goofyfish
07-24-03, 08:36 AM
That hurt just a bit. But I do try to find something nice to say about President Bush every day - although I mostly fail.
But not today. His (not God’s, Bush’s) Internal Revenue Service is finally starting to crack down on all those economic flat-earthers who have refused for years to withhold taxes from their employees’ paychecks on grounds that the income tax is unconstitutional.
Adopting a new tactic in pursuing businesses that refuse to withhold taxes from their employees' paychecks, the Justice Department filed three lawsuits yesterday asking federal judges to compel the withholding and inform workers about the actions...
The requests for injunctions are part of a stepped-up campaign in recent months against advocates of the so-called 861 position, who contend that the regulations for the section of the tax code with that number require only a few Americans, primarily those working for foreign-owned businesses, to pay taxes on their wages. The Justice Department called the 861 position "patently frivolous. (Full text here (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/22/business/22TAX.html))Certainly this is far from the biggest collection problem the IRS has, but at least it’s one of them. And it’s one that Clinton ignored in his typically cowardly way. Nor did Clinton lift a finger to defend the IRS when Senator Roth, Republican of Dupont, held those notorious hearings in which a parade of rich folks whined piteously about the agency’s cruel and unusual collection practices.
Once the headlines had died down, it turned out that just about all of their testimony was grossly exaggerated, and much of it was outright lies. But the IRS’s agents were satisfactorily cowed, and the agency’s enforcement budget was slashed.
Which, of course, was the point.
:m: Peace.
But not today. His (not God’s, Bush’s) Internal Revenue Service is finally starting to crack down on all those economic flat-earthers who have refused for years to withhold taxes from their employees’ paychecks on grounds that the income tax is unconstitutional.
Adopting a new tactic in pursuing businesses that refuse to withhold taxes from their employees' paychecks, the Justice Department filed three lawsuits yesterday asking federal judges to compel the withholding and inform workers about the actions...
The requests for injunctions are part of a stepped-up campaign in recent months against advocates of the so-called 861 position, who contend that the regulations for the section of the tax code with that number require only a few Americans, primarily those working for foreign-owned businesses, to pay taxes on their wages. The Justice Department called the 861 position "patently frivolous. (Full text here (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/22/business/22TAX.html))Certainly this is far from the biggest collection problem the IRS has, but at least it’s one of them. And it’s one that Clinton ignored in his typically cowardly way. Nor did Clinton lift a finger to defend the IRS when Senator Roth, Republican of Dupont, held those notorious hearings in which a parade of rich folks whined piteously about the agency’s cruel and unusual collection practices.
Once the headlines had died down, it turned out that just about all of their testimony was grossly exaggerated, and much of it was outright lies. But the IRS’s agents were satisfactorily cowed, and the agency’s enforcement budget was slashed.
Which, of course, was the point.
:m: Peace.