Each calendar quarter, the IRS and Social Security Administration jointly publish “Reporter,” subtitled “A Newsletter for Employers.” It’s always chock full of tidbits of congenial information – new regulations and so forth – and in the current edition, there’s an especially interesting article entitled “Reducing the Tax Gap, a Strategic Priority for the IRS.” Quoting directly from the source:
“The tax gap – it's the difference between the amount individual taxpayers and businesses should pay and what is actually paid. The IRS estimates that the overall tax gap for all types of tax is approximately $345 billion. Approximately one-third of the tax gap relates to the amount businesses and employers owe.”
Translation (as if you really need it): The government has decreed that its citizens should pay many billions of dollars more in taxes than they want to pay.
“To reduce the tax gap, the IRS has developed a simple ‘working equation’ – service plus enforcement equals compliance. Not service OR enforcement, but service AND enforcement.”
Translation: Service (uncontrolled government bureaucracy) plus enforcement (cajoling, intimidating, threatening, suing, seizing your property, bringing criminal charges and/or invading your home with guns drawn) equals compliance (acquiescence to the theft of your property).
“Service means helping people and businesses understand their tax obligations and making it easier for them to participate in the tax system.”
Translation: We are nice people. We will help you understand your duty to give us money. We will make it easy for you to give us money, whether you like it or not. We are your friends. Smile.
Weblinks to eight “educational” fact sheets follow, such as “Home Office Deduction Reminders” and “Depreciation Reminders,” then the really good news: the IRS has “strengthened its enforcement programs over the past few years.” The highlights include:
- Individual audits have almost doubled since 2000
- The IRS had 2.7 million levies in 2006 vs. 220,000 in 2000
We should all feel warm and fuzzy (shouldn’t we?), knowing that our friendly IRS has expanded its reach, auditing twice as many folks last year as they did six years ago. We should feel positively giddy that it has secured levies against ten times more people – obviously unpatriotic ne’er-do-wells who resist having their money taken to fund our glorious foreign wars, the health care of strangers, or whatever else Uncle Sam finds appropriate.
More good news: the article lists five legislative proposals designed to “reduce the tax gap and improve tax administration,” all introduced to Congress by the ultimate man of the people, President Bush himself. This will surely serve to endear him to his subjects even further, and increase the likelihood of ever more good work from the Internal Revenue Service. What a great Service! I love being Serviced! We all love being Serviced! Long live the Service!
April 18, 2007
Andrew S. Fischer has worked in various fields.
