Why the IRS Apology for Asset Seizure is Meaningless

Despite the IRS apologizing for seizing the bank accounts of small business owners on mere suspicion of wrongdoing, Judge Andrew Napolitano (video below) highlights how this practice began in the first place and why it’s likely to continue regardless of political posturing.

The culprit, he asserts, is a Congress that has enacted legislation in direct contradiction to the Constitution, enabling the IRS to operate with minimal restraint, empty oversight, and a complete reversal of American principles.

The fact is: we are all presumed innocent until proven guilty – but the permission that Congress has granted to the IRS end-runs that principle and instead embraces authoritarianism.

What’s worse, is that similar to police who operate under civil asset forfeiture laws, 25% of what the IRS seizes goes straight into agency coffers (from an agency with an annual budget already north of $10 billion). Clearly this creates an incentive to violate the rights of citizens, and only strengthens the likelihood that this practice will flourish.

From TechDirt:

Here’s the brain-bleeding explanation of IRS’s civil forfeiture program.

Civil forfeiture is an in rem proceeding against the property itself, not the owner of property. Civil forfeiture is a process that is separated from, and not dependent on, a criminal prosecution. Civil forfeiture can proceed administratively or judicially.

Predictably, this has led to rampant abuse. The recently cited number of 147 targeted business over the course of a single year merely scratches the surface:

According to the Institute for Justice, the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture Fund held $93.7 million of seized assets in 1986. In 2008, that fund was greater than $1 billion…

“Forcing” the IRS to apologize is not a real solution from Congress; it means nothing without completely erasing the unconstitutional power the IRS has been given.

authoritarian (noun) — of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people. Merriam-Webster

Can’t get any clearer than that.