Image courtesy of Tim Evanson under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Mr. Raymond’s got a lot of nerve. With tens of millions of law-abiding Americans gladly giving nearly half of their annual income to the Internal Revenue Service, he thinks the IRS has an obligation to answer a bunch of asinine questions from people like him.
I know, I know, he’s Robert Raymond, an independent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin in 2002, and now represents the People for Truth in Taxation, so he thinks this gives him the right to question the integrity and efficiency of the IRS.
Well, his questions are frivolous and annoying and they’re making the hard-working employees at the IRS angry, frustrated and depressed. And I don’t blame them.
For example, Mr. Raymond has the gall to ask the IRS what law makes citizens liable for their individual income tax. That’s embarrassing. They don’t need to know. All the IRS wants is for them to they pay their taxes and stop complaining. Is that so hard?
Then Mr. Raymond fired four loaded and unnecessary questions at the IRS people, and to show you how silly his questions were, let’s take them one at a time.
(1) WHAT IS THE IRS DEFINITION OF THE WORD INCOME, AND BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?
That question is really dumb. Mr. Raymond must think the taxpayers don’t know what income is. Sure, there’s gross income, taxable income, adjusted gross income, and so on, but why should that be confusing? Income is what you make on your job, period. If you doubt it, look the word up in the dictionary. You trust your dictionary, don’t you?
(2) IS THE INCOME TAX A DIRECT OR AN INDIRECT TAX?
Now, why would Mr. Raymond ask the IRS that? The Constitution allows for two types of taxation. A direct tax that must be apportioned; and a indirect tax that must be uniform. Don’t blame the IRS for this confusion; blame some other government agency, like the CIA. Besides, whether direct or indirect, it all winds up in the same pot in Washington. So don’t let this throw you a curve. Like is too short.
(3) WHAT LAW MAKES A CITIZEN LIABLE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX?
Now isn’t that a stupid question? I challenge any person, lawyer, accountant, or tax preparer to have an answer, if indeed there is one. Nobody should need a law to make him pay his taxes. As good citizens, we should cough up voluntarily, no matter how high our taxes go—even if we have to miss a house payment or two—and keep our mouths shut. It’s the patriotic things to do.
WHAT FORM IS REQUIRED BY LAW TO PAY THE INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX, AND WHERE DOES THE LAW SAY THAT?
It says so in the law books, dummy. Anyway, the question is a gross imposition. The IRS has so many forms to help us file our taxes, they can’t go digging through them all just to find one form. Counting the sands on a beach would take less time.
On top of all that, Mr. Raymond demands that the IRS cite where each specific statute can be found within the law. C’mon, get real. Do you know how inconvenient that would be for the overworked IRS people? They’d be spending all their time thumbing through law books, instead of collecting money.
Considering all the help the IRS is giving us lately, how do we get the temerity to burden them further with goofy questions? As if the IRS is not to be trusted with our money.
Mr. Raymond says, we’re a nation of laws. We know that, sir. He also says, the government needs money to operate. We know that too. Then he says, the IRS should stop playing hide the ball. Hold on! Taxpayers are the ones hiding the ball. #And that’s a dirty shame, because the IRS isn’t asking to play with the whole ball—just a lousy 40-percent of it.
That seems fair, doesn’t it?
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”