Even broken government agencies can be right twice a day – or something.
Of great disgust and vitriol as Internal Revenue Service brings (and rightly so), the latest announcement from the organization is notable for a move that many Americans can relate to.
On Monday, the IRS released a release the news saying it is ending one of its most nefarious practices: the anonymous inspection of financial regulators.
Now, just moments later, the IRS reveals that an unnamed police officer is visiting he can it’s still happening, as he’s just completing “a lot of unannounced tours.”
“As part of a major reform, the Internal Revenue Service today announced a major policy change that will eliminate many undeclared visits taxpayers and the agency’s financial managers to reduce public confusion and increase measures to protect taxpayers and employees,” the release began.
Strange, a IRS he tried to pass off these anonymous visits as a service to taxpayers (“to help,” he says) — not the privacy violation that they are.
“This change reverses what has been done for years by the IRS’s tax inspectors, an arm’s length agency employees whose duties include visiting households and businesses to help taxpayers settle their accounts by collecting unpaid taxes and unpaid tax returns,” the IRS said.
Yes, because nothing is as useful as “collecting” from people, unannounced.
When the new policy goes into effect, by the time you’re reading this, it’s already gone. The IRS noted that these changes will occur “[e]working immediately. “
When a unannounced trips are over, it appears that the IRS will be interfering with the declared trips.
According to the IRS, anonymous visits “will be replaced by letters sent to arrange meetings.”
So the IRS will still get its meat from you – but it will be fixed in advance.
“We’re redefining how the IRS works to better serve taxpayers and the nation, and this change is a natural step forward,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “Changing a long-standing policy will increase confidence in our tax administration and improve overall protections for taxpayers and IRS employees.”
“NTEU will accept the IRS decision to stop unannounced visits to IRS Field Collection employees,” said Tony Reardon, President of the National Treasury Employees Union. “The safety of IRS employees is of the utmost importance and this decision will help protect those whose jobs have been jeopardized in recent years by lies and misrepresentations about the agency and its employees.”
Well, that last line from Reardon can’t fly without some backlash.
There is nothing false or inflammatory about the fact that the IRS has become a military branch of the government – especially under the Obama Administration – no matter how the organization argues about it.
Plus, you don’t have to go all the way back to the Obama days to justify the IRS’s many problems.
This month, the IRS they quietly changed the rules to make it more difficult to pass things on to your children. Who does that benefit?
So, no, Mr. Reardon. Criticizing the IRS isn’t because of “false, inflammatory rhetoric” – it’s because of what the agency has done.
It is also worth noting that in all the praises of this idea, whether it was Reardon, Werfel or the IRS itself, security issues were mentioned in closing.
It’s not hard to see how an unexpected guest on one’s doorstep can be security riskespecially in The second change-friendly countries.
But again, that has nothing to do with history, as Reardon insists. The IRS may be America’s most beloved and revered government department, and its agents would be at risk of showing up at home unannounced.
So, the IRS likes it.
He made the right decision, even if it was for reasons that were logical and made up.
This article appeared first The Western Journal.