We warned lawmakers about this renewed plunge into law enforcement for profit, but did they listen? “Congress Orders IRS To Use Private Debt Collection Companies” [Kelly Phillips Erb, Robert Wood, both Forbes] Earlier here, here, etc.
We warned lawmakers about this renewed plunge into law enforcement for profit, but did they listen? “Congress Orders IRS To Use Private Debt Collection Companies” [Kelly Phillips Erb, Robert Wood, both Forbes] Earlier here, here, etc.
3 Comments
Let’s parse this out.
1. Assuming the government has to be funded, there need to be taxes.
2. If there are taxes, there needs to be a mechanism for collecting those taxes.
3. Conservatives (and perhaps libertarians) believe that the private sector is more efficient than the government.
Assuming all of the above, having private tax collectors is consistent with conservative (and, perhaps, libertarian) ideology. It is no surprise that it is included in a bloated bill drafted by conservatives.
I am not really enamored with how Democrats run the country when they are in control. I am afraid of how the Republicans would run the country if they were in control. As I said before, I was hopeful that W would show us how a conservative could run the country, but he did not.
In sum: a pox on both houses.
“Assuming all of the above, having private tax collectors is consistent with conservative (and, perhaps, libertarian) ideology. ”
Well, no. It is consistent with the belief, held by many conservatives and others, that the private sector is generally more efficient than government.
It is not consistent with the belief, which I share, that when government cedes governmental functions to politically connected persons or entities, corruption and abuse will almost inevitably ensue. It might very well be cheaper in the long run, because the private collection entities will make strenuous efforts to squeeze every last penny out of the taxpayers and will use every trick they can to intimidate them into paying up. It might not be that cheap, of course, because bids/RFPs would have to be padded to account for political contributions necessary to obtain the job in the first place.
Just imagine what a corporate police force would be like.
[…] P.S. Related on the practice of tax farming in the Roman Empire and pre-Revolutionary France, and latter-day parallels, here, here, and here. […]