IRS Social Engineering Experiment Is Failing

The Government of the United States of America is not in the business of generating its own wealth to run day to day operations.  Without our hard earned federal tax dollars going into the Treasury, our government would not be able to function.

The US Tax Code has become such a complex and convoluted mess of social engineering the IRS is having problems doing its most basic function – collecting taxes.

irs regulations

For a larger view click on the chart. Courtesy of Family Security Matters.

The Problem

Our legislators have learned they can control people and corporations behavior by way of the tax code.  The Corporations have learned they can lobby legislators to make favorable changes in the tax code for their personal benefit. Legislators can be bought off  for pennies on the dollar to make favorable tax code changes no one will ever report on.  After all – taxes and accounting theory do not sell newspapers or burn up the blogosphere.

On the people side of the equation, our legislators can control large voting blocks of people by giving tax credits, exemptions, and in some cases unearned tax refunds assuring a large segment of the voting public will vote for one party or the other.

Our Legislators get rich by forcing Corporations to make all the right political donations in order to get the tax code provisions needed to stay competitive.

Our Legislators use the tax code to pay off segments the population to vote for or against a (D) or and (R) helping ensure a long and profitable career for our elected officials.

Solution

Listen to anyone who is serious about overhauling our current tax code.  These individuals understand our US Tax Code is the oil that keeps the engine of America running smoothly.

Any legislator who fights the overhaul of the US Tax Code has become corrupted by the system and lost sight of what our Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights for, we the people.

Kelly Phillips Erb, Contributor Forbes Magazine, exposes the symptoms of systemic problems hampering the IRS.  I encourage you all to follow the work of Kelly Phillips Erb.

IRS Warns Of Delayed Refunds, Long Waits For Taxpayers & Possible Shutdown

By Kelly Phillips Erb

Posted: 13 Jan 2015 05:17 PM PST

“With a week to go before tax season opens, taxpayers were already bracing for a potentially “miserable” filing season. It turns out that it could live up to the hype.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Koskinen has advised employees that the budget cuts will result in reduced services to taxpayers. In an email to employees sent earlier today, Commissioner Koskinen advised that “realistically we have no choice but to do less with less.”

What does that mean for taxpayers?

  • Identity theft could increase. Despite the need for increased taxpayer protections against identity theft, the implementation of additionalmeasures will be delayed. That’s bad news for taxpayers since, despite the efforts of IRS and other agencies to stem the tide of identity theft, scammers have grown more bold. TIGTA reported that telephone scammers, posing as IRS representatives, managed to steal more than $5 million from taxpayers last year. And as quickly as the scams are picked up, they change. IRS-Criminal Investigation has responded to what has been termed an “epidemic” of identity theft by ramping up investigations – but with wholesale cuts to IRS, expect those investigations to dip, too.
  • Refund delays. It turns out that satirical piece on tax refunds making the rounds might have had some merit after all. According to the Commissioner, taxpayers who file paper tax returns may have to wait an extra week or longer to see their refund. In the email, the Commissioner didn’t specifically address whether delays would affect refunds for taxpayers who e-file, though a few weeks again he refused to say that refunds would not be delayed.
  • Lags in correspondence. Those of us in the field have already become familiar with those letters from IRS that begin “We need more time…” It looks like those are about to kick up even more. With fewer employees on staff, IRS expects “lengthy delays” to answer correspondence.
  • Fewer resolutions.Those taxpayers who have legitimate gripes but can’t find a resolution will be out of luck. The Commissioner says that the Taxpayer Advocate Service, normally the next step when cases aren’t resolved through normal channels, won’t be able to obtain a new case management system to oversee taxpayer hardship cases.
  • Unanswered calls. Predictions weren’t terrific for answered call rates before. Now, the Commissioner is warning of “an even lower level of telephone service.” Specifically, he notes the “real possibility that fewer than half of taxpayers trying to call us will actually reach us.” Those calls that are answered, he says, “will face extended wait times that are unacceptable to all of us.”
  • Shutdowns. Although the Commissioner wavered on saying yes to furloughs last month, temporary shutdowns look to be the case after all. The Commissioner indicated that the agency is planning for at least one shutdown this fiscal year; he suggested there might betwo furlough days. There was no word on when those dates might be other than later in the fiscal year (read: not during tax season).
  • Fewer Audit Closures. The silver lining – if you can call it that – is that the reduction in staffing means fewer taxpayer audits will be closed in 2015 (no word on how that will affect selection of new matters). Collections case closures will also be reduced. That might be good news for those under the audit gun but not so great for the Treasury. Commissioner Koskinen estimates that the government will, as a result, lose at least $2 billion in revenue.

Quite frankly, none of this information is earth-shattering. I think many of us – tax professionals and taxpayers alike – have been hoping for the best but bracing for the worst this tax season. It looks like we’re getting the latter.

Tax season is still slated to open on January 20, 2015 (those pesky rumors suggesting the date has been pushed out further are just that: rumors). For the latest word on the 2015 tax season, keep checking back.”

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in Family Security Matters.