Federal employees and IRS

"Don’t expect to get any customer service from the IRS. Only two of the 76 local IRS offices picked up their phones to answer questions, according to a July 2024 report." This is from Daily Signal report on at home workers for the federal government.  https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/05/joni-ernst-report-highlights-federal-employee-outrages/?

That caught my eye because we've just received a letter from the IRS saying we had a refund for our 2021 taxes (I think it was due to their error) and needed to fill out a form immediately and return it in order to claim it because we hadn't responded. There was no previous notice. Someone probably had her coffee cup or romance novel sitting on it. Or maybe she was at the beach and just didn't meet her quota.

Biden still going after the middle class

"The most recent data suggests the IRS is still focused on the middle class. As of last summer, 63% of new audits targeted taxpayers with income of less than $200,000. Only a small overall share reached the very highest earners, while 80% of audits covered filers earning less than $1 million. Don’t forget to save those charitable-giving receipts." Wall Street Journal,  April 3, 2024.

I wonder why the IRS doesn't go after the federal government employees who are behind on their taxes. 10 years ago the figure was over 300,000, but nothing has been done.

The Number of Tax Delinquent Feds Is Growing. The IRS Watchdog Wants a Crackdown. - Government Executive (govexec.com)

Meeting IRMAA

 Irma was the name (not used) of my mother-in-law. Beautiful blonde, lots of fun.  But this IRMAA is different kind altogether.

If you have a "one time" event like selling your summer home in Lakeside, the IRS will increase the cost of your Medicare the next year. It's called IRMAA. Of course, on the sale price, those inflated costs since the purchase in 1988 were figured as real dollars. The government never loses, but it sure can go in debt spending a billion here and a billion there.

We Sold Our Home. Now We Have To Pay More For Medicare! What’s IRMAA? (forbes.com)

The appeal seems to be written in a foreign language that no one but a bureaucrat could read. https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0601140005#

Who is rich, and who pays the taxes in the USA?

In response to a Democrat on Facebook who slavishly follows his party line about taxes, border, religious freedom, education, political motives, abortion, etc. here's the truth about federal tax cuts in 2017 (aka, Trump presidency and his keeping his word to the voters)

"Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans' tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.
A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.

Filers who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break of about 15 percent to 17 percent, and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 in adjusted gross income saw their personal income taxes cut by around 11 percent to 13 percent." (From Yahoo news via The Hill, Dec. 24, 2021)

 
Although any tax cut benefits the rich since they pay over 70% of the federal income tax and the lowest income receive wealth transfers and 50% don't pay any federal taxes. With the Trump administration tax cut the top 1% who pay over 40% of the taxes saw their average rates fall to 25.4% from 26.8%. 

They make the most money--it's incredible how well millionaires can do in the USA, but they pay far more than their "fair share" and Democrats just want to drive them out of the country. Every president since I've been voting (JFK, 1960) has brought in more taxes to support some pretty odd and bizarre programs by reducing taxes, not punishing the successful. Biden wants to punish success, and although he puts "rich" at $400,000, we know he lies and doesn't keep his word.

"Rich" is a relative term. But if you're talking income from salary and not "wealth" you need to be earning $350,000 to be comfortably rich in an expensive or coastal city. (That's virtually all of Congress and "think tank" CEOs in DC.) And if you do and you are a family of 4, contribute to a 401k, pay federal and state and local taxes, plus FICA and take a child credit, you're paying $92,160 (32%) in taxes. And you can see the upward creep in taxes at https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-income-do-you.../ 

Democrats in Congress, the most overpaid and underworked Americans, lusting for more money to fund their socialist programs like climate change and woke capitalism, are mad that the rich actually made a lot more money with a tax cut that was smaller than the middle class. Duh! They didn't get rich by being stupid. Maybe they took that savings and invested it in stocks, or bought a new income property or paid off some high interest loans, or started a small company. The tax cuts made no difference to the low income or the no-income. You can't take away from zero. In the USA you can earn over $50,000 a year yet with Earned Income Tax Credits, the government will give you another $5,000 if you have 2 children and you pay NO taxes. No wonder people jump the border to get here.

Don't be distracted

 

Workers who are paid not to work--a Biden disaster

Some of you think those economy crippling benefits have stopped. They haven't. If your favorite restaurant closes or shop owner locks the door, it may not be supply chain. It's no one will work when being paid to stay home.

