Thread: Keeping the Slaves on the Plantation: Senate Says No Passport if You Owe Taxes

Keeping the Slaves on the Plantation: Senate Says No Passport if You Owe Taxes




Eric Blair
Thursday, April 5, 2012

CBS is reporting that Senate Bill 1813 that would "suspend passport rights for delinquent taxpayers" passed the Senate 74-22 on March 14th.

A bill authored by a Southland lawmaker that could potentially allow the federal government to prevent any Americans who owe back taxes from traveling outside the U.S. is one step closer to becoming law.

...The 'Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act' or 'MAP-21' includes a provision that would allow for the 'revocation or denial' of a passport for anyone with 'certain unpaid taxes' or 'tax delinquencies'.

This is the most recent example of the U.S. government treating rights as privileges that they can remove through legislation. This bill should be renamed "Keeping the Slaves on the Plantation Act."

Unfortunately, it's understandable why this type of bill would draw majority support. Since more than 70% of Americans don't have passports, the law doesn't affect them. Additionally, many would equate this as a justified loss of freedom for wealthy people who seek to evade taxes by moving themselves and money offshore.

Indeed, Section 40304 of the 1679-page bill seems to only target well-off individuals; "that any individual has a seriously delinquent tax debt in an amount in excess of $50,000, the Secretary shall transmit such certification to the Secretary of State for action with respect to denial, revocation, or limitation of a passport".

Of course, these figures are generated by the IRS which places the burden of proof on the individuals to prove that they don't owe what the IRS says they owe. Consequently, they can arbitrarily determine any figure they wish to impose on a citizen without much recourse for the accused.

However, those described as having "seriously delinquent tax debt" must have "an outstanding debt under this title for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records". Which means that the amount has to be agreed upon in court and levied against the property or wages of the citizen.

This new "revocation authorization", created as an amendment to the Passport Act of 1926, gives the Secretary of State the authority not only to deny passport applications, but also to revoke current passports even if the citizen resides abroad.

The bill states that the Secretary of State, before revocation, "may limit a previously issued passport or passport card only for return travel to the United States; or issue a limited passport or passport card that only permits return travel to the United States." In other words, it also allows them to extradite citizens back to the United States if they're considered seriously tax delinquent.

Most significantly, as the CBS article points out, these citizens would be losing their travel rights not because they are accused or convicted of a crime such as tax evasion, rather simply because they have a lien of debt:

However, there does not appear to be any specific language requiring a taxpayer to be charged with tax evasion or any other crime in order to have their passport revoked or limited — only that a notice of lien or levy has been filed by the IRS.

Removing rights from individuals who violate the countless laws in the land of the free is one thing, but because they are accused of owing money is quite another thing. Law abiding citizens should never have their rights revoked because they owe a financial debt. That is why this bill should be called "Keeping the Slaves on the Plantation Act". The masters want to keep their property producing for them.

Activist Post: Keeping the Slaves on the Plantation: Senate Says No Passport if You Owe Taxes

Barbara Boxer Looks to Restrict Travel from US Over Taxes


Daniel J. Mitchell

Some of the world’s most disgusting and evil regimes restricted the right to emigrate, including the imposition of exit taxes designed to fleece those who did want to escape.

Given the evils of communism, you won’t be surprised to learn that the Soviet Union had such a policy. Here’s an excerpt from a 1972 story in the Palm Beach Post.

…citizens have been refused permission to leave the Soviet Union unless they pay a new tax… Nearly 500 Jews signed a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim calling the tax an illegal “ransom” and an extreme injustice. Jews trying to emigrate to Israel have been the main victims of the new tax imposed by a decree… However, the tax is applied to anyone trying to emigrate from the Soviet Union.

Not surprisingly, the Nazis also used the same approach. Here are the relevant passages from a report by the World Jewish Congress.

… nearly a third of the German war effort was paid for with money stolen from Jews according a new study about the role of the German Finance Ministry during the ‘Third Reich’. …Ministry officials robbed an estimated 120 billion reichsmarks [the equivalent of nearly US$ 20 billion today] by looting and through stringent confiscation laws. …Tax laws discriminated against Jews from 1934, while some who managed to leave Germany before the Holocaust had much of their wealth seized through an ‘exit tax’.

Unfortunately, exit taxes still exist, and I’m embarrassed to say that the United States is one of the few countries to impose such a levy.

There’s no anti-Semitic motive for the tax. Instead, politicians have imposed exit taxes because some Americans decided to emigrate to jurisdictions with better tax law. And rather than interpret this as a sign that the tax code was too onerous and should be replaced with something like a flat tax, they decided to enact a law to ransack people as they crossed the border.

But even this reprehensible policy isn’t enough for some of the clowns in Washington. Senator Barbara Boxer, the empty suit from the formerly Golden State, has decided that basic liberties such as the presumption of innocence are an impediment to tax enforcement. As such, she’s attached an odious provision to a transportation bill that would restrict the right to travel.

"Ihren papieren, bitte?"

A bill…that could potentially allow the federal government to prevent any Americans who owe back taxes from traveling outside the U.S. is one step closer to becoming law. Senate Bill 1813 was introduced back in November by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-LosAngeles)… Section 40304 of the legislation states that any individual who owes more than $50,000 to the Internal Revenue Service may be subject to “action with respect to denial, revocation, or limitation of a passport”. … there does not appear to be any specific language requiring a taxpayer to be charged with tax evasion or any other crime in order to have their passport revoked or limited — only that a notice of lien or levy has been filed by the IRS.
The good news, at least relatively speaking, is that Boxer is only motivated by greed and statism. But the end resu
lt is still a reprehensible restriction on the liberty of people disfavored by the ruling elite.

If Barbara Boxer is any sort of example, no wonder California is such a mess, losing jobs and investment to other states.

Barbara Boxer Looks to Restrict Travel from US Over Taxes - Daniel J. Mitchell - Townhall Finance Conservative Columnists and Financial Commentary