Oh, it's perfect! OBAMACARE COMPLIANCE is the stated reason why IRS activity is partly gutted:
IRS chief: Blame rotten customer service and data hacks on Obamacare
Both cybersecurity and customer service at the Internal Revenue Service have suffered because of Obamacare, the agency's head said in remarks to Congress on Thursday.
"Congress, as I noted in my testimony, has underfunded … the Affordable Care Act," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told a panel of the House Appropriations Committee. "That does not remove the statutory mandate we have that we have to implement the act."
Koskinen delivered his remarks in response to a question from Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., who pointed out that Congress had "increased funding specifically for taxpayer services" in 2014 and 2016.
Koskinen said it didn't matter where Congress intended the money to go, explaining the agency had pulled funding for customer service and cybersecurity in order to ensure compliance with the ACA.
"As I said two years ago, at the continued level of underfunding, the things that were going to suffer were going to be enforcement, taxpayer service, and ultimately … information technology," Koskinen said.
More than eight million phone calls to the agency's customer service line went unanswered in the last filing season. Koskinen added that the agency hasn't fully funded customer service for the last "three or four years," and that about $900 million had been pulled from cybersecurity.,,...
Whoa, EIGHT MILLION CALLS to IRS "CUSTOMER SERVICE" went unanswered? That's more than 800 per working hour at 500 weeks peryear, apparently more than they're talking about! Hey -- "customer service" -- if they still insist on calling it that, it's got to be the worst record of it in any sector or corner of the global economy ever.
What better time than the present to demand what the "Service" is selling if we're its "customers"? But what other meaning do these terms have? What other entity on earth offers "customer service" if the only transaction is you giving them money for federal operations so removed from your real interests, needs and wants they might as well be on trans-Neptunian object (15760) 1992 QB1.
Just how much "security" do we have to have before we can actually feel secure again?
Etc.
/\/.\/\/.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Finally, Harrell in total disgrace and OUT IN THE COLD
The wheels of justice grind slowly in South Carolina -- when they grind at all. Here they've ground out a big victory over long-entrenched corruption in the belly of the beast -- the GOP buddy system in Columbia:
Harrell Saga Comes to Losing End
In what was likely the last time disgraced former House Speaker Bobby Harrell faced his peers in a Blatt Building meeting room Tuesday morning, Harrell was a defeated man.
Bobby Harrell will have to repay $113,475 in legal fees he used campaign funds for.
Bobby Harrell will have to repay $113,475 in legal fees he used campaign funds for.
Attempting one last appeal that his expenditures of $113,475 in campaign funds to pay legal defenses related to his failed defense against ethics charges he pleaded guilty to were legal, Harrell’s latest attorney, Mark Peper, made a 10-minute argument on his client’s behalf but to no avail.
After a meeting in executive session to consider Peper’s appeals – a total dropping of the charges against him – prosecuting attorney Deborah Barbier took the podium to reiterate the state’s position against Harrell: The use of funds was illegal, Harrell made misrepresentations to the committee about them, the claims made by Peper had no basis (including one in which Peper alleged First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe told him it was OK), and the state should seek repayment within 180 days and issue a public reprimand and $1,000 fine.
In a unanimous vote moments later, the House Ethics Committee did just that, finding Harrell guilty of using campaign funds to pay fees in a criminal case he lost that centered around misuse of campaign funds for personal gain.
“I’m disappointed,” Harrell said in a brief statement in the hallway outside following the meeting. “I don’t agree with the decision the committee made but I do very much appreciate the committee finally giving us an opportunity to come up and state our side publicly.”
Per South Carolina law, Harrell would have been able to pay for his defense with campaign funds if he had won his case.
As for having to pay back the $113,475, Peper said his client doesn’t have it, as he faces a bill of more than $600,000 in attorney’s fees incurred during his losing fight. “And he doesn’t have my bill yet,” Peper said with a smile as he walked away.
Two telling comments follow the piece:
Does this mean that finally someone in this state is willing to take on the corrupt politicians?
One could say this judgement is better than going to jail.
The latter is, I trust, facetious. Jail is indeed a less damaging fate than some others, but they really should be throwing this bum in the slammer and tossing the key into the Congaree River.
/\/.\/\/.
Harrell Saga Comes to Losing End
In what was likely the last time disgraced former House Speaker Bobby Harrell faced his peers in a Blatt Building meeting room Tuesday morning, Harrell was a defeated man.
Bobby Harrell will have to repay $113,475 in legal fees he used campaign funds for.
