Readers may have noticed that, unlike most tax professionals, who just accept taxation as a given out of the control of mere mortals, I have always considered taxes to be the symptoms of out of control spending by power hungry government rulers. Rather than just advise everyone to simply accept the fact that they must bend over, grab their ankles, and allow our rulers to have their way with us (as most tax professionals do), I champion efforts to legally fight back against excessive taxation of all kinds.

It is encouraging to see that not everyone is a sheep allowing themselves to be led peacefully to slaughter. Spreading the word about legal resistance to undue taxation should hopefully encourage others that the cause is not futile. Working within the system to effect such changes is what I support. I do not condone the illegal actions of tax protestor scam artists, such as Irwin Schiff.

Opponents pledge fight to cancel Oregon tax package

New Zealand Farmers hit the street in fight against fart tax – I would have loved to hear Arnold, in his recitation of all the taxes we have to pay each day, include paying a tax each time our animals fart.

Multicolored greenbacks coming in October – It’s hard to stay ahead of the counterfeiters. Doesn’t it seem like our currency is being changed more often than normal?

License bill faces challenge from IRS. It’s risky to use taxpayer ID numbers for noncitizen drivers, agency says. – Just the fact that there is a debate over what ID numbers illegal aliens should be using on their driver’s licenses shows how far into the abyss the PRC has slipped. To continue to force taxpayers to fund benefits for people who have broken our laws is just the same old insanity we all expect from the ruling class out there. The chances of any change in this open season on the wealth of the productive members of our society in order to buy votes for the DemonRats in power are slim to none.

Over the Cliff. Social Security is about to plunge, but retirement benefits don’t have to. – What a surprise. FDR’s Ponzi scheme house of cards is showing signs of weakness.

Analysts Are Skeptical of Ueberroth’s Tax Amnesty. Critics doubt the plan would produce the $6 billion that the candidate predicts, and they see difficult political hurdles. – Predicting how much money can be raised through a tax amnesty program is nothing more than a guessing game. Nothing more than a WAG (wild ass guess).

The Triumph of Leviathan – Fans of big expensive government outnumber those of us who believe in abiding by the constitutional limits that were supposed to prevent the existence of an all powerful and controlling central government.

The Bloglet service that sent nightly emails with the latest postings hasn’t been working for the past few weeks. There have been temporary outages in the past; but this time it appears to be much more serious. Scouring the web and checking with other users, it appears that nobody can reach the Bloglet administrator. Many people believe that the Bloglet site has been abandoned because none of us is able to get beyond the main page.

I have therefore removed the Bloglet sign-up function. I will be looking for another service to take over that will hopefully be more reliable. In the meantime, you can always see everything I have posted on this page right here. It always shows everything for the past 30 days on this main page. The archives have the postings going back to November 2000.

As entertaining as the whole political freak show is out on the Left Coast, I’m just glad that we can laugh at it from the relative safety and security of two thousand miles away. Everything that is going on makes our choice to bail out of the PRC ten years ago look so much wiser. In fact, regardless of how the election turns out on October 7, I don’t see much hope for saving the State from its unstoppable slide into the abyss. Taxpayers who choose to remain are going to see more of their money under attack.

The Power of the Pledge. Merely saying “no” to tax hikes isn’t enough. – I too was very underwhelmed with Arnold’s performance in yesterday’s press conference where he wimped out on the issue of new taxes. Claiming that he can’t rule out new taxes because some kind of natural disaster might occur was a major cop-out. He’s talking like the “girly-men” he used to make fun of. Everyone knows that if a huge disaster happens, the Feds will pick up the reconstruction costs.

Prop. 13 change looks unlikely

Myths about Prop. 13 obscure its profound value in protecting taxpayers

Uncle Sam rips off California

Fixing California

Young Americans: Pay Attention, Or Pay The Bills

Higher Taxes Would Harm Alabama – Between this tax issue and the fight over the ten commandments statue, Alabama is running a close second behind the PRC for weirdness this Summer.

This isn’t too different from what IRS auditors experience when they make their first visit to our ranch, and are greeted by our three very large dogs, including Nikita, our Great Pyrenees, who is almost as tall as I am when she stands on her hind legs.

