Ooooh! As a republican I don't know how to feel.
There is something soooo wrong about almost poor people cheating to get the EIC. It must be that puritan thing. Welfare is morally wrong (un-Puritan thus un-American), but necessary--I guess. Cheating at welfare is worse than cheating on SEC rules, from a moral perspective. The EIC -- well its like free money. Its the sort of minimum-income insurance Miltie Friedman has advocated, but its still un-American to give people free money no matter how much sense it makes as public policy. Cheating to get free EIC money ... well its not just wrong, its treasonous. It's a double betrayal of capitalism. Now one collection on un-earned taxable income might offset 1000 or more EIC cheats. But taxing gain made in the Capitalist market place is nearly un-American. Heck, if you earned it by luck or wit its like the Puritan Deist American God of the Blessed Republic *gave* you that wealth. The Republic has no right to use private gain for Commonweal. So auditing unearned income and the highest returns is *good* public policy, but its un-Puritan and un-American. In fact, evading taxes on good capitalist behavior is almost virtuous for an American. Sure it may be criminal, but it is a crime of *rebellion* in the interest of the Virtue of the Republic. On Sunday 14 April 2002 23:28, you wrote: > << I heard a story last week on the radio that the IRS audits earned income > at a > much higher rate than unearned income. Us working slobs make easier > targets. That's much more upsetting to me than the slavery thing. >> > > This is because Congress told them to. Some Congresspeople were afraid of > fraud in the Earned Income Credit program and instructed the IRS to > increase its supervision of that program. > > I'm not defending the IRS here, particularly, just trying to place the > blame where it really belongs. > > > > Tom Beck > > > "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also > see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