Bobby Harrell will have to repay $113,475 in legal fees he used campaign funds for.
Attempting one last appeal that his expenditures of $113,475 in campaign funds to pay legal defenses related to his failed defense against ethics charges he pleaded guilty to were legal, Harrell’s latest attorney, Mark Peper, made a 10-minute argument on his client’s behalf but to no avail.
After a meeting in executive session to consider Peper’s appeals – a total dropping of the charges against him – prosecuting attorney Deborah Barbier took the podium to reiterate the state’s position against Harrell: The use of funds was illegal, Harrell made misrepresentations to the committee about them, the claims made by Peper had no basis (including one in which Peper alleged First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe told him it was OK), and the state should seek repayment within 180 days and issue a public reprimand and $1,000 fine.
In a unanimous vote moments later, the House Ethics Committee did just that, finding Harrell guilty of using campaign funds to pay fees in a criminal case he lost that centered around misuse of campaign funds for personal gain.
“I’m disappointed,” Harrell said in a brief statement in the hallway outside following the meeting. “I don’t agree with the decision the committee made but I do very much appreciate the committee finally giving us an opportunity to come up and state our side publicly.”
Per South Carolina law, Harrell would have been able to pay for his defense with campaign funds if he had won his case.
As for having to pay back the $113,475, Peper said his client doesn’t have it, as he faces a bill of more than $600,000 in attorney’s fees incurred during his losing fight. “And he doesn’t have my bill yet,” Peper said with a smile as he walked away.
Two telling comments follow the piece:
Does this mean that finally someone in this state is willing to take on the corrupt politicians?
One could say this judgement is better than going to jail.
The latter is, I trust, facetious. Jail is indeed a less damaging fate than some others, but they really should be throwing this bum in the slammer and tossing the key into the Congaree River.
/\/.\/\/.
Monday, February 8, 2016
The IRS is the next NSA
The Internal Revenue "Service" is now using surveillance devices on citizens, probably politically motivated. This was discussed at the fantastic PN meeting in Greer, SC on Saturday. Here is a PROMOTION on it. No doubt you get these lengthy audio-visual presentations via email -- there's no way to verify the product or services at the end, but they often contain useful, timely topical info:
We present this strictly as backup to developments now going on, but do not of course endorse what's being sold.
"Freest country in the world"??
"They hate us for our freedom and prosperity"????
/\/.\/\/.
Someones blown the whistle.
And its no surprise that the IRS is rife with corruption and abuse of power. The people wielding this power operate in an environment where our socialist government’s ability to effectively “take” is more effective than ever before….
Here are three facts you should know:
(1) The IRS is politically motivated and targets certain groups.
You have probably heard something about this... Less than a year ago, the IRS was caught up in a conspiracy whereby they were targeting Liberty-based organizations filing for tax exempt status.
In June 2015, it came out that the IRS targeted specific political groups, like the Tea Party, applying for tax-exempt status, delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications, and requested unnecessary information from targeted groups. (some of which had been in process for three years).
But there is something even more troubling...
(2) The IRS can and will spy on you.
The IRS is acting like the NSA and using secret spy technology, usually reserved for law enforcement, to track cell phones. The Guardian reported last year that the IRS spent tens of thousands on Sting Rays, devices used by authorities that act like cell phone towers and intercept cell phone signals that would normally go to cellular towers. This allows authorities to track where you are, usually without a warrant and often without a court order. Some Sting Rays can even detect information about your texts, calls and emails.
One of these "super stingrays" is called the HailStorm, which is capable of gathering the actual contents of conversations and images in addition to gathering location and numbers dialed.
Worried now? Just keep reading…
(3) They have no checks and balances on their behavior.
After the reports came out that the IRS was targeting certain groups, President Obama dismissed it on the Daily Show as “Congress’ Fault” and a reaction to a “Crummy Law” which Congress had passed. Obama went so far as to say that there was “ “not a smidgen of corruption” related to the incident. Accountability? None.
And in response to the allegations of spy tactics? The IRS heads ignored subpoenas and once again trampled on our privacy rights without anyone batting an eye.
Enough is enough, and at least one inside agent has just flipped.
You won’t believe his incredible story.
Enjoy,
Max
We present this strictly as backup to developments now going on, but do not of course endorse what's being sold.
"Freest country in the world"??
"They hate us for our freedom and prosperity"????
/\/.\/\/.
Friday, January 29, 2016
More tax trickery in SC -- if we allow it! Thanks for nothing, NIKKI BABY
From: South Carolina Campaign for Liberty [mailto:south.carolina@campaignforliberty.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2016 12:41 PM
Subject: No tax! No swap!
