RUTHFULLY YOURS

It’s obvious that Donald Trump is a different president. His divergence from the norm manifests itself in various ways. He’s even broached the possibility of eliminating the Internal Revenue Service. Count us among the tens if not hundreds of millions of Americans who wish him godspeed if he chooses dissolve this truly abusive agency.

Trump’s IRS commissioner nominee Billy Long, whose appointment passed another hurdle Tuesday, might give us a little more insight into Trump’s plans for the IRS. Long, a former Republican House member from Missouri, cosponsored more than a decade ago a bill that would abolish the IRS and enact a national sales tax administered primarily by the states.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in February that Trump wants “to abolish the Internal Revenue Service.” The president also ordered halted the hiring of 87,000 new IRS employees the Biden administration wanted to sic on Americans.

During the second Obama term, ABC News noted that the “IRS has long history of political dirty tricks,” with presidents using “the agency as a weapon against political enemies.” The story ever-so-lightly touched on the administration’s targeting of conservative groups that opposed Barack Obama’s policies. In this particular instance of corruption, “the former president used the Exempt Organizations division of the IRS to delay or deny the approval of tax-exempt status for more than 100 new organizations between 2010 and 2012,” explains taxpayer advocate Dan Pilla.

This taxing power of the IRS has:

• Destroyed “individual freedom in health insurance” through Obamacare.
• Invaded our privacy.
• Denied due process (“The IRS engages in many summary judgments, and enforces them prior to any judicial determinations,” says the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards).
• Shifted the burden of proof to the accused.
• Produced a horrifying system in which taxpayers are required to pay in full the alleged tax, penalties, and interest before a jury trial, a guaranteed constitutional right, can be requested.
• Permitted it to conduct unreasonable searches and seizures using its authority under the tax code “to obtain records of every description from any person without showing probable cause and without a court order,” says Edwards.
• Violated the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination by requiring Americans to file tax returns under penalty of perjury. “Citizens face a legal dilemma,” Edwards says. “On the one hand, refusing to file a return would expose a citizen to prosecution for failure to file. On the other hand, disclosing information sought in tax returns constitutes a waiver of Fifth Amendment protections.”
• Created an antagonistic and often hostile relationship between the federal government and the American people it’s supposed to serve, not subjugate.

The IRS is also a thief, stealing time and economic opportunity. According to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation:

• “The average 1040 filer now faces $290 in out-of-pocket costs and spends 13 hours preparing a return.
• “Taxpayers will spend an estimated 7.1 billion hours complying with the tax code for Tax Year 2024 – equivalent to $316 billion in lost productivity based on private sector labor costs.
• “Americans will face at least $148 billion in out-of-pocket expenses for filing, including tax software and professional services – bringing the total compliance burden to $464 billion, just shy of last year’s record.”

The Tax Foundation estimates total compliance costs are a $546 billion drag on the economy, nearly 2% of GDP.

A national sales would greatly reduce Washington’s power to destroy. So would a low-rate flat income tax, though less so. Tariffs could also replace the income tax, but only if the size of government were radically slashed (which would be a welcomed development).

Of course the government would still need a revenue collecting agency, but it would not have to be the cruel behemoth that exists today. A new agency would be leaner, not as mean, and far less political. This should be another 80-20 issue, with only the worst among us on the 20% side.