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The Nation's Pulse
Uncle Sam Finds His Snitch
The IRS invents a whole new kind of tax refund.
Uncle Sam Finds His Snitch
By Jay D. Homnick
My attitude to the second Obama administration is captured in the old joke about Bertha who gets on the New York-to-Chicago Greyhound bus and asks the driver to let her know when they get to Cleveland. She keeps loudly reminding him every half-hour or so until he is ready to pull his hair out. But he comforts himself with the thought that at least he’ll be rid of her halfway to Chicago.
Sure enough, they finally get to Cleveland and he happily makes the announcement. Bertha thanks him but does not budge from her seat.
“Ma’am, aren’t you supposed to get off in Cleveland?
“No, I live in Chicago. But when we pass Cleveland, that’s when I take my heart pills…”
And that’s me being charitable, passing up the more obvious metaphor in the news of the cruise ship without a motor being towed to port with people starving, unkempt, and wallowing in sewage.
Yet the story which best expresses our ridiculous condition is the report on IRS payoffs to tax snitches in 2012. In 2011 they only paid out $8 million to Judas and Benedict Arnold and friends, collecting $48 million off that info, but the past year was a real bonanza: $125 million dollars were distributed in bounties, and the take to the exchequer was $592 mil!
It looks like Uncle Sam is really onto something here, with all the nephews and nieces at each other’s throats. I used to be proud that my daughters got the best baby-sitting jobs but now I fear their classmates may express jealousy and resentment by calling the revenue people to re-venue them into jail. Here in the suburbs cracking the babysitting racket could net billions for the Treasury. The teenagers of America are not paying their fair share.
There used to be a cultural bias against the informant. He would earn such cognomina of opprobrium as rat and squealer, merging the murine with the porcine far less amicably than managed by Mickey Mouse and Porky Pig. He earns too the titles of fink, snitch, traitor, and heel. For those schooled in lower mathematics there were the double-crosser and the four-flusher.
This attitude was shared alike by the genteel gentry and the gangland goonery. In one fascinating instance, G. Gordon Liddy of the Nixon administration was protected by the Mafia during his stay in federal prison, honoring him for not ratting out his confederates. In fact, on the day of his release, a mobster came by with an expensive new suit as a gift to celebrate his freedom.
The belief was that personal loyalty is a virtue in its own right, one which could admirably trump the claims of our broader affiliations. Surely the government can find ways to collect its duty without assigning me the duty of incriminating a friend. The courts cannot force a spouse to testify even against the wickedest murderer, and we extrapolate from that to any person we trust enough to share our confidences.
Now, with one out of six citizens collecting food stamps and nine million people less in the workforce than four years ago, we are beginning to find such fealty too onerous and expensive. As the pie shrinks, and the rhetoric of rage against the rich ramps up, the rats begin to gnaw, noisily exposing the silent G. It is every man for himself, and we quickly discover who is man or mouse.
This is all very sad and entirely unnecessary. The opportunities in this country could be limitless. Anyone should be able to get an education, get a job, get ahead. Instead we hear all day that the corporations which employ us are really predators and the oil companies which bring us fuel from the earth are actually sucking us dry and the pharmaceutical laboratories finding our cures are plying us with poison and pollution. In that environment, it is no wonder that I begin to see my neighbor as the enemy.
But we still have to laugh these four years away instead of crying. Here’s one about the guy who tells his boss there are three companies after his services but he feels obligated to offer his company first shot. The boss ups his salary a few thousand dollars and the employee stays after all.
About the Author
Jay D. Homnick, commentator and humorist, is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator. He also writes for Human Events. Here he speaks at the Rally for Religious Freedom in Miami on June 8, 2012.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (24) | Leave a comment
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PCC| 2.18.13 @ 9:06AM
One of the reasons I gave up my U.S. citizenship was the spectre of being shopped to the I.R.S. by bounty-hungry grifters jealous of my (law-abiding and taxpaying) commercial success. Two fruitless but enervating I.R.S. audits were enough for one lifetime. Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I'm free at last!
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 12:23PM
Does that make you a foreign national, an illegal migrant or simply a resident alien? Perhaps you left the country which would exclude your income from taxation here at least.
Santiago| 2.18.13 @ 2:34PM
Assuming that there are no significant changes in the all important factors of where I live and who I'm married to, I plan on applying for Chilean citizenship as soon as I am eligible, which would be on January 1st, 2016.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 9:27AM
Mr. Homnick reports on the IRS bounties as if this is a recent phenomenon. I hate to put a damper on the newsflash, but this program was explored at length (though certainly not for the first time) in "The Rockford Files" episode 75 (originally aired 112577, entitled "The Mayor's Committee for Deer Lick Falls").
Neatsfoot| 2.18.13 @ 4:03PM
The legislation was proposed by Senator C Grassley, R-IA, and signed by President Bush in 2006. Minimum recovery must be $2 million.
Author does not know what he is talking about, on par for this publication . . . .
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 5:22PM
From the IRS website:
History of the Whilstleblower (sic)/Informant Program
The first 140 years
What is now 26 USC 7623(a) has been on the books since March 1867, allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to pay such amounts as he deems necessary “for detecting and bringing to trial and punishment persons guilty of violating the internal revenue laws or conniving at the same.”
Prior to 2006 the only substantive change since 1867 was in 1996, when a clause was added allowing payments to be made “for detecting underpayments of tax” as another basis for an informant award, and making the payments from proceeds collected rather than appropriated funds.