 
"Back in July, the federal government was still paying enhanced benefits to the unemployed—even though many in Washington, including prominent Democrats, were warning that the federal handouts on top of state unemployment payments were creating a big disincentive to go back to work. That extra federal payment, which had begun under President Trump and was extended by Biden last March, finally ended in early September, but other federal aid continues. The IRS, for instance, now pays families a child tax credit that has expanded to $3,600 per child under six and $3,000 per older child. A recent study estimated that this lucrative benefit, if it becomes permanent as some Democrats have proposed, could prompt up to 1.5 million more mostly low-income parents to leave the workforce over the next few years. Meantime, the Treasury Department has told states that they can use some of the $350 billion stimulus money Washington was sending them to support and expand their own unemployment benefits."

https://www.city-journal.org/biden-policy-encouraging-worker-shortages?

Even before the Covid-induced recession struck, public policy in America had been increasingly discouraging work through expanded and more generous disability payments, longer bouts of enhanced, less restrictive unemployment benefits, and more generous social-welfare payments. One consequence: the ranks of the permanently unemployed have grown in America. In the last 20 years alone, the country’s labor-participation rate shrank from nearly 68 percent of adults to just 63 percent right before the Covid lockdowns began. Then in March 2020, the rate slipped below 61 percent—an unprecedented drop. Since then, it’s climbed less than halfway back to pre-Covid level, despite widespread business re-openings and help-wanted signs everywhere. More people are getting used to not working, and the Biden administration’s proposals for expanding federal aid programs will do little to lure them back.

More money for failed Head Start in the budget bill

"Since 1965, Head Start has been a sinkhole for taxpayer dollars and an ineffective education program for children. And yet, proponents—hand in glove with Congress—want to model hundreds of billions of dollars in the $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending package on it."

It now costs more than $10,200 per participant.

Pre-K Funding in $3.5T Spending Bill Is Modeled After Failed Head Start (dailysignal.com)

One of the problems I see in all Biden's programs is the "no legacy" legacy of Barack Obama.  If there were ever evidence for this administration being Obama 2.0, it is the trillions now being thrown at Obama's failures in the Build Back Better spending bill.  It includes a $3 billion “tree equity” outlay for planting saplings and $25 million on “anti-discrimination and bias training” in the healthcare industry — as well as nearly $79 billion for the Internal Revenue Service to step up its enforcement of tax laws. (Don't spend more than $600 or you might get audited.)  And now this boondoggle.  The belief apparently is that it was lack of money, not lack of history, of common sense, and his own racism.

"Recently unearthed documents reveal that the FBI knew the IRS was unfairly targeting groups because of their conservative politics two years before Congress even heard about the agency’s misconduct.  The revelation has already added fodder to the conservative case to impeach the current IRS Commissioner John Koskinen."  Judicial Watch

http://dailysignal.com/2016/07/28/obama-administration-knew-of-irs-scandal-2-years-before-congress-but-did-nothing/

Very disappointing.  I doubt that anyone really trusts the IRS, but we expect the FBI to do better.

The IRS is at it again!

 What could be worse than the IRS being in charge of your medical records?  How about crushing with a burden of paper work every organization you donate to? And not just demanding donor lists for conservative groups like they did to conservatives during the 2012 campaign.  This could also hurt you Democrats who have a heart for charity. The IRS has proposed a new regulation that would require 501(c)3 charitable organizations to collect social security numbers of donors who donate $250.  Mega death organizations like Planned Parenthood would have no problem with this, or the Clinton Foundation which has accepted millions from foreign donors while Hillary was Secretary of State.  But the little church around the corner?  Your local dog breed rescue group?

 https://www.501c3.org/irs-proposal-to-provide-social-security-numbers-of-donors-worries-charities/


“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Cor. 13:13

Massive tax scam

Don’t ever respond to the phone calls (or e-mails) supposedly from the IRS.  They are phony.  SCAMS!!  Reported on CBS this Morning.  This is not how the IRS works—although it’s a pretty heavy handed organization since release of information on investigating and harassing Christian and conservative organizations.

Just keep hanging up when you get such a call.

“Another major telemarketing scam starts with a threatening phone call supposedly from the IRS demanding money.

Tim Poulakis says he responded to a voice mail message from a man who said, “I am officer Andy from Internal Revenue Service.” The caller warned him “don’t discard this message” and told him to return the call before we take any legal action against you.

Poulakis said when he heard the message, “I panicked.”

He called back and was told he owed the IRS money for errors in four years of tax returns. Poulakis said he was told he had to pay the money that day. “Otherwise you will be detained. Sheriffs will come to your office,” and he would be arrested.

“They put the fear of God in me,” Poulakis said and he followed their instructions. He was told to pull money out his account, go to stores and load up prepaid cash cards to pay off the $3,489 debt. They had him scratch a number off the back of the card, read it to them, and kept him on the phone until the money was apparently downloaded to an account.

Then Poulakis was told they had some type of error and the amount was incorrect. He actually owed an additional amount ultimately bringing his total to $20,177. He followed the same instructions using prepaid cash cards explaining that he always tries to “do what’s right,” and “I just wanted this to go away.”

