If You Work For The IRS, You Better Pay Your Taxes. If You Run The IRS, Not So Much.

Nick Gillespie | April 15, 2009

Chicago Tribune story about how IRS employees are held to super-exacting standards when it comes to paying their income taxes. And how IRS folks are annoyed that bigwigs such at Tim "Turbo Tax" Geithner are not.

As Wednesday's tax deadline looms, some Americans are wondering why they should comply with the arcane requirements of the Internal Revenue Service when top administration officials failed to do the same. Even some IRS employees are upset at what they see as a double standard.

The most criticized example has been Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who admitted not paying $34,000 in payroll and Social Security taxes, saying his failure to pay was an oversight. Five other nominees disclosed similar tax issues, including one as recently as two weeks ago when Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama's pick for secretary of health and human services, admitted she didn't pay $7,040.

"Our members are upset and angry," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, referring to concern bubbling up within the IRS over unusually strict rules that can cost agents their jobs if they make a mistake.

In some cases, IRS employees have lost jobs for simply filing a late return or failing to report a few hundred dollars of interest income.

I'm not overly sympathetic to IRS agents, but I see the point. And then there's this great Soviet-apparatchik like comment:

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told reporters Monday that there is no discrimination when it comes to tax enforcement.

"The American people are pretty smart," he said. "They understand that people who are nominated for high office are going to be put under a level of scrutiny. They also understand the tax code is incredibly complex."

Actually, the American people are pretty pissed off because they realize the tax code is incredibly comples. In fact, it's impossibly complex.

Whole story here.

Comments

Xeones|4.15.09 @ 8:42AM|#

Fuck you, Douglas Shulman. You and Timmy Geithner can rot in hell.

I was wondering why i felt so shitty this morning until i remembered that it's 13th Amendment Repeal Day. Heavy drinking commences at 5!

Taktix®|4.15.09 @ 8:59AM|#

Of course the gentry are not expected to obey the same rules as the rest of the people. They're in the presence of the King, and that absolves all wrong-doing.

See, this class-warfare thing works both ways!

|4.15.09 @ 9:08AM|#

It makes perfect sense that the man in charge of giving the have-nots the spoils from the haves would get large government dividends without making the investment.

|4.15.09 @ 9:09AM|#

xeones, yo yo yo yo yo. Here, take these yos as you seem to have run out.

|4.15.09 @ 9:14AM|#

Xeones needs them. He just throws away all his roll-over yos from the previous month.

Xeones|4.15.09 @ 9:18AM|#

Yo, thanks, dudes! I'm not sure what happened there.

|4.15.09 @ 9:25AM|#

Fuck the Internal Revenue Service, and Timmeh "But I'm not a civilian" Geithner.

If Geithner really didn't know his World Bank(?) income was subject to tax, he's plainly too stupid to be the Secretary of the Treasury.

And fuck the United States Congress 535 times.

I'll be filing my Form 4868 (Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File) later. So I can spend more of my time deciphering the tax regs, and less time actually making things and creating value in the economy.

|4.15.09 @ 9:27AM|#

Actually, the American people are pretty pissed off because they realize the tax code is incredibly comples. In fact, it's impossibly complex.

Apparently.

The American people ... understand that people who are nominated for high office are going to be put under a level of scrutiny.

Uh huh, and what pisses me off is that after they've been weighed and measured and found wanting, they get coronated anyway.

|4.15.09 @ 9:33AM|#

My favorite IRS story: a couple I know was due to recieve several thousand bucks last year in tax refund due to EITC. They paid in about $2000 and were getting about $6500 back. The IRS held the money to repay a dilenquent student loan. This year, they recieved $1500 in extra refund for the deduction on the student loan interest.

DADIODADDY|4.15.09 @ 9:36AM|#

New Siplified Tax Code (under ubama):

How much did you make last year?

Send it all in.

Hugh Akston|4.15.09 @ 9:36AM|#

Actually, the American people are pretty pissed off because they realize the tax code is incredibly comples complex. In fact, it's impossibly complex.

Hopefully not as complex as the rigors of the English language.

