holds unusual sway over society. With access to an extraordinary amount of information on citizens, some agents quickly violate their Constitutional oath by illegally viewing confidential files on family and friends, the leading cause of termination within the IRS.
Tales of other IRS scandals are outlined in a 2015 article in “The Week” including FDR’s weaponization of the IRS against his political foes, the audit and harassment of MLK, Jr. in the 1950s, and Nixon’s leaked tapes over his own use of the powerful organization, to name just a few. More recently, the Obama administration, and Lois Lerner, in particular, targeted conservative groups for three years leading up to the 2012 election in an attempt to interfere in its outcome. By deliberately delaying approval for groups with the trigger words, “Tea Party”, “Patriot”, and even “Freedom” in their names, the IRS stalled tax-exempt status, denying conservative groups the opportunity to campaign against Obama and the Democrats.
More recent and insidious claims by Democrats that Republicans Mitt Romney and Donald Trump weren’t paying taxes fell flat, after the reality of Obama jailing both Wesley Snipes and Lauryn Hill for non-payment of taxes during his administration, proving that Democrats do indeed know how to exact punishment when necessary. And despite being exceptionally vocal about the wealthy along with corporations failing to pay their fair share of taxes, it is these politicians who have enacted every loophole and hidden benefit for those who, unsurprisingly, contribute the most to their campaigns.
Taxes are no more likable today than they were in biblical times when tax collectors were reviled as sinners for supporting the Roman empire while skimming additional assessments for themselves. The same contradiction exists today between the idea of paying taxes as an act of patriotism and the reality that taxes feed a beast that often acts in its own interests and against those of the citizens. It is natural to want to keep the fruits of one’s own labor, and therefore, fair and reasonable taxes would seem to provide the best outcome, reducing the time and resources necessary to avoid them.
During the first week of the 118th Congress, the new majority House GOP voted to repeal the increase in funding for more IRS agents, understanding how often they are used against their own constituents. While it’s a good start, they’d do well to focus their upcoming term on lowering the scope and power of the federal government because a smaller government serves the people best.
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