It should not be surprising, then, that the US government is now cracking down on Americans who have outstanding tax bills — by holding their passports hostage. This could affect more than 360,000 Americans.
Former Congressman Bob Barr notes this week :
In an extremely troubling move three years ago, the Republican-controlled Congress handed the Internal Revenue Service the power to strip individuals of one of the most important and tangible rights possessed by American citizens – their passports. The Service is now starting to use this hammer.
Barr rightly points out that, given we already know the IRS uses its power to target political enemies, this new power of the agency is especially troubling.
He also asks how long other agencies might demand similar power from Congress, such as the power to stop a citizen’s ability to “secure a driver’s license, obtain[…] a loan from a federally-insured financial institution, or clear[…] a background check prior to purchasing a firearm?” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Gov. Mike Huckabee opined from his personal web page that he sees no reason for the agency to exist, and that the amount of power with which it continues to be bestowed has become increasingly troubling.
He remains the only major presidential candidate to advocate for a system that would eradicate the IRS and replace it with a consumption-based tax that requires no individual citizen to even file a return.
I never understood why I remain the only major Presidential candidate who’s run on a platform of replacing the income tax with the consumption-based Fair Tax. Talk about draining the swamp… https://t.co/M03IQvLpWP pic.twitter.com/UcgWF5qisi
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 5, 2018
The FairTax, as the plan that Huckabee promotes is called, would replace all individual income taxes with one sales tax that applies equally to all 255 million American taxpayers, eliminating the loopholes that allow many to escape income taxes.
No more payroll, Social Security or Medicare taxes either: all benefits would be funded by this one program, and Americans would receive every dollar of their paycheck. – READ MORE
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