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The IRS and Jobs
The Internal Revenue Service is used to monitor the incomes and activities of the population
in order to claim for itself tax owed to the government. The cost of operating this bureacracy
is massive. The intrusions... on the privacy and unimpeded pursuit of life and liberty of the
citizens... begs a change of this archaic dinosaur that terrorizes its people.
The use of this agency to monitor criminal activities can be replaced by relevant laws that
are enforced by the Department of Justice. High technology gives law enforcement many
more options for gathering evidence of racketeering crimes than pursuing suspected
criminals with a mere tax evasion charge.
The present system actually impedes the growth of employment in our country. Just hiring
someone to work for you... to rake leaves, clean house, or to do other small temporary
jobs... becomes a tedious legal adventure into the world of tax codes and employment
requirements. For companies, hiring employees might require the services of a lawyer.
Often... insurance companies dictate who will or won't be hired.
We should admit that we have created a tax code that even its enforcers can't understand
or even fathom its details and loopholes. In fact, it is a source of injustice... where
citizens are not able to take advantage of the benefits that corporations and their tax
lawyers find in the tax code. Even the simple Earned Income Credit is not claimed by many
who are eligible for it. The tax code takes advantage of a person's ignorance and inability
to understand it.
Part of any reform would be to reduce the demand for tax revenues, by streamlining the
budgets of government agencies. It would take an army of accountants to straighten out
these budgets, but there are alternatives. For instance, Alaska has a reward system for
reducing costs of government. Anyone who finds a way of reducing expenses receives
as a reward a percentage of the money saved. A reward system might help streamline
many of our agencies, with employees themselves participating and benefitting.
In the essay "the Grand Corps" the policy is proposed to confiscate all land fills. The
Corps would begin to mine land fills... recycling all materials and identifying toxic waste.
The Corps would also handle the refuse coming into land fills, including all recycleable
materials and goods.
A federal revenue scheme would take this concept to the greatest level. Not
only would it collect discarded goods, it would make claim to all surplus, all unclaimed
or abandoned property, and all those things that have been formerly declared on tax
forms as "losses."
It would function through warehouses and a website:
Warehouses would be bought (not rented) in every county seat in the country,
in larger residential areas more warehouses would be acquired. Old military bases
or empty manufacturing plants would be used. The warehouses would be combinations
of thrift stores, work shops, and offices for the data entry and accounting duties.
All locally reclaimed goods, and recyclable goods from dumps... as well as donated
items... would be put here for handling. There would be work areas where the items
could be cleaned or turned into salable items. The warehouses could employ skilled
and unskilled laborers, appliance repair technicians, crafters, and creative folk artists.
What couldn't be easily fixed would be recycled for its parts or made into designer items.
These warehouses might employ any unemployed or homeless, who would work just
cleaning items to be sold.
The cooperation of the public would be easily gotten... because this program would be
instituted INSTEAD OF TAX COLLECTION by the IRS. It would not be surprising if many
gifts were given to the government in lieu of being freed of the oppressive IRS.
Thrift stores whose profits do not go directly to charity would be closed. The only
"thrift stores" would be the government run warehouses. Former thrift store workers
would be hired to price items for sale. They would be trained to spot valuable items.
Valuable items would be listed on the new Internal Revenue Website, that lists these
items at a reasonable price... not in an auction.
These warehouses would begin to be filled with the following types of things...
to be sold directly from the warehouse or online at the website.
1. Any government surplus items formerly sold for pennies on the dollar
would be warehoused and sold at reasonable prices.
2. Unclaimed property from freightlines, airlines, trains, buses, police
stations, and other public places would be claimed by the government... after every
attempt is made to find the owners of this property.
3. Shipping docks where products are stored before shipping may have
abandoned property stored in warehouses without buyers.
4. Surplus and seasonal products are sold everyday by the truckload for
pennies on the dollar... to avoid having to store or ship them. These will be claimed
by the government.
5. Business and home remodeling where equipment and furniture are being
replaced would have former items to be removed. These will be claimed by the
government to be either recycled or sold.