After learning from his tax preparer that this was a scam, “I was crying. And I couldn’t believe it. I was so angry.”

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/02/17/2-investigators-sophisticated-fast-growing-scams-costing-victims-millions/

This woman knew it was a scam and decided to scam the scammer. Watch what she does—leads them on (they barely speak English), then tells them what they are doing is illegal, so they hang up on her.

And yet the IRS found the time and resources to harass conservatives

“The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) fiscal year 2015 appropriation ($10.9 billion) and staffing levels (81,279 full-time equivalents, or FTE) continue a decline that has occurred over several years and are now below fiscal year 2009 levels. Since fiscal year 2010, IRS’s annual appropriation has declined by $1.2 billion, and staffing has fallen by about 11,000 FTEs since fiscal year 2009 while the agency’s workload has increased for reasons such as a surge in identity theft related refund fraud and the implementation of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). In response to budget cuts, IRS has taken steps to reduce staffing costs including extending a hiring freeze and limiting seasonal employment. According to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, IRS may also furlough employees for 2 days later in fiscal year 2015. IRS is concerned about filing season performance, and anticipates it may face some challenges processing returns that claim the Premium Tax Credit—an advanceable, refundable tax credit designed to help eligible individuals and families with low or moderate income afford health insurance purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace. As a result, IRS expects that some refunds may be delayed. IRS also projects significant declines in telephone level of service—only 38 percent of taxpayers who seek help from a live assistor will receive it and wait times will average almost one hour. IRS cites resource constraints and increased call volume as primary factors contributing to the decline in telephone performance.” GAO “Observations on IRS's Operations, Planning, and Resources “, GAO-15-420R: Published: Feb 27, 2015. Publicly Released: Mar 3, 2015.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-admits-targeting-conservatives-for-tax-scrutiny-in-2012-election/2013/05/10/3b6a0ada-b987-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/14/lawmakers-say-irs-targeted-dozens-more-conservative-groups-than-initially/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324659404578501411510635312

32,000 “lost” e-mails found

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20150227_Investigators__32_000_IRS_e-mails_found.html

Of course, the election she was trying to swing for Obama is over.

WASHINGTON - Investigators said Thursday that they have recovered 32,000 e-mails related to a former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party scandal.  But they don't know how many of them are new.

The e-mails were to and from Lois Lerner, who used to head the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. In June, the IRS told Congress it had lost an unknown number of Lerner's e-mails when her computer hard drive crashed in 2011.

At the time, IRS officials said the e-mails could not be recovered. But at a congressional hearing Thursday evening, Timothy Camus, IRS deputy inspector general, said investigators recovered thousands of e-mails from old computer tapes used to back up the agency's system.

I wonder is anyone will be prosecuted?  Probably not.  They are Democrats.  They get to lie with impunity.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/02/27/investigation-into-irs-scandal-now-a-criminal-probe-n1963260

Not surprisingly, in order to stonewall the congressional investigation into the targeting of conservative groups, IRS officials never asked IT professionals to look into gathering back-up tapes or recovering emails requested by Congress.

Despite IRS Commissioner John Koskinen repeatedly saying under oath in previous hearings that Lerner's emails could not be recovered, Camus and investigators have been successful in recovering nearly 33,000 emails relevant to the IRS investigation.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/lois-lerner-irs-emails-113124.html

It was actually reported in November. But I’m guessing it was known before the election, and news was put on the back burner by media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/11/21/irs-inspector-general-finds-up-to-30000-of-lois-lerners-e-mails/

The GOP-controlled House oversight and ways and means committees have sought the e-mails as part of their investigations into the IRS targeting scandal, which involved screening nonprofit advocacy groups for deeper review based on their names and policy positions. Most of the affected groups were conservative, although a small number of them were left-leaning.

Republicans have alleged that the Obama administration used the IRS and other enforcement agencies to silence conservative critics during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, when the targeting occurred.

How the IRS began covering up its wrongful actions in early 2012

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has released a scathing interim report detailing extreme political "bias" throughout the ranks of the IRS that led to it targeting conservative groups in response to the anti-conservative group rhetoric "being openly and loudly espoused by the President of the United States."

http://aclj.org/free-speech/house-oversight-report-confirms-irs-bias-targeting-icky-conservative-groups

http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/December-2014-IRS-Report.pdf

Criminal behavior by the IRS affects everyone, destroys trust in the government. Too bad we can’t get protesters to go out and march about that.

Isn’t technology amazing?

And the protection of government employees doing the President’s bidding—that’s pretty awesome also.