Campaign for Liberty
The fight started this week.
The bad news is the South Carolina Senate still wants more of your money and is fighting to raise your gas tax.
The good news is we can fix our roads without raising taxes!
With $1.2 billion found in new tax revenue, there is no need to raise taxes this year.
It's time to leave no doubt in your senator's mind. . . we will accept NO tax increase.
Nor will we accept a tax swap.
A swap - pairing a hike with a cut in another tax - is one way the South Carolina Senate is scheming to get more money out of your pocket.
The problem is we always lose when politicians want to reduce one tax in exchange for raising another.
Please contact your state senator RIGHT AWAY and clear up any doubt. Tell them you will accept neither a tax hike nor a tax swap!
You can find your senator and their contact information here:
You can simply say, No gas tax hike. No gas tax swap. Period!
They tried to pull a fast one last year.
Governor Haley proposed a reduction in income tax in exchange for a hike in the gas tax.
The problem?
The gas tax hike was to be phased in over three years. The income tax cut was to be phased in over ten years.
So please make it perfectly clear to your state senator:
>>> No tax hike
>>> No tax swap
The problem isn't just the long phase in time for the tax cut.
It's the funny political math they use to make the numbers work out.
Haley promoted the tax swap as "revenue neutral," and had some numbers to show that the tax cut was equal to the tax hike.
However, once the South Carolina Policy Council, a non-profit, non-partisan government watchdog, had a chance to review the math, the "œrevenue neutral" tax swap turned out to be a joke.
You see, Haley was basing her total amount of taxes cut over the ten-year period on the idea that your income would grow 4.3% every year for the next 10 years.
I don't think base income levels in South Carolina have ever done that!
In fact, from 2008 to 2012 South Carolina incomes grew annually by less than 1%.
So please, contact your state senator and tell them both a tax hike and a tax swap are completely unacceptable!
You can find your senator and their contact information at this link:
Why would they go to all the trouble to swap the sources of their tax money if they weren't going to end up with MORE MONEY?
Plain and simple, you and I know they wouldn't.
They always get more money in a tax swap.
We won't fall for it anymore.
So make sure you tell your state senator loud and clear. Contact them today.
There is no time to waste. They are debating it now. It could pass any time if you and I remain silent.
Thanks for all you do!
In Liberty,
Talbert Black, Jr.
President
South Carolina Campaign for Liberty
P.S. The South Carolina Senate is debating a gas tax hike right now. They are trying to get us to swallow this tax hike with a so-called swap for a tax cut elsewhere. We always lose in a tax swap even though they claim it is "revenue neutral." It never turns out that way.
Why would they go to all the trouble to swap the sources of their tax money if they weren't going to end up with MORE MONEY?
So please, contact your state senator and tell them you will not accept any tax hike, nor any tax swap.
You can find your senator and their contact information at this link:
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2016 12:41 PM
Subject: No tax! No swap!
Campaign for Liberty
The fight started this week.
The bad news is the South Carolina Senate still wants more of your money and is fighting to raise your gas tax.
The good news is we can fix our roads without raising taxes!
With $1.2 billion found in new tax revenue, there is no need to raise taxes this year.
It's time to leave no doubt in your senator's mind. . . we will accept NO tax increase.
Nor will we accept a tax swap.
A swap - pairing a hike with a cut in another tax - is one way the South Carolina Senate is scheming to get more money out of your pocket.
The problem is we always lose when politicians want to reduce one tax in exchange for raising another.
Please contact your state senator RIGHT AWAY and clear up any doubt. Tell them you will accept neither a tax hike nor a tax swap!
You can find your senator and their contact information here:
You can simply say, No gas tax hike. No gas tax swap. Period!
They tried to pull a fast one last year.
Governor Haley proposed a reduction in income tax in exchange for a hike in the gas tax.
The problem?
The gas tax hike was to be phased in over three years. The income tax cut was to be phased in over ten years.
So please make it perfectly clear to your state senator:
>>> No tax hike
>>> No tax swap
The problem isn't just the long phase in time for the tax cut.
It's the funny political math they use to make the numbers work out.
Haley promoted the tax swap as "revenue neutral," and had some numbers to show that the tax cut was equal to the tax hike.
However, once the South Carolina Policy Council, a non-profit, non-partisan government watchdog, had a chance to review the math, the "œrevenue neutral" tax swap turned out to be a joke.