DADIODADDY|4.15.09 @ 9:38AM|#

CAN'T TYPE (Simplified & Obama)after writing that huge friggin check...

|4.15.09 @ 9:39AM|#

Joe'z Memorial Law, HTML division.

|4.15.09 @ 9:46AM|#

Also, hopefully not as complex as HTML tags, eh, Hugh?

Hugh Akston|4.15.09 @ 9:48AM|#

damn you joez law!!!!!11!!

|4.15.09 @ 9:55AM|#

joe's influence lingers on the these boards, like a sputtering lentil fart in a crowded elevator.

Citizen Nothing|4.15.09 @ 9:58AM|#

Mmmmmmmm. Lentils...

phalkor|4.15.09 @ 10:52AM|#

for future reference:

the Xeones meme, "yo, fuck XXXX" is golden, but without the "yo" it isn't even a meme and is reduced to vulgarity.

stay classy H&R

|4.15.09 @ 11:01AM|#

A list.
The people responsible for the Chinese fuck story we all know as the tax code.
Democrats
Charles B. Rangel, NY Chairman
Fortney Pete Stark, CA
Sander M. Levin, MI
Jim McDermott, WA
John Lewis, GA
Richard E. Neal, MA
John S. Tanner, TN
Xavier Becerra, CA
Lloyd Doggett, TX
Earl Pomeroy, ND
Mike Thompson, CA
John B. Larson, CT
Earl Blumenauer, OR
Ron Kind, WI
Bill PascrellJr. , NJ
Shelley Berkley, NV
Joseph Crowley, NY
Chris Van Hollen, MD
Kendrick Meek, FL
Allyson Y. Schwartz, PA
Artur Davis, AL
Danny K. Davis, IL
Bob Etheridge, NC
Linda T. Sanchez, CA
Brian Higgins, NY
John A. Yarmuth, KY
Republicans
Dave Camp, MI
Wally Herger, CA
Sam Johnson, TX
Kevin Brady, TX
Paul Ryan, WI
Eric Cantor, VA
John Linder, GA
Devin Nunes, CA
Pat Tiberi, OH
Ginny Brown-Waite, FL
Geoff Davis, KY
Dave G. Reichert, WA
Charles W. BoustanyJr. , LA
Dean Heller, NV
Peter J. Roskam, IL
_____________________________________________________________
Senate Finance Committee
Democrats
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ
THOMAS CARPER, DE
Republicans
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TX
The history of tax code complexity.
________________________________________________________________
Who's up for a mass tar and feathering?

*Sorry about the upper/lower case stuff for the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. I cut and pasted from the websites and like the congresscritters' staffs, am too damned lazy to make the house and senate lists consistent.

|4.15.09 @ 11:06AM|#

The IRS holds people to exacting standards, even when they make shit up. I got a notice a few weeks ago that I "owed" $1700 on a stock sale I allegedly reported incorrectly on my 2007 Schedule D. IRS assumed a cost basis of ZERO. Yeah, I got those shares for fucking free, cuz companies are always handing out complimentary ownership stakes to random people for no apparent reason.

Xeones|4.15.09 @ 11:09AM|#

Yo, fuck everybody on J sub D's list.

phalkor: Without the 'Yo,' it's just rage.

¢|4.15.09 @ 11:35AM|#

Today is Rage Day.

Fuck a yo.

Another Phil|4.15.09 @ 11:42AM|#

Not a federal issue, but I just got New York state to concede that I don't owe them income tax + interest + penalties for 2003, a year in which I didn't live in New York.

|4.15.09 @ 11:48AM|#

You won't win, because most people don't realize taxes are hopelessly complex. This is because most of the complexity is hidden. Most people have easy tax forms. They file a 1040EZ or a 1040A.

It's only when you start dealing with earning non-wage income, having investments etc. that you get into hopelessly complex taxes and these are indeed utterly HOPELESS. Noone can understand some of those obscure laws.

But it's like most ordinary criminal law, you don't understand how absurd the system is until you experience it or know someone who has.

High Every Body|4.15.09 @ 11:50AM|#

Not a federal issue, but I just got New York state to concede that I don't owe them income tax + interest + penalties for 2003, a year in which I didn't live in New York.

