The title of this post is sort of like the age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg.
Should we blame politicians for our corrupt, loophole-ridden, abusive tax system?
Or should we focus our ire on the IRS, which seems to go above and beyond the call of duty to oppress innocent people?
I’ve generally directed my hostility to the politicians, but the latest IRS scandal is leading me to reassess my views.
This Lisa Benson cartoon captures the mentality of the tax collection bureaucracy.
The problem isn’t that the IRS wasted money at boondoggle conferences. Every government agency and department pisses away money in a frivolous fashion.
We should be far more worried about the IRS’s callous disregard of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I’ve said many times that fundamental tax reform is the answer, but that’s only part of the story.
So long as we have a big and bloated government, the politicians are going to want some sort of oppressive bureaucracy to extract several trillion dollars of our money every year.
So if we really want to clip the wings of the IRS, we better figure out how to restore limited, constitutional government.
International Liberty 
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] sometimes try to go easy on the IRS. After all, our wretched tax system is largely the fault of politicians, who have spent the past 108 years creating a punitive and corrupt set of tax […]
[…] wretched tax code (now slightly less worse because of the recent tax bill), I generally focus my ire on the politicians who have spent more than 100 years creating an insanely complicated and convoluted […]
[…] Which Group Is More Despicable, IRS Bureaucrats or the Politicians who Created the Tax Code? […]
[…] keep this post very simple and not get into other issues such as President Obama’s abuse of the IRS. Issues like this can be argued but stepping over line 18 times with his unconstitutional […]
[…] To pick a more recent example, taxpayers have plenty of reasons to be upset about IRS bureaucrats partying at their fancy conferences (including line dances, the real message of which is captured by this Lisa Benson cartoon). […]
[…] To pick a more recent example, taxpayers have plenty of reasons to be upset about IRS bureaucrats partying at their fancy conferences (including line dances, the real message of which is captured by this Lisa Benson cartoon). […]
[…] before you answer, keep in mind that your bureaucracy also has been exposed for wasting huge amounts of money at lavish conferences. What’s the ideal way of dealing with the fallout from that scandal as […]
[…] Which Group Is More Despicable, IRS Bureaucrats or the Politicians who Created the Tax Code? […]
[…] I wonder whether the government will misuse the information being collected. If nothing else, the recent IRS scandals should make all of us very sensitive to that […]
hmm… more despicable? that’s a tough one… but I would have to go with the most corrupt of the bunch… that would be the democrat and republican politicians… [sure wish people would stop giving them money…] the only way to effect change is to work diligently for the defeat of house and senate members in leadership positions… probably challenge them in primary elections and cause them to expend time money and resources on the primary… this strategy also keeps them from more active fundraising efforts leading up to the general election… perhaps an unholy alliance between tea party republicans…libertarians… and independents might have the desired effect… long term… systemic failure is inevitable… with all of the misery and turmoil that will cause… the only way to prevent it is to dislodge these parasites from our political system… once the democrat/republican lock on American politics is broken… lap-dog bureaucrats will have a different perspective on life and productive work… reform of the tax code will become possible… the chances for world peace and economic prosperity will improve… and our ability to plan for and deal with energy issues and the potential disasters of climate change will be enhanced… there are a lots of reasons to retire these folks from politics… and the sooner… the better…