A Lesson for Arnold Schwarzenegger: Warren Buffet to the California Democrat’s Rescue – Thomas Sowell joins the chorus of pundits who believe that having a Marxist as his number one financial advisor has been an idiotic choice for Arnold.

Stewing Over Too Low CA Taxes, Applauding Buffett for Saying So – We can always count on the mainstream media to support higher taxes.

Latte tax debate whips up strong feelings – Ten cents a cup doesn’t seem like much, but it would set a very expensive precedent to start adding goofy taxes and fees to just about anything.

Hating the Rich – It’s long been socially acceptable in this country to despise and persecute the evil rich, who are defined as anyone having any more than anyone else.

I haven’t written extensively about strategies to deal with IRS audits because it would be counter-productive to reveal many of them to the enemy. However, in regard to protecting your rights related to what IRS auditors are allowed to do, I can share some guidance. Many (actually most) auditors do try to force themselves onto taxpayers well beyond what is legally allowable. Some of these illegal encroachments are based on the auditors’ ignorance of the laws and having been improperly trained; while others are very intentional attempts to take advantage of taxpayer ignorance of their rights.

One of the most common misconceptions people have is that IRS auditors are as expert on tax law as anyone. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can’t recall a single IRS audit I have handled (out of hundreds) where I didn’t have to spend time educating the auditor and his/her manager on the proper application of tax law. Sometimes, I feel like IRS should be paying me for training their employees.

IRS auditors operate from a fairy tale world, asking for everything and the moon; much more than is legally required to document the tax return items. They give people the impression that if even one item on their fairy tale wish list is missing, they are screwed.

They also try to rush things so as to catch the taxpayers unprepared to defend themselves. Although they try to schedule a meeting in the immediate future, the meeting can be delayed for several months to allow the taxpayer plenty of time to assemble all of the proper documentation.

Auditors also imply that they have to meet with the taxpayers themselves at their home or business location. While this may sound self serving, that is a very dangerous way to handle an audit. Taxpayers representing themselves frequently say things, quite innocently, that hurt their cases beyond repair. I have seen this happen all too often. Auditors snooping around the taxpayer’s location can also open a can of worms that is best left sealed.

Having someone else interface with the IRS on your behalf is a very powerful method of protection. Once you submit a signed power of attorney (Form 2848) to the IRS, designating a CPA, attorney or Enrolled Agent to represent you in this matter, IRS personnel are not allowed to contact you directly. They must go through the rep first. This also applies to where the actual audit work will be conducted. The auditor would like to be at the taxpayer’s location so s/he can snoop around for other things to dig into than the initial audit issues. These kinds of fishing expeditions can stretch what should be a quick examination into a never ending mess.

There are times when it’s a good idea to have the auditor work at the taxpayer’s location. I have set a few audits up that way, when I wanted the auditor to see first-hand what the business location looked like. However, in most cases, I considered it to be preferable to keep the auditor away from the client. We had the auditor come up to our place and look at the client’s records here.

In recent years, I have noticed auditors getting even pushier. Even when the taxpayer has designated someone else to represent him/her, the auditor claims that s/he must be allowed to meet the taxpayer face to face and tour the taxpayer’s business location. The claim that they have a right to demand such direct access to the taxpayer, even when the actual audit work is at the rep’s location.

They have no such right when a 2848 has designated that they must work with a duly authorized representative. I have had auditors try that pushy approach on me and I have informed them that they must play by the rules and that meeting with the client or touring their business facilities is too disruptive to their operations. They have had to go along with this restriction. However, I can’t stop them from driving by the taxpayers’ locations and checking them out from the street. Some auditors have done that; but they have never confronted the client or barged in to the business premises without my permission.

Audits are intended to verify the accuracy of the numbers on a tax return. They have nothing to do with what color carpet or wallpaper someone has in his office. In fact, if you were to completely ignore an IRS audit notification, the result would be a complete disallowance of the deductions under review. Nowhere is there a need to visit the taxpayer or his/her business location. Such requests by auditors are nothing more than attempts to snoop around. I’m not saying that such requests should never be allowed; but that choice is yours and your representative’s. If you don’t want the auditor sticking his/her nose into your physical space, you have a right to insist that they stay away.