New IRS Powers To Revoke Citizen Passports
In yet another slash at American liberty, the Senate has passed a bill giving the power to the IRS and the State Department to revoke a US citizen’s passport if it is believed (not proven) that the taxpayer owes more than $50,000 in back taxes.
Bill S. 1813 might as well be named the Passport Confiscation Bill instead of the bill’s current lengthy title “To reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes” also know as the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” or even shorter, “MAP-21″. (Moving ahead for progress? Progress for who?)
Tax Amendments to the Senate-Passed Highway Trust Fund Bill will essentially make border guards of IRS tax collectors as Harry Reid has apparently snuck in the sinister provision allowing denial or revocation of existing passports according to a report from the organization, ‘American Citizens Abroad’ of Geneva Switzerland.
A US citizen generally has the right to have a passport and to travel freely. It’s not clear that the inability to pay his tax bills can be used to deny him this right.
While on the surface it may appear as though the government is scrapping to find new means of collecting revenue, maybe they are planning ahead to prevent an exodus? Surely there must be constitutional issues here… Oh that’s right… what Constitution?
While we certainly do not endorse the non-payment of legally required taxes, we continue to look skeptically at actions taken which apparently undermine the U.S. constitution and the rights granted within. Thought you would like to know…
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@Ken; If this is openly stated as being for the purpose of stopping someone from committing a crime then it is called “prior restraint” which the SCOTUS has held to be generally illegal with very little sway. Of course that is based on Constitutional law, which as you say has been generally kicked to the side of the road. If this sticks it will then be EVERY cabinet department’s place to put holds on passports and other IDs as they see fit and possibly basic travel and movement. Can you say “papieren bitte”? I guess next the Labor Dept. will put up “arbeit macht frei” over their front doors. I was really hoping that retirement would be nice and easy and I could live to a ripe old age and die in my sleep. I see now, that will never happen (heavy sigh). It’s like the stress in a quake fault, building and building, waiting for that one thing to cause it to let go completely and produce catastrophic upheaval of biblical proportion. Oh, les miserables why dost thou not guide us messieurs Robespierre, Montesquieu and Rousseau, and save us yet from ourselves, save us from the chains we have so willingly donned. A bit melodramatic but well warranted as to the point it makes. Jefferson has surely rolled over many times in his grave. Survive well. Enjoy.
The “one thing” that will cause the upheaval of Biblical proportions is the sudden and imminent dollar collapse. Of course it could be something else, but that is the elephant in the room.
To prevent that from happening the US gov may go to great lengths, such as even more desparate and ill thought out wars. The actions of the BRICS countries to move away from the dollar seem to make it inevitable. The US cannot fight the whole world. Won’t stop it from trying though. Oh well, USA was never intended to be anything but a battering ram for the European elite anyway.
I agree regarding the dollar collapse scenario, and I have been observing the speed at which other nations are moving (have moved) away from the dollar as their means of exchange between them (BRICS) and others. Given that the US is now China’s b!tch, it cannot lash out as it may have done years ago…
Out of curiosity, what do they expect an expat to do who might be working with a family overseas and need his passport in order to continue his job and providing for his family? Are they going to deny someone the ability to be with his family or continue employment simply because he has a debt he can not pay? I thought debtors prisons were outlawed? Since the country is turning into one big prison, and they are passing laws to keep everyone in, it would appear that I am incorrect in this assessment. This is a scary stupid rule.
they don’t care about that.
There should be no strings attached to freedom. Everyone should contact their US Government representatives and order them to vote no for senate bill 1813 and also vote no for any bill including the revocation or suspension of passports for individuals owing back taxes or any other reasons. Americans should have the right to travel no matter what happens. Freedom is the most important part of life. Links below are for contacting your government representatives and senators. https://writerep.house.gov//
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Please help support freedom.
Please contact your representatives now before it is too late. Next they will be revoking peoples drivers license if they fail to pay their student loans. The crazy politicians need to be stopped now. Instruct your representatives and senators to remove the passport revocation/suspension amendment or vote no for senate bill 1813.
