by Teresa Stone

Created on: May 24, 2008

Anger towards the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is nothing new, however, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people forget one critical element regarding the IRS. That critical element - the IRS does nothing that isn't funded or directed by Congress.

I would never argue that the IRS hasn't done things that are questionable in terms of how they collect money and the rampant confusion in explaining the federal income tax code, which is tens of thousands of pages long and growing. BUT, keep one thing in mind - all that code that the IRS uses to do its job is passed and sanctioned by Congress.

So if you really want to change the IRS you have to get involved in changing Congress. Don't vote? Well, you and about 50% of the voting-eligible population in the US are in the same boat and quite frankly those of you who don't vote are the ones who contribute greatly to this problem. Politicians depend on a majority of the citizens of this fine country being turned off from voting. It's much easier for them to concentrate on their base constituency that they know supports their ideas than to have to persuade people that don't vote in the first place.

So, what does this have to do with the IRS? Plenty. As politicians make promises to those who helped them win their office, they have to be able to fund the causes and projects those same people want to see funded or the politicians won't have the same support when they run for office the next time. You don't have to look any further than the debate on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) issue to see this in action.

Just about everyone agrees that the AMT is no longer serving the purpose for which is was first passed and that it is now being applied unfairly, but nobody has truly stepped up to resolve the negative effects of the AMT. The reason? With all the promised tax cuts the AMT brings in revenue that Congress knows it can't quickly replace. The only other promise of collecting large sums of tax revenue is the Tax Gap - a buzz word in Congress that has politicians salivating. See my article on this at http://www.helium.com/knowledge/151721-understanding -means.

Now some of these projects that politicians fight for are actually good for society. It's good for society to have our roads maintained, to educate our children and to feed the poor. Unfortunately, we're seeing the support to do these types of projects eroding. So, where is the money going? Well the IRS publishes statistics on its collection efforts and so do other

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