"Look out, taxpayers. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is getting
ready to squeeze even harder.
President Bush is fond of telling angry American taxpayers that "it’s
your money" the government is taking and spending. But now he’s
proposing a massive increase in IRS funding to allow the federal
government to get its hands on a lot more of "your money."
Bush’s 2006 budget will request an additional $500 million for IRS
enforcement activities. This is a 7.8% increase in funding over FY
2005’s $6.392 billion for IRS enforcement.
This increase will give the IRS vast new resources to harass and rob
Americans -- or, in IRS-speak, to "examine more tax returns, collect
past due taxes and investigate cases of tax avoidance."
"Americans who play by the rules and pay their taxes deserve
confidence that others pay their fair share as well," stated Secretary
of the Treasury John Snow. "Increasing enforcement not only catches
tax cheats, but discourages others from avoiding paying their taxes.
The IRS is committed to striking a balance between catching those who
would avoid paying and providing excellent service to all taxpayers."
Gotta love that "excellent service" part.
"Enforcement more than pays for itself," IRS Commissioner Mark W.
Everson similarly said. "Particularly in a period of deficit
reduction, funding IRS enforcement is a wise investment."
Of course, a far wiser investment would be to halt, and dramatically
reverse, the incredible, almost unprecedented bipartisan spending
spree the federal government has been engaged in under President
Bush’s leadership. But that doesn’t seem to be on Bush’s agenda, or on
the agendas of most members of Congress. They’d apparently rather
squeeze even more money from overburdened taxpayers than act with
anything approaching fiscal sanity."
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the
Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on
objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
-James Madison 1794
