IRS looking to hire thousands of ARMED tax agents to ENFORCE health care laws

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--- On Tue, 23/3/10, leslie o <oliveleslee

wrote:

 

leslie o <oliveleslee

IRS looking to hire thousands of ARMED tax agents to ENFORCE

health care laws

"Misty" <misty8

Tuesday, 23 March, 2010, 9:05 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 23, 2010 http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/22/irs-looking-to-hiring-thousands-of-armed-tax-agents-to-enforce-health-care-laws/

 

 

 

 

 

IRS looking to hire thousands of ARMED tax agents

to ENFORCE health care laws

 

By

Jonathan Strong - The Daily Caller   03/22/10 at 5:35

PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top IRS officials have been working with Democrats

on Capitol Hill to determine how the agency will enforce President

Obama’s new health care law. Republican lawmakers estimate the

legislation will require the hiring of many thousands of new tax

enforcement agents.

While it’s still not known exactly how many will be

hired, here’s what’s clear: Under the new law, the IRS is required to

fine taxpayers thousands of dollars if they do not purchase health

insurance. In order for the government to enforce compliance, tax

authorities will need information, for the first time, about people’s

health care. Collecting that data will require more IRS personnel.

Consider what has happened in Massachusetts, which

passed a similar health care bill in 2006. To enforce the individual

mandate, the state’s Department of Revenue asks filers what kind of

insurance they have, as well as details like whether their “sincerely

held religious beliefs†are moving them to petition for an exemption

from the requirement.

The form also asks workers whether their employer

gives them “affordable†coverage, forcing some employees to decide

between tattling on their workplace and submitting false information to

tax agents.

Critics have slammed the new federal mandate for its

harsh consequences (failing to buy health insurance could land you in

jail) and have raised constitutional questions about its legality. And

they point to the Obama administration’s recent efforts to ramp up IRS

audits, especially of small businesses, as evidence that the mandate is

likely to prove more onerous than previously thought.

The Obama administration’s plan to increase audits

is in line with a long-term agency goal of ending the “tax gap,â€

bureaucratese for the amount of uncollected taxes each year. In 2001,

the IRS estimated the gap at around $300 billion.

Critics call the agency’s estimates dubious and fear

the tax agency will overreach in its efforts under Obama, who launched

a tax task force last year in part with the goal of collecting more

revenue.

A July 2009 report from the agency says the IRS is

going to “increase audit coverage and better target returns for

examination†including focusing on Schedule C audits that often target

small businesses and the self-employed.

The document also says tax agents will share details

with state enforcement agencies to increase enforcement efficiency.

To examine more Americans’ tax filings, Obama is

proposing more money for the agency. His latest budget proposes “over

$8 billion in the Internal Revenue Service’s enforcement and

modernization programs†to support “significant new revenue-generating

initiatives that will target critical areas of non-compliance.â€

The administration’s plans are exacerbating concerns

of some critics with the health care bill’s mandate, in part because it

will require a veritable new army of enforcement agents.

A March 18 report from House Ways & Means

Committee Republicans estimates the IRS will need to hire between

11,800 and 16,500 new agents to enforce the bill.

The report slams the bill’s “plans to grant massive

new powers to the IRS, backed up by billions of dollars in additional

taxpayer fund for the hiring of thousands of new IRS agents, examiners,

and other personnel.â€

 

Tags: Barack Obama, Department of

Revenue, enforcement agents, health care,

health care bill, health care law, Internal Revenue

Service, IRS, IRS tax forms, Obama,

Obama administration,

Politics, Tax avoidance and

tax evasion, tax enforcement

agents, Tax protester

statutory arguments, Tax resistance, Taxation in the

United States, Taxes, taxman,

United States

 

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/22/irs-looking-to-hiring-thousands-of-armed-tax-agents-to-enforce-health-care-laws/#ixzz0iz6gDTsc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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