Tax Freedom Day 2014

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The Long Arm Of The Federal Government

There is something very creepy about this, and if you're targeted, you're screwed:

Social Security, Treasury target taxpayers for their parents’ decades-old debts

A few weeks ago, with no notice, the U.S. government intercepted Mary Grice’s tax refunds from both the IRS and the state of Maryland. Grice had no idea that Uncle Sam had seized her money until some days later, when she got a letter saying that her refund had gone to satisfy an old debt to the government — a very old debt.

When Grice was 4, back in 1960, her father died, leaving her mother with five children to raise. Until the kids turned 18, Sadie Grice got survivor benefits from Social Security to help feed and clothe them.

Now, Social Security claims it overpaid someone in the Grice family — it’s not sure who — in 1977. After 37 years of silence, four years after Sadie Grice died, the government is coming after her daughter. Why the feds chose to take Mary’s money, rather than her surviving siblings’, is a mystery.

Across the nation, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who are expecting refunds this month are instead getting letters like the one Grice got, informing them that because of a debt they never knew about — often a debt incurred by their parents — the government has confiscated their check.

The Treasury Department has intercepted $1.9 billion in tax refunds already this year — $75 million of that on debts delinquent for more than 10 years, said Jeffrey Schramek, assistant commissioner of the department’s debt management service. The aggressive effort to collect old debts started three years ago — the result of a single sentence tucked into the farm bill lifting the 10-year statute of limitations on old debts to Uncle Sam.

[...]

Social Security officials told Grice that six people — Grice, her four siblings and her father’s ex-wife, whom she never knew — had received benefits under her father’s account. The government doesn’t look into exactly who got the overpayment; the policy is to seek compensation from the oldest sibling and work down through the family until the debt is paid.

The Federal Trade Commission, on its Web site, advises Americans that “family members typically are not obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative from their own assets.” But Social Security officials say that if children indirectly received assistance from public dollars paid to a parent, the children’s money can be taken, no matter how long ago any overpayment occurred....

Read the rest HERE.

Always The Last Place!

Was I ever in a state of agitation this morning! For at least thirty minutes, I was in an absolute frenzy.

I couldn't find the vouchers needed to pay the April 2014 federal estimated tax payment! I knew that our accountant had provided the papers, but they were nowhere to be found.

Until I looked in the last possible place, of course.

From Murphy Laws Site (an excellent site):

Tax Increases If Obama Is Re-elected

Pay attention:

If The Federal Government Can Tax Us For Not Buying Something

Will that kind of taxation have any end of applications?

Nope.

From Freedom by the Way:

Tomorrow:

Tax for not purchasing exercise equipment, clothing or a health club membership.

Tax for not purchasing healthy foods.

Tax for not purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

Tax for not taking out a government-backed student loan.

Tax for not living in high-density housing.

Tax for not signing up for White House Alerts on your cell phone or e-mail.

Tax for not turning in your firearms.

Tax for not spaying or neutering your pet.

Tax for not getting recommended healthcare screenings or tests.

Tax for not visiting the dentist.

Tax for not accepting food stamps.

Tax for not getting an RFID chip.

Tax for not…the sky is the limit.

November 2012 is America's last chance.