ISIL Freedom Network: United States > Introductions and FAQs > Taxes and Taxation

How politics influences IRS audit rates
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

The IRS has increasingly targeted low-income Americans, who have limited resources, for audits, and steers its efforts away from districts represented by members of Congress who have oversight powers over the tax agency. (05/09/01)

Learn the truth about the income tax
Source: Lost Horizons
Author: Pete Hendrickson
Country: United States

Resources, cites and links to learn "the truth about the income tax".

Highest income earners pay most taxes
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

New Internal Revenue Service data show that the top one percent of tax filers paid 34.75 percent of federal personal income taxes in 1998 -- up from 33.17 percent in 1997. (10/18/00)

Ranks of Alternative Minimum Tax payers will swell
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

The Alternative Minimum Tax, originally enacted in 1969 to ensure that a tiny number of wealthy people were unable escape the income tax, grew to impose high tax burdens on 1.3 million taxpayers in 2000, many of them middle class. (03/09/01)

Estimates may exaggerate effect of estate tax repeal
Source: Heartland Institute
Author: Bill Ahern
Country: United States

"[E]liminating the estate tax would not cost the Treasury nearly as much as official estimates show." (9/00)

A well-earned refund
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Ronald Utt
Country: United States

Utt argues that tax relief is necessary and, contrary to what the Clinton administration would have you believe, it is not a "giant risky scheme." (8/11/99)

Why revenue estimates are too low
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"Even without tax cuts, the baseline revenue forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget are underestimating future revenue growth." (03/09/01)

Tax complexity raises everybody's costs
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

Tax code complexity makes it harder for taxpayers to claim deductions and actually causes mant taxpayers to overpay. (05/02/01)

Paycheck Protection: Union Dues, Political Spending, and Employee Freedom of Choice
Source: Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Author: Dudley C. Rochelle and Hans von Spakovsky
Country: United States

Federal enforcement of the Beck decision has been minimal. (Beck states that workers required to pay union dues in a collective bargaining agreement are only required to pay union dues necessary for the performance of the union's duties in collective bargaining etc., not for political or social contributions.) Clinton rescinded a Bush executive order requiring enforcement.

Using the tax code to redistribute income
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"Democratic politicians and liberal think tanks adamantly opposed to President Bush's proposed tax cut say it is tilted too much to the rich and too little is given to those with low incomes. Implicitly, they are saying that the tax system should redistribute income." (03/15/01)

The 'rich' pay most taxes
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"The top 25 percent of all income earners in 1998 were those with incomes above $50,607. They paid 82.7 percent of all federal income taxes." (02/13/01)

'Death and taxes' at the turn of the millennium
Source: Medical Sentinel
Author: Miguel A. Faria, Jr., M.D.
Country: United States

A historical overview of the growth of taxes and the resulting erosion of personal freedom up to the millennium, with possible trends for the future. (02/00)

Judge blasts IRS for meritless case
Source: New York Law Journal
Country: United States

The IRS earned a judicial tongue-lashing for granting a couple a $10,000 tax refund, and then suing to get it back when their tax return was three days late. (2/25/00)

Don't reform the IRS; Reform the tax system
Source: Reason
Author: James K. Glassman
Country: United States

The litany of abuses at the hands of tax collectors that were paraded before the Senate has much in common with similar complaints about other agencies: The agency bears less blame than the system itself. (9/30/97)

Taxes and death
Source: Reason
Country: United States

Under assault by the IRS, Alex Council took his own life in a last-ditch effort to spare his family further harm. (3/91)

Complexity theory
Source: Reason
Author: Rick Henderson
Country: United States

Congress did a good job of publicizing the outrages visited upon the American people by the IRS, but federal legislators share the guilt for those abuses. (12/97)

Statement of John Colaprete: Jewish Mother restaurant
Source: U.S. Senate
Author: John Colaprete
Country: United States

Statement by the owner of a Virginia restaurant who was victimized by IRS agents working in concert with a convicted embezzler. (1998)

Prepared statement of Shelley L. Davis on IRS abuses
Source: U.S. Senate
Author: Shelley L. Davis
Country: United States

Shelley L. Davis, the IRS' own former official historian, testified before the Senate Finance Committee about IRS attempts to illegally hide abuses, enforce internal conformity, and identify and intimidate critics. (1997)