6. Abandoned storage units
Homes being sold or abandoned
Apartments with property to be removed
All these have abandoned items or items that would formerly have been dumped
into dumpsters. These will be claimed by the government.
7. Manufacturer products or any product that has been produced and that
is usable but which would be dumped as a "second" or "flawed" product... and which
might have been written off under the present tax code... would be marked as "second"
or "flawed" and claimed by the government. Nothing would be destroyed or dumped that
is usable.
8. Surplus days would be scheduled in rotating communities and people
would donate unused items to the federal government... on a voluntary basis. No
force would be used... nor need to be used. No records would need to be kept.
9. Food would also qualify to be claimed and sorted in this project.
All in all... nothing usable would be allowed to be dumped or destroyed. It would
be labeled "Surplus" and claimed by the government. Once it is discovered how
much of this there is, you will see that there is a gold mine in these items.
Besides this, people who formerly did not pay income taxes will now be donating
items to the warehouses, increasing the potential of this revenue creating scheme.
And those who might have had to claim unemployment or welfare, would now be
able to find temporary work to provide for themselves and their families.
Items could be transferred from one warehouse to another... such as computers
from the city exchanged for collectibles from the country. Things that are hard
to get in some areas of the country could be transferred from warehouses where
there is abundance... rotating items that have been picked over in one warehouse...
taken to another area.
Certain items would be set aside to be handled by experts... jewelry, works of art,
antiques, etc. To prevent theft in the warehouses, the National Guard's full-time
Grand Corps would have the responsibility of ensuring their security. The guard would
also ensure that this was all handled properly.
This revenue generating program would be instituted while the old IRS model
remained working... until the national debt was paid off. After that point, the
dissolving of the IRS would take place. At this point, the changes in the working
world would begin to phase in... the day that the word "employee" would no longer be
used.
All those accountants and financial specialists would be looking for jobs, once the
IRS is dissolved. However, the warehouses would need accountants. The website
would need many people to organize it. Small businesses being formed through the
new SBA will find that they need help keeping their books, ordering products, and
organizing their business interactions.
Essential to a business is an understanding of the ways to make money for
themselves and to track profits, budgets, and other financial details that may
not be easy to understand. Many accountants could set up their own business
tending to the books of small business owners.
The Big Change
The goal is to take the citizens of America from the status of
"employees" to the status of "contractors." The word "employee" would cease
to exist.
Standard employment contracts would be suggested that include fields for:
Some contractors might work as teams... guaranteeing that there will be someone on duty at all times who has been acquainted with the job to be performed.
Standard items as part of the contract would be the statement of the rights of the contractor and rights of the business owner. When stated clearly in a document these rights would help to ensure that neither the contractor or business owner will be taken advantage of or abused.
Disputes wouldn't go to a "workman's compensation judge" but to a civil judge or arbitrator. There would be no long delays in resolving changes or misunderstandings about the work being performed. No contractor could be forced to expose himself or herself to dangerous environmental hazards or work. Dangerous jobs would thus be performed by contractors that have the proper equipment to do it... not by minimum wage earners desperately needing their jobs.
This concept has advantages for businesses as well as contractors. Businesses invest time in the training of the people who work in their companies. They are also concerned about lawsuits from disgruntled employees and thus must pay lawyers and insurance companies to protect their interests. These contracts would prevent disputes about many situations that arise. No one could be fired without cause.
The communications between supervisors and "lower status employees" takes on a strained sort of relationship... like mommies and daddies over their children. The contract system allows the parameters of work to be expressed ahead of time... understood clearly... and both signers need no further reminder of their obligations. The relationship becomes one between adults... each receiving respect from the other.
For the contractor, life becomes more predictable. Their house payments will not be threatened by termination of a contract without notice. The contract protects them, allowing them time to arrange for another position elsewhere. This impacts on many other lives as well as their own.
Pay checks would no longer be handled by an accountant at the business site, but only a straight check would be issued regularly as agreed upon. The contractor would have an assigned bookkeeper to whom the check would be sent, and who will handle all the private details of health care, day care, insurance, child support, and social security formerly devulged to an employer.