Sharyl Attkisson’s questions on Lois Lerner’s missing e-mails

• Please provide a timeline of the crash and documentation covering when it was first discovered and by whom; when, how and by whom it was learned that materials were lost; the official documentation reporting the crash and federal data loss; documentation reflecting all attempts to recover the materials; and the remediation records documenting the fix. This material should include the names of all officials and technicians involved, as well as all internal communications about the matter.
• Please provide all documents and emails that refer to the crash from the time that it happened through the IRS’ disclosure to Congress Friday that it had occurred.
• Please provide the documents that show the computer crash and lost data were appropriately reported to the required entities including any contractor servicing the IRS. If the incident was not reported, please explain why.
• Please provide a list summarizing what other data was irretrievably lost in the computer crash. If the loss involved any personal data, was the loss disclosed to those impacted? If not, why?
• Please provide documentation reflecting any security analyses done to assess the impact of the crash and lost materials. If such analyses were not performed, why not?
• Please provide documentation showing the steps taken to recover the material, and the names of all technicians who attempted the recovery.
• Please explain why redundancies required for federal systems were either not used or were not effective in restoring the lost materials, and provide documentation showing how this shortfall has been remediated.
• Please provide any documents reflecting an investigation into how the crash resulted in the irretrievable loss of federal data and what factors were found to be responsible for the existence of this situation.
• I would also ask for those who discovered and reported the crash to testify under oath, as well as any officials who reported the materials as having been irretrievably lost.

                  

http://sharylattkisson.com/lois-lerners-lost-emails-questions-for-the-irs/

Is it the technology or the people using it?

We have the snooping technology to ruin the career of a TV chef for something she said 20 years ago, and to get a CEO fired for how he voted in 2008 on a pro-marriage issue, but there's no way for branches of the military to be alerted that Bowe Bergdahl had emotional problems and was removed from the Coast Guard before he enlisted in the Army?

And how about those missing files in the IRS? It's amazing that the federal government has no back up, isn't it (as required by law)? Lois Lerner's e-mails for that important period of time the IRS was harassing conservatives have mysteriously just disappeared. Has the IRS ever lost information on what YOU owe the government?

http://www.itworld.com/security/55954/law-requires-email-archiving

IRS targets revealed in e-mails

Newly released internal Internal Revenue Service emails obtained by the group Judicial Watch document active direction by the federal tax agency's headquarters in targeting Tea Party and conservative nonprofit applicants during the 2010 and 2012 campaigns.

The emails were obtained by the conservative non-profit in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Read more here.

And it didn’t begin with over zealous Cincinnati IRS staff.

The Lerner Report

Lois G. Lerner, the now-retired Director of IRS Exempt Organizations, was extensively involved in targeting conservative-oriented tax-exempt applicants for inappropriate scrutiny. The Lerner report. http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Lerner-Report1.pdf

And I don't believe she made these decisions to target conservative groups without instruction from those above her.

It’s apparent that Lerner became very impatient waiting for changes in the law, and just decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Republicans are fighting back against proposed new IRS rules that they say would make formal the tax agency’s infamous crackdown on Tea Party groups that oppose the Obama agenda, stripping them of their free speech rights during election cycles. The new rules, first unveiled around Thanksgiving when no one was  paying attention, would prevent so-called 501(c)(4) social welfare/advocacy groups from participating in certain kinds of political activity. Such nonprofit organizations would be prevented from communicating with voters about candidates or political parties within 60 days of a general  election.   “Every American needs to know about this abuse of power,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said in a recent speech on the Senate floor. Although new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said he did not participate in drafting the rules, he has refused demands to block their implementation. Senate Democrats such as Mark Begich (Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) are demanding that the IRS crack down further on right-leaning nonprofits like Americans for Prosperity.” CRC Organization Trends, March 2013

Kevin Kookogey target of the IRS

Linchpins of Liberty is an American leadership-development enterprise designed to challenge the imagination of the rising generation. With an emphasis on the study of books about the human condition and about civil social order, Linchpins of Liberty aims to engage tomorrow’s leaders to think critically today about the inter-relation between individual liberty and morality, free-markets, limited government, strong national defense, and the traditional principles of our moral and constitutional order which have been passed down through Western Civilization.

Dirty deals on the IRS scandals

Neither the Democrats who fear their growing power, nor the Republicans who fear the same thing are going to take any action about the IRS criminal behavior against the Tea Party.

“President Obama and Democrats have been at great pains to insist they knew nothing about IRS targeting of conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofits before the 2012 election. They've been at even greater pains this week to ensure that the same conservative groups are silenced in the 2014 midterms.

That's the big, dirty secret of the omnibus negotiations. As one of the only bills destined to pass this year, the omnibus was—behind the scenes—a flurry of horse trading. One of the biggest fights was over GOP efforts to include language to stop the IRS from instituting a new round of 501(c)(4) targeting. The White House is so counting on the tax agency to muzzle its political opponents that it willingly sacrificed any manner of its own priorities to keep the muzzle in place.”

Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal—much more to read