Wednesday, April 6, 2016
The IRS Scandal, Day 1063
Wall Street Journal, What Does the Stonewall Cost Anyone at the IRS?:
Regarding your editorial “Chipping Away at the IRS Stonewall” (March 24): Why wouldn’t the IRS continue to stonewall? What recourse is there for the plaintiffs—or the rest of us? Can anyone at the IRS be held personally liable? If not, how does a citizenry directly punish a misbehaving federal agency? It seems to me that the IRS has nothing to lose by doing nothing, and that’s a profoundly helpless feeling.
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1062 (Apr. 5, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1061 (Apr. 4, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1060 (Apr. 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1059 (Apr. 2, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1058 (Apr. 1, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1057 (Mar. 31, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1056 (Mar. 30, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1055 (Mar. 29, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1054 (Mar. 28, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1053 (Mar. 27, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1052 (Mar. 26, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1051 (Mar. 25, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1050 (Mar. 24, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1049 (Mar. 23, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1048 (Mar. 22, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1047 (Mar. 21, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1046 (Mar. 20, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1045 (Mar. 19, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1044 (Mar. 18, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1043 (Mar. 17, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1042 (Mar. 16, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1041 (Mar. 15, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1040 (Mar. 14, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1039 (Mar. 13, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1038 (Mar. 12, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1037 (Mar. 11, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1036 (Mar. 10, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1035 (Mar. 9, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1034 (Mat. 8, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1033 (Mar. 7, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1032 (Mar. 6, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1031 (Mar. 5, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1030 (Mar. 4, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1029 (Mar. 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1028 (Mar. 2, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1027 (Mar. 1, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1026 (Feb. 29, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1025 (Feb. 28, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1024 (Feb. 27, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1023 (Feb. 26, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1022 (Feb. 25, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1021 (Feb. 24, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1020 (Feb. 23, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1019 (Feb. 22, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1018 (Feb. 21, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1017 (Feb. 20, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1016 (Feb. 19, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1015 (Feb. 18, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1014 (Feb. 17, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1013 (Feb. 16, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1012 (Feb. 15, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1011 (Feb. 14, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1010 (Feb. 13, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1009 (Feb. 12, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1008 (Feb. 11, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1007 (Feb. 10, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1006 (Feb. 9, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1005 (Feb. 8, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1004 (Feb. 7, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1003 (Feb. 6, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1002 (Feb. 5, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1001 (Feb. 4, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 901-1000 (Oct. 27, 2015 - Feb. 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/04/the-irs-scandal-day-1063.html
Private sector types just don’t understand government. True, the IRS has nothing to lose by doing nothing. But conversely, the IRS has nothing to win by doing nothing. And, though it seems a difficult concept to grasp for the WSJ and Mr. wodun, there is no way to “directly punish a misbehaving federal agency.” The principal reason for the latter should be, but apparently is not obvious to some. A federal agency, indeed any kind of an agency—public or private—cannot be punished because it is inanimate. It has no wants or needs, goals or objectives. If it fails, the people who rely on it or own it or profit from it suffer—not the agency itself and not its employees. And efforts to “punish” agency employees are counterproductive. Simply stated, if agency employees were liable for misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in the form of civil damages, there would be no agency employees, because no one would risk their personal estate to work for public sector salaries. The example of former IRC 7217 is instructive. Sec. 7217 made IRS employees personally liable for “wrongful disclosures.” The section was so counterproductive to the functioning of the Service that the Reagan Administration—no friend of tax administration—got rid of it in the Administration’s 1982 Deficit Reduction Act.
Posted by: Publius Novus | Apr 7, 2016 10:12:09 AM