90 Miles From Tyranny

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Girls With Guns

The IRS used a “wholly separate” instant messaging system that automatically deleted office communications, according to documentation released by the House Oversight Committee on Monday. The system appears to have been purposefully used by agency officials responsible for the targeting of conservative non-profits, in order to evade public scrutiny.

The system, known as “Office Communication Server” or OCS was used by IRS officials, including many in the Exempt Organizations (EO) Unit, which was headed by Lois Lerner.

As the Oversight Committee report states, the instant messaging system did not archive any communications, so it is not possible to know what employees of the EO unit discussed on it.

However, in an email uncovered by the Committee Lerner warns her colleagues about evading Congressional oversight:

“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails – so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails.”

Lerner then asks whether OCS is automatically archived. When informed it was not, Lerner responded “Perfect.”

While it is possible to...

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Girls With Guns

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The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) recently called attention to an IRS ruling that would penalize small businesses up to $500,000 for daring to compensate their employees for health insurance premiums.

The NFIB reports, “On July 1, 2015, employers will be penalized $100 per day per employee if they try to make health insurance more affordable by reimbursing their employees for individual market health insurance premiums. The penalty affects businesses that provide reimbursement for more than one employee. The healthcare reimbursement prohibition regulation decreases an employer’s ability to assist employees with health insurance costs.” The ruling would fine the businesses up to $36,500 per year and up to a maximum of $500,000.

A bill was introduced in the House that would make exceptions to this rule, but what truly needs to be done, is Congress needs to get its head right and penalize the IRS for making law. At any rate, the bill was not taken up before Congress went on vacation.

A local small businesswoman called the issue to my attention and said, “That kind of penalty, for most small businesses, would put them out of business.”

She continued, “Every time I hear of a new tax, penalty, or regulation imposed on small business, I wonder why it seems the government is trying to put us out of business. We are paying a lot to the government; you’d think they would want us to keep going. You know, we are the ‘producers.’”

It is true. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are responsible for more than half of the nation’s employment, sales and growth. But a study reported by Gallup shows that new business startups have, for the first time in history, crossed the line of closures for the first time since the measurement began. The American small businessperson is closing, not opening shops.

With high government regulation making it difficult for business to be able to acquire and retain skilled employees, many businesses are making the decision to close rather than deal with all the...