Also in case all you supporters of senate bill 1813 and hr7 don’t know it yet. If the bills become law the freeways will all become toll roads. Is that what you want? Please think about it. I want my freeways to remain free. Please write your representatives and oppose the bills.
@Tom Stevens; You do know that they aren’t really free, don’t you? What difference does it make how they collect the TAXES? You either pay them on April 15th or you pay them at the toll booth, one way or the other. Until we show up with pitchforks and torches (just a metaphor for you NSA guys) (Oh, metaphor means “by analogy” for you NSA guys) outside the Capitol building nothing will be changed. Just MHO. Survive well. Enjoy.
Please stop thinking that your politicians are doing something good for your country, they are simply trying to collect more tax so they can continue to overspend. Politicians refuse to cut spending. Oppose bills s1813 and hr7
Tripodxl, If the government were truly trying to collect tax using the method of as you say “one way or the other’ that would not be a problem but the highway toll taxes as all other new taxes are in addition to what you pay on april 15. The politicians continue to add new taxes and take away citizen rights.
@Tom Stevens; Well, exactly, that makes my point! They purposely obfuscate the degree of taxation by spreading it around via different methodologies so that the “average tax payer” doesn’t realize how much they are taxed. It is still a “tax” regardless of what it is called (a rose, is a rose….). They use divisiveness and distraction (slight of hand) to make us more concerned about “the bad rich, the bad corporations, the bad oil companies” etc. We do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem, but we’re busy fighting amongst ourselves while they keep raising taxes. They don’t want a simple, flat income tax or a point of sale VAT. Why? Because they would have to be so high that even the average “reality show, MSM robo-cloned slug” would be able to see what is wrong and the gubment couldn’t allow Joe Shmoe to have that “dangerous and obvious” knowledge. They use our own “small-mindedness” against us, letting us believe that e.g. corporations pay taxes, when every tax paid (REGARDLESS of who they say pays it) comes out of every citizen’s pocket…..and the majority of us fall for it. You know the SS/Medicare tax used to be one line item of deduction on your pay check (if you are old enough) but it got so high they divided it in two, so the “public could better understand their benefits”…yeah, right. They just wanted it to be in two smaller piles so we wouldn’t “notice it” as much….and yeah, we are that simple minded as a country. Sad but true. Anyway their prestidigitation has taken us to bankruptcy and we let them do it right before our eyes. Survive well. Enjoy.
You summed it up accurately “We do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem”. The bloat of government is astonishing. The problem is so simple, really… Not much different from a very, very, very fat person who needs to eat 6,000 calories a day just to stay alive. It’s well beyond the time to begin losing weight. I’m afraid this victim might just have a heart attack…
@Ken; Yep, afraid you’re right. We’re entitled. We (the general populace) wouldn’t want to do what it would take to make it right. We would have to double taxes (removing ALL the loopholes) and cut spending 10% per year for the next 7-10 years just to get back on track and clear the slate. Talk about Greece on steroids. All the entitled ones would riot in the streets. Lord knows you can’t win a basketball championship without the town on fire, how would they react to 40% budget cuts over 7-10 years. The New Deal needs to be repealed. We do live in interesting times. Survive well. Enjoy.
Experience has shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.
I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Most bad government has grown out of too much government.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.
The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
The Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
There is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose.
Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.
To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.
Upon the altar of God I pledge eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
One man with courage is a majority.
Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.
(yes,all the above Jefferson quotes)
Now it is easy to see that Thomas Jefferson one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence would have opposed the attached amendment in senate 1813 giving new power to the IRS to revoke and suspend passports. This bill 1813 has already passed the senate, it is very important that you contact your representatives to oppose senate bill 1813 and request that the amendment giving new power to the IRS to revoke and suspend passports removed. It is very easy to contact your representatives by email, here is the link. https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
@Tom Stevens: Yep, TJ is my favorite. I think GW, TJ and RR were the 3 best ones. Survive well. Enjoy.