You see, Haley was basing her total amount of taxes cut over the ten-year period on the idea that your income would grow 4.3% every year for the next 10 years.
I don't think base income levels in South Carolina have ever done that!
In fact, from 2008 to 2012 South Carolina incomes grew annually by less than 1%.
So please, contact your state senator and tell them both a tax hike and a tax swap are completely unacceptable!
You can find your senator and their contact information at this link:
Why would they go to all the trouble to swap the sources of their tax money if they weren't going to end up with MORE MONEY?
Plain and simple, you and I know they wouldn't.
They always get more money in a tax swap.
We won't fall for it anymore.
So make sure you tell your state senator loud and clear. Contact them today.
There is no time to waste. They are debating it now. It could pass any time if you and I remain silent.
Thanks for all you do!
In Liberty,
Talbert Black, Jr.
President
South Carolina Campaign for Liberty
P.S. The South Carolina Senate is debating a gas tax hike right now. They are trying to get us to swallow this tax hike with a so-called swap for a tax cut elsewhere. We always lose in a tax swap even though they claim it is "revenue neutral." It never turns out that way.
Why would they go to all the trouble to swap the sources of their tax money if they weren't going to end up with MORE MONEY?
So please, contact your state senator and tell them you will not accept any tax hike, nor any tax swap.
You can find your senator and their contact information at this link:
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Federal scam department finds itself up against competition
Or as the government-embedded media put it.
New IRS Strategy May Make It Harder To Distinguish Tax Collectors From Scammers
The news here is (1) that the IRS is finally planning to actuate a strategy long-discussed but long-delayed: using collection agencies, and (2) the gullible will now be up against "normal" IRS and state Department of Revenue fraud, but private-sector thieves pretending to be the IRS as well.
I don't think you have to worry much about #1. The Great One used to say to watch out if the goons started contracting out the collection of "income taxes", but that was before the Greater Depression set in around 2008. This has done what 9/11 tried to but couldn't: "change everything". That includes the IRS' workings -- at least twice they've announced that cutbacks were necessary and "services" to "taxpayers" would be much slower moving.
NW translation: Fewer audits and conquests but also more people hanging in limbo for longer as their cases get jammed in the works. If this new plan succeeds any better than the IRS' other stratagems, I'll eat my hat.
As for #2, start alerting friends and family that not only the scammer scammers but the IRS scammers may be calling them now. Especially vulnerable are the very old and very young. My advice would be to tell any real or potentially fake IRS agent who calls that you insist all communication be in writing, or (failing that) in person.
/\/.\/\/.
New IRS Strategy May Make It Harder To Distinguish Tax Collectors From Scammers
The news here is (1) that the IRS is finally planning to actuate a strategy long-discussed but long-delayed: using collection agencies, and (2) the gullible will now be up against "normal" IRS and state Department of Revenue fraud, but private-sector thieves pretending to be the IRS as well.
I don't think you have to worry much about #1. The Great One used to say to watch out if the goons started contracting out the collection of "income taxes", but that was before the Greater Depression set in around 2008. This has done what 9/11 tried to but couldn't: "change everything". That includes the IRS' workings -- at least twice they've announced that cutbacks were necessary and "services" to "taxpayers" would be much slower moving.
NW translation: Fewer audits and conquests but also more people hanging in limbo for longer as their cases get jammed in the works. If this new plan succeeds any better than the IRS' other stratagems, I'll eat my hat.
As for #2, start alerting friends and family that not only the scammer scammers but the IRS scammers may be calling them now. Especially vulnerable are the very old and very young. My advice would be to tell any real or potentially fake IRS agent who calls that you insist all communication be in writing, or (failing that) in person.
/\/.\/\/.
Ex-communist countries lead the way in a whole nother direction
Having finally escaped the yoke of Bolshevism, Eastern Europe found itself ruined by decades of oppression and victimization. Western "democracies", for all their devotion to "democracy", have taken little notice of their existence and problems while spending trillions fixing what ain't broke in countries Israel hates and fears.
Ironically, the underground economy was a major feature of those mostly Slavic societies while they were still being stomped by the USSR -- and now their citizens are finding they must resort to it all over again as a matter of personal survival. Liberation from Soviet satellite-hood didn't, alas, mean conversion into a low-tax free-market economic life. Rapacious politicians and bureaucrats find their level everywhere, and these noble but hapless nations were ready marks for them.
