Slashdot Mirror
Law Lets IRS Seize Accounts On Suspicion, No Crime Required
schwit1 writes: The IRS admits to seizing hundreds of thousands of dollars of private assets, without any proof of illegal activity, merely because there is a law that lets them do it. From the article: "Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up and settle the case for a portion of their money.
'They're going after people who are really not criminals,' said David Smith, a former federal prosecutor who is now a forfeiture expert and lawyer in Virginia. 'They're middle-class citizens who have never had any trouble with the law.'" The article describes several specific cases, all of which are beyond egregious and are in fact entirely unconstitutional. The Bill of Rights is very clear about this: The federal government cannot take private property without just compensation."
'They're going after people who are really not criminals,' said David Smith, a former federal prosecutor who is now a forfeiture expert and lawyer in Virginia. 'They're middle-class citizens who have never had any trouble with the law.'" The article describes several specific cases, all of which are beyond egregious and are in fact entirely unconstitutional. The Bill of Rights is very clear about this: The federal government cannot take private property without just compensation."
Just because something is a law, does not make it A- correct, or B - constitutional. Taking from people with no proof of a crime, is unconstitutional. I hope these people get a damn good lawyer, and sue the fuck out of the IRS. I mean the IRS has always been a clusterfuck, but i cant think of any other time in my admittedly short life that the IRS has been involved in so many scandals
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
And the young skulls full of mush that frequent this site are so eager for government involvement in even more aspects of our lives?
When will the lesson that you can't trust those who desire to govern other people be learned?
These property seizures are basically piracy and home invasion. The correct answers are historically obvious.
You don't think anyone in the current administration actually gives a flying fuck about the Bill of Rights, do you? I'd be willing to bet the majority of the Bush and Obama administrations haven't READ the Bill of Rights, let alone know what provisions it contains. Doesn't matter anyway. The "land of the free" has decided is so pants-shittingly scared of the bogeyman of the day (terrorists, or Muslims for you good ol' boys down south) that it's giving away its freedom in exchange for the feeling of being safe. The "illusion of security" as George Carlin put it. You're no safer now than you were when the planes crashed on September 11th. Oh sure, the people in power are safe...so is their money and their real estate, both of which they're apparently stealing out from under you if this article is any indication.
They've already decided that you have no rights, apart from the ones they let you have. You don't have a right to your own property. You don't have a right to freedom, to be treated with dignity like a human being. Hell, you don't even have the freedom of boarding an airplane without walking through an irradiating full-body scanner and being groped by the professional molesters of the TSA.
How long are you going to let them enjoy the rights that you've given _them_? That's why all of this is happening, incidentally. These people didn't vote themselves into power. Take a good, long look in the mirror and ask yourself one simple question...how much is a false sense of security really worth?
The IRS is grabbing everything they can because of the BRICS alliance. The banksters have taken too much, for too long, and now the backlash is poised to bring it all to a grinding halt. First it was the bail-out. Now it will be the bail-in. Look at the bankster rules, your money in the bank is NOT your money. You deposited it and you can withdraw it ( for now ) during bankster hours, however, a time is soon approaching where this will end. Putin kicked out the Rockafellers out of Russia after paying off their debt to the crooks. Now look what is happening to Russia. The same thing will happen to the U. S. when the shtf. The Babylonian banking system needs to be cleaned from the top, down. Repossess these bastards with the same cold-blooded efficiency of a foreclosure.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Only those that have been depositing less than $10,000 in a way that 'leads folks at the bank to think' (triggering?) that you are doing it in a way to avoid depositing $10,000, in a way to avoid "triggering".
So if you deposit $10,000 in a bank, it causes (you and) the bank to file paperwork that you deposited $10,000 - this is called triggering.
Triggering: A 1970 anti-money-laundering law known as the Bank Secrecy Act spells out the rules for large cash withdrawals. In general, banks must report any transaction involving at least $10,000 in cash. That includes not only withdrawals but also deposits, currency exchanges (such as swapping dollars for euros or Japanese yen) and the purchase of traveler's checks.
So in this case, if you deposit slightly less than $10,000 then that also triggers the bank to privately report you to the government. All of the people mentioned in the article deposited slightly less than the $10,000 to avoid triggering, and they knowingly avoided it, although for different reasons (some did it because they thought it was a hassle for the bank, and they were trying to be nice?). So if you need to deposit $10,000+ in an account, then fucking do it! In this case, it "triggers" an event, but that event doesn't remove your money.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Perhaps you should get YOUR facts straight. The central law, the Bank Secrecy Act and its various amendments, which is what created this legal situation, were ALL passed by a Congress where BOTH Houses were controlled by the Democratic Party. These were not "Republican policies". Since they were signed into law by Republican Presidents, I must conclude that they were bipartisan,
It is possible this conclusion is wrong, so I will not argue with anyone providing evidence that this was primarily a Democratic Party idea (I can think of several explanations as to why a Republican President would sign a bill into law that he mildly disagreed with, but cannot conclude that any of those are true in this case without doing more work than I am willing to at this time).
Conclusion: This is not a "Republican policy". It is a bipartisan policy and should be unconstitutional (and that the Framers of the Constitution would be horrified that anyone could think that it was not).
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I'll jump to the conclusion that government has already started going bad before it got big.
Very true. The ink was hardly dry on that "goddamn piece of paper". In fact there were many warning signs before the thing was drafted. The aristocracy is alive and well...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Sure, you can go to another country. But, you are in the USA. Regardless of your opinion on it, you're responsible for paying (or not) your taxes.
Given what our government does with most of our tax dollars, I'd argue you have a moral obligation to deprive them of as much money as possible. That said, the IRS is the scariest, most lawless 3 letter agency we have. I don't screw with them and I don't recommend you do either.
Let me guess, in 1970 when they passed this law they did not index the amount to inflation?
Inflation since 1970 means that in 2014 the amount triggering the law is about 84% lower than it was in 1970, and that in another 100 years your kids' weekly allowance will trigger the law. Given the inability of Congress to pass anything, I do assume that the law will be unchanged for the next 100 years.
If the $10,000 dollar amount were indexed to inflation then it would be about $61,000 in 2014 dollars.