Prepared statement of Nancy Jacobs on IRS abuses
Source: U.S. Senate
Author: Nancy Jacobs
Country: United States

Ms. Jacobs' testimony tells how she and her husband were dragged through hell because the IRS refused to acknowledge its mistake in issuing repeated Employer Identification Numbers. (1997)

IRS Abuse
Source: Virginia Business Magazine
Country: United States

The full story of the infamous IRS raid on the Jewish Mother restaurant in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (9/98)

Testimony of an anonymous IRS agent on IRS abuses
Source: U.S. Senate
Country: United States

Says an anonymous IRS agent in Senate testimony: "If the public also ever knew the number of abuses 'covered up' by the IRS, there could be a tax revolt." (1997)

Testimony of David Burnham on IRS abuses
Source: U.S. Senate
Country: United States

David Burnham, author of "A Law Unto Itself: The IRS and the Abuse of Power," tells the Senate of the historical use of the IRS as a political hit squad and the need for investigation and oversight. (1997)

IRS abuses hidden by shoddy record-keeping
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

Documenting allegations of misbehavior by the IRS is difficult because the tax agency fails to document its activities. (1999)

Sins of the IRS
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

The IRS has offended taxpayers with its inefficiency and its refusal to take responsibility for its own errors. (1997)

IRS not clamping down on tax expatriates
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

Congress passed harsh laws to penalize Americans who renounce their citizenship to escape burdensome taxes, but that hasn't discouraged tax refugees, nor drawn much IRS attention to the matter. (7/26/99)

Statement of Maureeen O'Dwyer on IRS abuses
Source: U.S. Senate
Country: United States

IRS auditor Maureen O'Dwyer tells the U.S Senate that the tax agency deliberately targets "small" taxpayers who are less able to fight back. (1998)

Sunsetting tax cuts
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"[I]n order to get around wacky budget rules, all tax cuts in the current legislation end on December 31, 2010. Therefore, there will be a massive tax increase on January 1, 2011 unless further legislation is passed." (06/04/01)

Taxes: Tax freedom day comes late
Source: Heartland Institute/Intellectual Ammo
Author: Bill Ahern
Country: United States

This year, Americans had to work from January 1 until May 3 to pay the taxes demanded by the various levels of government. That's an advance of 13 days in eight years, the heaviest burden yet. (5/00)

Tax cuts hard to come by
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"Congress and the White House undo tax cuts all the time, but only very seldom undo tax increases." (03/12/01)

The real criminals
Source: Strike the Root
Author: Emmett Harris
Country: United States

"While it's true these tax evaders may be criminals in the legal sense, they are not criminals in any moral sense. In fact, by keeping money out of that giant sinkhole on the Potomac, they’ve have done us all a great service." (04/11/02)

Different views on taxes
Source: NCPA
Author: Bruce Bartlett
Country: United States

"Gov. Bush and Vice President Gore are essentially arguing about the fairness of the current tax system. Bush says it is morally wrong for the federal government to take more than one-third of anyone's income... Al Gore cast the deciding vote in the Senate for the 1993 tax increase which raised the top rate from 31 percent to its current level." (10/23/00)

Common ground in fundamental tax reform proposals
Source: Institute for Policy Innovation
Author: Dr. Aldona Robbins
Country: United States

Dr. Aldona Robbins' testimony in favor of fundamental tax reform before the House Ways and Means Committee (4/13/00)

ATR summarizes debt limitation issues
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

Americans for Tax Reform issues a "Talking Points" memo on the debt limit issue. (04/04/02)

Growth of average federal income tax rates
Source: NCPA
Author: Bruce Bartlett
Country: United States

"According to the Census Bureau, the average federal income tax rate hit 15.9 percent of household income in 1999, well above the next highest rate ever recorded, 15.3 percent in 1980." (03/06/01)

Why it matters
Source: Lost Horizons
Author: Peter Hendrickson
Country: United States

"The wage and salary tax lives by having cloaked itself so thoroughly and subversively in a mantle of fear, confusion and legal chicanery as to have become, at best, a Procrustean fiction in obeisance to which all contradictory truths must be distorted; and, even more perniciously, to many people a subject of psychotic denial."