You'll see the "value-added sales tax" (VAT) mentioned as a factor. This is a form of pure economic cannibalism. Note that the citizens are expected to pay both income taxes and a no doubt crushing VAT over there -- open, bald-faced double taxation on their right to earn a living! Take note, all ye "fair tax" dupes, getting a national sales tax DOES NOT mean losing the income tax.
The Glorious Underground Economies and How Folks are Learning to Survive and Thrive While P***ing Off Statists, Socialists and Tax Collectors
/\/.\/\/.
Ironically, the underground economy was a major feature of those mostly Slavic societies while they were still being stomped by the USSR -- and now their citizens are finding they must resort to it all over again as a matter of personal survival. Liberation from Soviet satellite-hood didn't, alas, mean conversion into a low-tax free-market economic life. Rapacious politicians and bureaucrats find their level everywhere, and these noble but hapless nations were ready marks for them.
You'll see the "value-added sales tax" (VAT) mentioned as a factor. This is a form of pure economic cannibalism. Note that the citizens are expected to pay both income taxes and a no doubt crushing VAT over there -- open, bald-faced double taxation on their right to earn a living! Take note, all ye "fair tax" dupes, getting a national sales tax DOES NOT mean losing the income tax.
The Glorious Underground Economies and How Folks are Learning to Survive and Thrive While P***ing Off Statists, Socialists and Tax Collectors
Do your patriotic duty today. Remind somebody (especially a young person) that communism once existed and ate most of Eurasia.
Friday, January 8, 2016
The hubris is bottomless: IRS plans for "service cutbacks", latest version
IRS watchdog warns of scaled-back service in agency plans
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS is planning to push you to fire up the computer rather than calling for tax help, but the agency's in-house watchdog say that could freeze out millions of taxpayers or force them to pay for advice.
As part of a plan that would focus more on online accounts for the 150 million individual taxpayers and 11 million businesses seeking help and information, the IRS may soon dramatically scale back telephone and face-to-face service, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said in her annual report to Congress.
Olson said the IRS should be more open about its plans and that service cutbacks may cause an increasing number of people to turn to tax preparers and software such as TurboTax to file their returns.
That would increase tax compliance costs for millions of filers.
"Implicit in the plan — and explicit in internal discussion — is an intention on the part of the IRS to substantially reduce telephone and face-to-face interaction with taxpayers," Olson's report said. "The key unanswered question is by how much. ... It is incumbent upon the IRS to be much more specific about how much personal taxpayer assistance it expects to provide."
The IRS said Olson's report did not paint an accurate picture. It said taxpayers want new options to interact with the agency and that moving more communications online would free up resources for traditional services.
"The IRS remains fully committed to personal service to taxpayers, and the IRS believes increasing the availability of self-service interaction frees up in-person resources for taxpayers who truly need them, including those who are not comfortable online or don't have personal access to a computer," the statement said......
Now you have two sides of a strange new story -- the IRS' side and that of something National Taxpayer Advocate. It's good we have a translator for the IRS' doubletalk, because this time the blather is even more disconnected from reality than usual.
Calling the IRS a "Service" was one of the greatest acts of hubris in modern history. For it to talk of itself as a source of actual service is vulgar beyond belief -- even offensive. Its purpose is only one thing, gougling the public and business for mostly unlawful "tax" payments to keep the evil global new world order going. In short, it's a hitman. Plumbers and shopkeepers have to give major blood every payday so Congressmen can live large in DC and drop bombs on wedding parties in countries too relatively small or weak to defend themselves.
So the only "service" it offers is gangland -- you pay us the protection money or fill in this space with any complaints or problems. During the depression the IRS has helped cause, the space -- which started the size of a tooth -- has kept shrinking, to the point that you need a magnifying glass to see it.
Remember the old wall poster parodying bureaucratic forms saying that type thing? The space was a tiny "check the box"-style one. Can't find an exemplar to share paste in, but baby boomers will remember them.
For the second or third time since the 2008 crash, IRS is warning that the only "service" it offers is newly failing and faltering. The Taxpayer Advocate among the real benefits brought by the Taxpayer Bills of Rights that have been legislated in response to citizens' demands for relief, and it is actually doing its job with these warnings. When the first such Bill was established I couldn't believe it was more than mere window dressing, but Dr. Clarkson used to refer to it as somewhat substantial.
The Kafkaseque irony of this real picture is greater than any satire of it such as the movie Harry's War. Many people might call it "ridiculous", but it's outrageous -- shockingly bad. The news we want and deserve to hear is that the IRS is closing its doors. Who knows, it may be further down the pike!
Dear God, let that be a positive portent only.
/\/.\/\/.
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