Rush Limbaugh was having this problem too, annually.

|4.15.09 @ 11:50AM|#

Frankly I'd gladly pay an extra 1% in taxes for a simpler tax code! Sad but true. Not an extra 10% or anything, I'm not a glutton for punishment but an extra 1% to avoid hours of my time and stress and worry and fear of audits. Sure!

Citizen Nothing|4.15.09 @ 11:50AM|#

After net NEGATIVE federal income taxes last year (getting a subsidy from you tax-paying suckers), I'm being weaned off the government tit this year - but only because I used the opportunity to convert a bunch of IRA $$$ into a Roth.
Is this a great country or what?

|4.15.09 @ 11:50AM|#

J sub D -- re: your list, are you assuming that anyone on those committees approves of what is going on there? Or did you just list the people who've voted "aye" to that rubbish? What if Ron Paul was on that committee?

T|4.15.09 @ 11:51AM|#

Noone can understand some of those obscure laws.

Fuck it, just use TurboTax and blame Intuit when it chokes. It worked for Timmy the Tax Cheat, it can work for you.

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|4.15.09 @ 11:53AM|#

Filed by hand again this year---after using Turbo Tax a few years running. I was reminded of one of my short list of demands:

Every member of the legislator and every elected member of the executive should be required to do their own taxes with nothing but the forms, the official instructions, a pocket calculator (+, -, *, /), and a supply of #2 pencils.

No accountant. No computer program. No H&R Block. No getting $SPOUSE to do it.

If they find that too onerous to live with, well, they can do something about it.

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|4.15.09 @ 11:55AM|#

Hmmm...I should throw in the director of the IRS, shoudln't I?

Anyone else who needs to be on the list?

|4.15.09 @ 11:57AM|#

One per cent would be a fucking DEAL, if you calculate your time (and aggravation) as worth anything at all.

As a self-employed sole proprietor (who hardly even made any money last year) I get to pay the Ponzi tax twice.

Yay for me!

|4.15.09 @ 12:00PM|#

Anyone else who needs to be on the list?

The President, Vice President, and all members of the Cabinet.

And make them show their work, to be posted on the intertubes.

|4.15.09 @ 12:01PM|#

P Brooks,

actually, everyone pays it "twice" so to speak, it's just more clear to the self-employed.

|4.15.09 @ 12:01PM|#

I see I skimmed right over "the elected members of the executive" up there...

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|4.15.09 @ 12:11PM|#

I would, of course, extend this to State official's doing the state tax forms for all those states that have income taxes.

And I am certainly OK with throwing the cabinet in. I just don't insist.

LarryA|4.15.09 @ 12:36PM|#

"They understand that people who are nominated for high office are going to be put under a level of scrutiny."

But not, unfortunately, accountability.

Every member of the legislator and every elected member of the executive should be required to do their own taxes with nothing but the forms, the official instructions, a pocket calculator (+, -, *, /), and a supply of #2 pencils.

Every member of the legislator and every elected member of the executive should be required to do their own taxes with nothing but the forms, the official instructions, a pocket calculator (+, -, *, /), and a supply of #2 pencils ballpoint pens.

In ink, baby, and no strikethroughs. Mess up the last box and do the form over.

And when they automatically get audited they better have every lunch receipt, properly annotated.

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|4.15.09 @ 12:50PM|#

In ink, baby, and no strikethroughs. Mess up the last box and do the form over.

Oh, Larry!

You are so Hard Core, man.

|4.15.09 @ 1:37PM|#

The Presidential Suit has declared war on Congress!

"It will take time to undo the damage of years of carve-outs and loopholes," Obama said. "But I want every American to know that we will rewrite the tax code so that it puts your interests over any special interest."

This should be fun.

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|4.15.09 @ 2:50PM|#

"It will take time to unredo the damage of years of carve-outs and loopholes (except for the popular ones), but I want every American to know that we will rewrite the tax code so that it puts your special interests over anyone else's special interest."

Fixed that for him.

Who does he think he's fooling, anyway?