Where does it all go?
Source: ATR
Country: United States
E-mail: ccowan@atr.org

As we all know, these are "hidden" taxes most Americans don't "see." This helpful page will enlighten and infuriate most folks; it lists everything from airplanes and beer, to pizzas and tires, and shows how much of what we pay for these essential items is taxation.

Complying with federal income tax code is costly
Source: Heartland Institute
Author: Bill Ahern
Country: United States

"In 1999 individuals and businesses spent over 4.3 billion hours complying with the federal income tax, with an estimated cost of compliance of over $125 billion. This amounts to imposing a 12-cent administrative burden for every dollar the income tax system collects." (02/01)

Principled arguments against capital gains taxes
Source: NCPA
Author: Bruce Bartlett
Country: United States

"[W]hile there are strong economic arguments for reducing the tax rate on capital gains to zero, that may not be achieved until Congress recognizes capital gains should not be taxed as a matter of principle." (08/15/01)

Time to repeal federal death taxes: the nightmare of the American dream
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: William W. Beach
Country: United States

Beach explains how the policy of using the estate tax to redistribute economic power leads to a distorted distribution of consumption and a less productive economy. (04/06/01)

Tax and tax again
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"In reality, for most people, the estate tax is a triple tax -- and for many a fourth level of taxation." (04/06/01)

This is not rocket science
Source: Lost Horizons
Author: Pete Hendrickson
Country: United States

Background of the 16th amendment, with links to legal cases arguing the illegality of the income tax, written in everyday language.

'Taxable Income' report
Source: TaxableIncome.net
Country: United States

Report uses "the federal statutes and regulations themselves to document that the scope of the federal income tax is far more limited than the public generally believes." Also available for download in several formats. (09/02)

Talking points: deficit reduction fuel tax
Source: ATR
Country: United States

Everthing you need to argue in favor of a reduction in the federal fuel tax, from its history to the rationale for removing this burden from all our backs. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required) (04/02/02)

Deep in debt, in deep danger
Source: Sennholtz.com
Author: Hans F. Sennholz
Country: United States

"Despite its massive international indebtedness the United States is playing the global role as a warrior against terrorism and guardian of peace." (04/02)

Supply-side tax cuts raise revenues but lower budget estimates
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"The projected fiscal year 2001 surplus has declined from $281 billion in February to $158 billion. The fact that estimates of this year's surplus have fallen are mainly due to slowing economic growth, not the Bush tax cut." (08/27/01)

Even the IRS wants to dump the Alternative Minimum Tax
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"For the second year in a row, the Internal Revenue Service's National Taxpayer Advocate has called for repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). ... The IRS's Taxpayer Advocate deplores the AMT's 'complex and burdensome calculations' and warns that it is poised to strike millions of additional taxpayers, mostly with middle-class incomes." (08/27/01)

The history of the public debt
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

Americans for Tax Reform tallies up the last 50 years of federal budgets, tracing the rise and fall of deficits and the National Debt. (02/05/02)

Bush budget basics
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

Americans for Tax Reform offers a "just the facts and figures" list on the new budget, perfect for taxpayer advocates needing some numbers to flesh out the rhetoric. (02/05/02)

Q and A on Bush's budget
Source: ATR
Country: United States

Americans for Tax Reform offers some 'talking points" on the Bush budget, to counter the charges leveled by the Democrats. (02/05/02)

Quick facts on the tax code
Source: Citizens for a Sound Economy
Author: staff
Country: United States

"(1) Over 100 million individual income tax returns are filed annually on behalf of roughly 90 percent of the U.S. population; (2) The Internal Revenue Code consists of approximately 1,395,000 words; (3) There are 693 sections of the Internal Revenue Code that are applicable to individual taxpayers..." (10/28/02)

Repeal the fuel tax
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

"Since December 1990, U.S. freight railroads have paid a special federal fuel tax directed to deficit reduction. Since October 1997, however, railroads (which privately finance their rights-of-way) and barges (which do not) have been the only transportation modes still paying the deficit reduction fuel tax." (04/16/02)

Unanswered questions
Source: Strike the Root
Author: Paul Hein
Country: United States

