Taxes are our money! The government appears to run it through a bureaucracy to shave as much off as possible before it gets to the place where it can do any good. This makes a handy target for a candidate singing songs of tax cuts and better government efficiency.
The problem is a lack of perspective!
Once you start to realize that
are the government, you start to feel like you can grab hold of it. But where? My belief
is that what is really missing is reciprocity.
You can go and fill out applications to get a job, fight a commute, report daily to a brutal boss, and the money you earn through this ordeal is reported to the government. You can visit a casino and win more than a set limit and they will write you an IRS form 1099 on the spot. In fact, it seems that there is nothing you can do on your own volition to earn money through risk or effort that is not reported to the government. In fact, even having a relationship to labor practically guarantees that you’ll have your earnings, such as they are, reported to the government. Do you think it fair that you have to report unemployment compensation?
I think the problem is not that working people have to report our income to the government and file tax returns. I believe the problem comes from all the entitlement programs and other government tax credits where NON-working people don’t have their government income reported. They call it income redistribution but they forget to include the reporting requirements!
In Texas, as you know I’m sure, when we went from the paper Food Stamp program to the Lone Star Card to alleviate fraud issues, almost 100,000 families decided they really weren’t “needy” any more. I’m sure if every individual that got any payment or tax advantage from the government got issued a 1099 along with their benefit it would likewise reduce fraud.
There are myriad other examples. Recently the Supreme Court took a case to decide whether it was fair to require identification when you vote. The opponents of the law put forth a woman that had a Florida driver’s license but was trying to vote in Indiana and of course it took her a little longer to cast her ballot. They found out later that she claimed a homestead exemption in both states. Of course, if she had received an IRS Form 1099-homestead from each state the IRS would have notified the local governments. You don’t have to be a tax attorney to believe there is something taxable there. How would you categorize her abuse of the system?
Politicians buy votes by doling out money but fraud mainly occurs because there are no reporting requirements. Do you think there are any people in Texas who are receiving benefits in two different counties at the same time? Bet on it. Do you believe that there are people receiving benefits that aren’t even legal residents? You know the answer!
Filing tax returns is an obligation every citizen must shoulder. Every citizen, but especially any person who benefits from governments income redistribution efforts. Every working citizen knows there can come a time where you don’t owe any taxes but you do owe the government a tax return. No excuses are ever accepted from the IRS.
As a U.S. Senator I could address this issue directly but the point of this write-in campaign is to encourage a change in our American perspective. I want your vote, make no mistake about that, but we can begin the change today.
Solution
We can start by making Open Records requests to find out what the data dictionary for their database looks like, develop net-based teams to develop 1099 reporting systems, and then force our governments report payments or tax exemptions/credits to the IRS.