The Treasury Department issued a regulation to implement the law, and the IRS has had a series of policies to define the scope and procedures for the program.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 5:23PM
The Courts have considered attempts to challenge award decisions under this law, and uniformly found that the discretion to make, or not make, an award is essentially not reviewable.
The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006
In December of 2006, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 made fundamental changes to the IRS informant awards program.
The key change in the law was the addition of a new section 7623(b), under which awards are no longer discretionary.
The new law says that the whistleblower shall receive 15 to 30 percent of the collected proceeds.
The amendment added whistleblower appeal rights.
The IRS was also required to create a Whistleblower Office reporting to the Commissioner to implement the law.
Pre-amendment program
The pre-amendment program was discretionary, and was governed by policies that defined award percentages and set a cap.
The maximum award percentage was 15% of collected taxes and penalties,
Maximum award was limited to $10 million
Awards were generally not paid when the disclosures were based on public information, or when the informant participated in the tax non-compliance
The whistleblower was not required to be an individual.
There was no requirement that the informant sign a Form 211
PolishKnight| 2.18.13 @ 9:39AM
"Rats" helped bust the mafia which was primarily in the business of racketeering and extortion of small business owners and loansharking. To intimidate private citizens from coming forward, they threatened witnesses and their families. They also knew how to use carrots as well as sticks and rewarded corrupt policemen and street informant "rats" for any valuable information they provided.
Our dislike of "rats" is perhaps due to a concern over loss of privacy such as the "rat" who sent out a clandestine recording of Paris Hilton saying politically incorrect things about gays in private or snapping photos of Katherine Middleton suntanning in the nude. Also, since most people are violating social or minor legal mores at some point in our lives, the concern about "rats" turning you in becomes valid. You accidentally jaywalk and the rat turns you in. Better to not hang out with them. But this is a simplistic way of looking a the issue. At times, people should not only "rat" but be honored for their bravery in doing so. The brave dissidents in the former USSR who sent over information to the west at risk of their own lives, for example.
JimH| 2.18.13 @ 3:26PM
Many earlier immigrants to this country, notably the Irish were escaping oppressive rulers who made free use of informers. To be identified as one was to be cast out of the community and likely not good for one's long term health. This attitude prevails anywhere that the people do not regard the government as there to help.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.18.13 @ 9:59AM
I'm not familiar with the IRS program, but a lot of the "snitches" tend to be disgruntled ex-spouses or unhappy employees or former business partners. These are the most likely people to rat on their exes or despised bosses or allegedly cheating partners.
markenoff| 2.18.13 @ 10:54AM
Waiting for the bounty program for reporting illegal aliens or welfare fraud.
Why didn't anyone report Timothy Giethner?
Jacob McCandles| 2.18.13 @ 12:08PM
Disability fraud is where the money is. SSD is the new welfare, and anyone can get it by acting crazy or feigning back pain.
markenoff| 2.18.13 @ 3:46PM
When I think bout going to s job interview I get anxious. I must have Employment Anxiety Disorder. Sign me up.
Buck Ofama| 2.19.13 @ 12:17AM
@Big Jake:
You're right about disability fraud. I recently was sitting in a bar and a guy said about his girlfriend: "you might not guess it from the way she's dancing, but she's got a really bad back and is on disability."
ALL YOU GUBMINT TIT-SUCKING SHIFTLESS C0CKSUCKERS CAN EAT SHIT AND DIE!
J.C.Eaton| 2.18.13 @ 11:36AM
First off, hats off to Albert for his cite to the greatest tv detective of all time. Secondly, I'm less concerned with the IRS payoffs to obtain lawfully-owed dough than I am over borrowing billions from communists to GIVE to a feckless Egypt. The stupidity of this country's "betters."
Jacob McCandles| 2.18.13 @ 12:07PM
also the best theme song....
Butch| 2.18.13 @ 7:47PM
You could sure make a case that it was the best TV program of all time, but I can think of 10 or 15 of those right off the top of my head. And AC Jr is right about Angel: the all-time snitch, and one of the best characters ever made on TV. Right in there with Ed Norton, I'd say, but more realistic.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 5:27PM
...in lieu of the rodent on the home page, perhaps a photo of Stuart Margolin as Angel Martin would appropriately illustrate this article...
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 12:21PM
This year I note there is a penalty for student age workers. If they can be claimed as a dependent by someone, they are required to add a three hundred dollar penalty to their taxable income ostensibly to make up for their dependent status. That is some reward for hard working kids.
Job| 2.18.13 @ 1:04PM
Im gonna snitch right now government and big business, including pharma and Oil, are racketeers and the press is carrying their water. How am I driving? If this driver is unsafe dial 1-800-EAT-SHIT.
Claudia Monteverdi| 2.18.13 @ 1:59PM
Oh My Darling Jay (not takin any chances, he could be a fink)..my darling this article smothers words like good, excellent and all of the MGM words...well..maybe COLLOSAL is ok.. get the name of the Liddy's taylor, who knows?
I can't remember laughing so hard, but not so hard that I didnt wince at the awful truths you presented..
Just loved it...thanks,
Claudia
Dai Alanye | 2.18.13 @ 8:01PM
Let me see if I correctly understand Homnick. The guy who snitched on Benedict Arnold was a rat-fink--is that it?
Buck Ofama| 2.19.13 @ 12:18AM
Where do we call to snitch on the worst cocksucking rat of all: "president" OVOMIT.
Jim Adcox| 2.19.13 @ 11:48AM
schoolyard rule # 1: no one likes a snitch!