"As tax-time rears its ugly head, I find myself, once again, puzzled by certain questions that never get answers, although they certainly deserve them. They are not at all technical or complicated, so it would seem that they should be easy to answer. In fact, they ARE easy to answer, so I guess my frustration is that the answers are never forthcoming." (04/02/02)

The problems with the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

A tax that raises no net revenue, but imposes high economic costs, is the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax. (10/15/01)

Make the Bush tax cuts permanent
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

"This week, the House of Representatives will vote to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent. The Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) strongly urges all members to vote yes on Tax Relief Guarantee Act, similar to HR 2316 sponsored by Reps. Hulshof and Ryan." (04/16/02)

Comparison of Bush tax law's effects
Source: Tax Foundation
Country: United States

Tables offering comparisons of the old U.S. tax law with the newly-passed law, for single, married with no children, and married with two children taxpayers, across a range of income levels. (7/03)

Talking points on federal spending
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

Americans for Tax Reform provides the numbers for tax reformers to argue from, with a summary of receipts, outlays and deficits/surpluses in the federal budget, and links to OPD and GPO sites for more details. (01/29/02)

Coalition letter on the tax penalty within HR 3210
Source: Citizens for a Sound Economy
Country: United States

"The undersigned organizations strongly support the provision contained in... the Terrorism Risk Protection Act, to repeal the tax penalty that makes it difficult to properly accumulate reserves to pay for man-made catastrophes.The law contains a huge tax penalty on businesses and homeowners...." (11/09/01)

Corporate inversions
Source: Tax Foundation
Author: John S. Barry
Country: United States

Why do American companies reincorporate outside the United States? No surprise -- it's to reduce taxes. (6/01/02)

Tax reform and the flat tax
Source: ATR
Country: United States

Americans for Tax Reform offers a repository of all materials ATR has released to the public pertaining to The Flat Tax and Tax Reform. (12/09/02)

How much of that is taxes?
Source: ATR
Country: United States

If anyone has ever asked you to document the charge that much of the cost of goods and services is nothing more than taxes, which rise with every penny of actual cost-increase ... steer them to this valuable page from Americans for Tax Reform. (11/27/01)

The candy scam
Source: Free State Project
Author: Debra Ricketts
Country: United States

"I answered my door today, to be greeted by a fresh-faced youngster wearing a screen-printed T-shirt and an engaging grin, bearing a cardboard case." (05/14/02)

Who are we?
Source: Strike the Root
Author: Paul Hein
Country: United States

"It is said that nature abhors a vacuum, which might explain the growth of big, oppressive, government. As Americans have lost the idea of their sovereignty, the state has rushed to fill the void." (04/23/02)

Politics thwart tax reform
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"Over the years, any number of politicians have suggested replacing our impossibly complex tax system with a flat tax. But the political system seems incapable of processing such a large restructure in one fell swoop." (04/15/02)

Tax revolts and liberty
Source: Strike the Root
Author: George Smith
Country: United States

""We live today with Lincoln's legacy ... Lincoln created an absolute central government that has spread like cancer, with an insatiable appetite for our money." (04/22/02)

Taxpayers group provides talking points on Bush economic plan
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

As President Bush unveils his "plan to help create an environment where small businesses can flourish," Americans for Tax Reform provides a series of talking points on the subject. "Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. The President's agenda will give small business owners the jump-start they need to create new jobs, support their workers, and improve our economy." (03/20/02)

The definition of 'increase'
Source: ATR
City: Washington, State: DC, Country: United States

In the interest of clarity of communication, ATR presents a series of definitions of terms often misused by our politicians. This episode is about how any delay in implementing the Bush tax cuts is effectively an increase in our taxes. (01/18/02)

Whither rights?
Source: Strike the Root
Author: Paul Hein
Country: United States

"Arguably, the income tax is Constitutional, (assuming the validity of the XVIth Amendment--and that's a big assumption!) but the means by which it is administered tramples all over the rights of the victims. What, for example, of my rights of freedom of speech and privacy of records?" (03/26/02)

CBO confirms it: war and recession caused 'surplus' drop
Source: ATR
Country: United States

In case you need to win an argument, on or off the campaign trail, Americans for Tax Reform offers Talking Points on the shrinking "surplus" with backup data and facts from the latest non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. (01/24/02)

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