Washington, D.C. – Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher liked to remind people the only problem with socialism was that no matter how noble the program, sooner or later the bureaucrats and politicians “run out of other people’s money” to spend while they’re busy being virtuous.
It’s a lesson that’s been lost on Team Biden. The $3 trillion in new taxes and the $3.5 trillion in new spending it’s trying to ram through Congress is a return to the kind of big government socialism America hasn’t seen since the 1960s. And the push to “Build Back Better” is just a down payment.
What’s holding it all up is the fact the progressives, for all their noise about “making the rich pay their fair share”, the progressives have just about run out of “other people’s money” to tax. They’re at the point where the burden of any tax hike will fall most severely on the already cash-strapped middle class and they intend to get it any way they can.
Consider the administration’s proposal regarding financial transactions that exceed $600. The White House is pushing, in general terms, for legislation that would force banks and other financial institutions to report to the IRS each year on their customers’ account inflows and outflows. Official estimates say that would generate about $463 billion in additional revenue over the next decade – because of its value in helping catch people who cheat on their taxes.
The dollar amount isn’t set in stone – yet. Meaning your bank or credit union might be reporting to the IRS every year on your rent or mortgage, your car payments, and your credit card payments as though it somehow has the right to know about them. If that’s not indexed to inflation, that could mean they’d also eventually be getting a look at your utility bills, what you spend at the grocery and your online purchases.
Once upon a time, liberals made brave stands in defense of what they said was a constitutionally defined right to privacy. No more, apparently. They don’t believe the IRS – one of the most politicized agencies in the entire federal government – is entitled to receive information about your spending it currently can only get with a warrant. What Biden and company want amounts to the biggest upgrade in domestic surveillance since the passage of The Patriot Act in the days after 9/11.
In Biden’s future America, the one that has been built back better, every American with a bank account would be subject to government monitoring of what goes in and what goes out despite the lack of probable cause – that nasty little concept that stems from the 4th amendment’s protection against illegal search and seizure of property by the government – the people whose finances are being scrutinized have evaded paying the taxes they owe.
Biden’s allies in Congress are being pressured to find all the love they can for this idea. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richie Neal, D-Mass., got a letter to that effect from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Chuck Retting seeking support for requiring financial institutions to give the tax collectors the data in question “to help the agency increase enforcement and recover more in uncollected taxes.” As if nothing could ever be wrong with that.
No rational person should believe this idea is benign or that snooping into the private business records of John and Jane Q. Public is good policy. Does Team Biden want the money they claim can be generated – allegedly $160 billion a year – to pay for the $3.5 trillion in new spending or do they have something else in mind. Given how the Obama-Biden Administration abused the power of the IRS, is it too much of a stretch to believe a strengthened, more intrusive IRS would, sometime in the future, spend time harassing taxpayers whose political contributions and expressed opinion might be out of line with the president’s best thinking on a given subject. And that’s just for starters.
Peter Roff can be reached at RoffColumns AT GMAIL.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AmericanActionNews.com
Peter Roff
Peter Roff is affiliated with several Washington, D.C. public policy organizations and is a former U.S. News and World Report contributing editor who appears regularly as a commentator on the One America News network. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.
The bidens are back in the news again, for all the right reason more corruption reveal,not by the all the media, some still protecting the bidens like roaches when the lights come on. Now it appears Mr. everybody pay their fare share, does not do, what he ask all Americans to do, but leave the biden crime family out of the loop, What a surprise, is this the deal being cut with the IRS, we will hire hundreds of more agents to attack Anericans, but leave your hands off the bidens? Much like the biden deal cut with the AG office, go after all the republicans you want but don’t bother Hunter, he did not mean to lie on all his gun applications, also replace any body Donald Trump hired.,This should make his library be renamed the “the biden library of corruption in Delaware” Seen Congress is finally looking into the bidens, (Thursday, September 23, 2021) Freedom Watch put Joe Biden before its Citizens Grand Jury TODAY. In previous sessions, evidence available in the public domain was presented to the grand jury and today “he was indicted for Negligent Homicide, Involuntary Manslaughter, Reckless Endangerment and the Death of Vulnerable Children, Seditious Conspiracy, and Treason.”The Citizens Grand Jury Indictment, which is embedded below and can be found at http://www.freedomwatchusa.org, speaks for itself. Now, we will convene a trial, where Biden will be called to answer for his deadly and reckless crimes that resulted in the deaths of seven Afghan children, 13 American servicemen and many others. We the People, under the laws of nature and nature’s God, as were invoked by our Founding Fathers in our Declaration of Independence on or about July 4, 1776, must reclaim our legal system, as the current compromised and corrupt systems in both Congress and the Courts will not mete out justice. In sum, now that Biden is indicted, We the People will provide due process in the criminal prosecution of Joe Biden, seek his conviction before a Citizens’ Court, and when successful — as the evidence against Biden is overwhelming — seek a sentence of life imprisonment. We the People will then summon law enforcement and the military, all of which have also been harmed by Biden and his leftist allies, to enforce any sentence that will result from his criminal trial.
I guess Biden is coming for bank accounts? Since he owes The I.R.S. at least 500K in back taxes. That’s just what they found so far?????
The old fool can’t even look after his own bank account
Oh yes he can! Apparently that’s all he’s interested in. Your bank account? That belongs to the IRS in his eyes!!!
No Experience Needed, No Boss Over il Your Shoulder… Say Goodbye To Your Old Job! Limited Number Of Spots Open… 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀𝟰𝟳.𝘁𝗸
I understand that the Bidens are heavily into Sub Chapter S accounts in Delaware that are not reportable to anyone. I cannot swear to it, but I would bet on it with my last buck.
After conviction for IRS tax evasion, the DOJ must put felon tax evaders braindead Joe Biden and race baiter Al Sharpton in the same federal prison cell!
Like that’s ever going to happen! Ha!
Apparently, the only real rights we have are those the government chooses to grant us. I guess that they don’t believe in the constitution anymore and they will see to it that we don’t either. Whatever happened to the oath they took with their hands on the Bible to uphold the constitution? Their willingness to lie concerning that suggests that they will lie about anything. God help us!!
There is only a major problem joKe owes 500,000 of back taxes, so at this rate no one should pay takes to keep the equity.
No Justice No peace.
I am all for just hanging all of these people… but first take all of their money away and make them watch.. then go after anybody that is paying them and take their money.. then hang…and make that hanging public… just sayin
This is forbidden, God Almighty wouldn’t allow him to do so!
Then apply to Dems too & allies
Make OR DONT Use
Very scary as is
Very 666
Politicians have been writing tax laws that include YOU but exclude THEM for a lo-o-ong time now. None of this is new. Left Wing Big Shots like Biden, politicians and mouthpieces like the “reverend” Al owe HUGES amount in taxes but are let off the hook by their LACKEYS in the IRS.
Yes, “Rules are for Thee, but not for Me” is their mantra.
Remember!! We gave Trump and the GOP FOUR YEARS to address this and other critical issues like Education (Indoctrination) and Election Fraud and they DID NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF IT.
So are any of them really on “our” side?
When Biden appears in public, he’s often greeted with placards using offensive language aimed at him. Can he take a hint? Or does he think it’s a compliment?
Joe who? Nobody even wants to say his name with getting upset. The man is a disaster and will be the worst President this country has seen. To old, to dumb and lost.
The only thing that Biden is “Building Back Better” is his bank account and Hunter is staying very busy!
Biden is a complete disaster. Get him out now. Stop his malfeasance.