Gary North thinks like RBC

PC Editor comments: Finally I can't help it -- too many great stories coming through, gotta resume chronicling them. (Anybody know how to re-title a blog? The lower-case "e" didn't come through in "ePC" as I'd hoped. Actually I need a great deal of help in spiffing this blog up.)
Here's the latest find, courtesy of a stalwart IRS fighter in the Atlanta PN group. I love it! I've always said that for us to win once and for all, patriots merely need to do to our oppressors everything they do to us -- except of course we operate within the law, they're lawless. Of course you all know what most of the businesses affected don't -- the 1099 is mostly a psychological ploy, another little trick to keep the people thinking Big Brother is omniscient and omnipotent. My guess is that most of this new filing won't even be processed. Bureau-rats will merely pat themselves on the back for putting another needless, pointless burden on business and.... maybe throw it all in the trash?
We've previously covered the way the IRS does one massive billion-dollar computer upgrade after another without -- thank God -- any improvement in efficiency. So much for the supposedly godlike fedgov and its "instrumentalities". Everything is in our favor if we'll only claim it in sufficient numbers!
News! We want news! National news, local news, your news, movement news -- send us your action and progress reports and anything you find that seems in the least bit relevant. We don't promise to use it all but the bigger a pool of news items we have to draw on the richer the mix here will be. God knows we've got the minds and the fighters to have the best freedom site around. Reach me at TORPENHOW at CHARTER dot NET. Everybody have a great day in the Cause, y'all!
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From: XXXXX

To: PN Executive Director

Subject: 1099 Tsunami

The link below is to an article by Gary North that YYYYY mentioned at last night's meeting. North makes excellent points and his suggestions are well within Robert's teachings and philosophy. I think we may need to emblazon several of the key statements and concepts on posters, t-shirts, what-have-you ... "billions and billions" of hand-written forms, inquiries,
requests for review. "Paperwork is the essence of every bureaucracy. Let's do it by the book: with paper."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north846.html

The 1099 Tsunami

by Gary North

Earlier this year, some staffer in some office on Capitol Hill dutifully inserted a provision into the health insurance bill that will force businesses to file 1099 forms on every transaction with another business for over $600. Buy a $601 used car for your business? You must file a 1099. CNN Money describes this law.

The massive expansion of requirements for businesses to file 1099 tax forms that was hidden in the 2,409-page health reform bill took many by surprise when it came to light last month. But it's just one piece of a years-long legislative stealth campaign to create ways for the federal government to track down unreported income.

The result: A blizzard of new tax forms that the Internal Revenue Service will begin rolling out next year.

There appears to have been little discussion before this damaging mandate was slipped into the health bill and rammed through Congress, but a few business groups did raise concerns. Here's what the Air Conditioner Contractors of America said:

The House bill would extend the Form 1099 filing requirement to ALL vendors (including corporate) to which they pay more than $600 annually for services or property. Consider all the payments a small business makes in the course of business, paying for things such as computers, software, office supplies, and fuel to services, including janitorial services, coffee services, and package delivery services. In order to file all these 1099s, you'll need to collect the necessary information from all your service providers. In order to comply with the law, you would have to get a Taxpayer Information Number or TIN from the business. If the vendor does not supply you with a TIN, you are obligated to withhold on your payments.

The IRS will be buried in billions of new forms. I'm an older guy. I think back to Carl Sagan's memorable words in the 1980 PBS series, Cosmos: "billions and billions." These forms will have to be scanned into the system. If businessmen want to protest this law in a legal but effective way, they will have their tax preparers write in the numbers by hand. Then IRS will have to type in the data on each form by hand. Billions and billions!

ARCHAIC COMPUTERS

The IRS computers in Martinsburg, West Virginia are old. How old? The system became operational in 1962, three years after Robert Byrd (D-WV) was elected to the Senate. That is to say, it is really old! For over a decade, the IRS has been trying to implement a new system with the acronym, CADE. It is not anywhere near fully operational. This report appeared in Federal Computer Week (Jan. 12, 2010): "Stuck in the mud: IRS spins its wheels on electronic modernization."

The Customer Account Data Engine (CADE), a part of the IRS Business Modernization Program that is intended eventually to replace the legacy Master File processing system, processed 40 million returns in 2009, producing taxpayer refunds from one to eight days faster than the older system. CADE originally was to be completed by 2012, but increasing complexities have extended that date. "After over 5 years and $400 million, CADE is only processing about 15 percent of the functionality originally planned for completion by 2012," a Government Accountability Office report says. Each successive release of the system was expected to process more complex returns, but several technical challenges in the system had not been dealt with. The IRS estimated that full implementation would not be achieved until at least 2018, and possibly as late as 2028. After realizing how much remained to be done, the IRS decided to stop development of new CADE functionality and rethink its strategy for modernizing individual taxpayer accounts, the GAO report said. To handle the expected volume in electronic tax return filing for 2010, the IRS will upgrade its legacy Individual Master File system to handle returns not being processed by CADE more quickly.

In short, the IRS has been unable to modernize its system after a decade. It will take another decade. It may take two. Now some staffer has created a 1099 tsunami for the IRS, which will hit in 2013.

GIVE THEM WHAT THEY ASK FOR: PAPER

Business owners and managers will be outraged. But what if word spreads? "No electronic filing!" What if the tax preparers fill in all the forms by hand. It is legal. It is not efficient, but it's not all that much extra work. Pay a few dollars more per filing. At the other end, the IRS will get to process these forms by hand. Think of what happens if businesses were to challenge every challenge by the IRS? The business's CPA simply asks in writing – I do mean writing (hand-written) – for the IRS to review the case. Point out one mistake made by the IRS. Automatically, every business should challenge every request for more tax money. No exceptions. Be polite. Just ask the IRS to review its case in terms of this new information. There are always gray areas. Put them to use. Pay a few bucks to your tax preparer. Paperwok is the essence of every bureaucracy. Let's do it by the book: with paper.

May 24, 2010

Gary North [send him mail] is the author of Mises on Money. Visit http://www.garynorth.com. He is also the author of a free 20-volume series, An Economic Commentary on the Bible.

Copyright © 2010 Gary North