This bill puts the American people first and shuts down a Deep State favorite.
It specifically targets the out-of-control IRS and their unconstitutional programs.
That’s why the Deep State is furious that President Trump signed this citizen protection bill into law.
For too long, the IRS has had carte blanche to go after hard working Americans for any, or no, reason.
The letters ‘IRS’ have become three of the most feared in the alphabet as out-of-control agents have gone after churches, non-profits, small businesses, and individual Americans without repercussions.
And under Obama’s administration it got worse. The IRS systematically began targeting conservative and libertarian donors, organizations and campaigns.
In a now somewhat famous email exchange between Lois Lerner and a prosecutor at the DOJ, the prosecutor laid out a series of ways the IRS and DOJ could team up to go after conservative groups and campaigns by going after expenditures, not just contributions.
This had never been done before, but they were successful in going after Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign in this manner, which resulted in the convictions of three top campaign staffers.
In another case, it took more than two years for a conservative youth organization to get its non-profit status accepted – and that was only after a long, drawn out and expensive legal battle.
Every single year, the IRS goes after a number of conservative groups for failure to report donor information – something that is not even required by law!
It takes precious donor money and resources to fight the IRS each and every year on something they aren’t even supposed to collect on.
But, the attacks on individuals are the worst.
There are hundreds – if not thousands – of examples, but one of the most famous took place in 2012.
The Internal Revenue Service seized $446,000 from the bank accounts of brothers Jeffrey, Richard, and Mitch Hirsch based on a “claim” that the brothers had violated the legal source structuring law.
The owners of Bi-County Distributors Inc. made multiple bank deposits of less than $10,000, which automatically landed them in hot water with the IRS.
They were never charged with a crime and never had a hearing to challenge this seizure.
It was only after extensive media coverage and intense grassroots mobilization that the government backed off and returned their funds.
Through the Bank Secrecy Act, legal source structuring is used to combat money laundering and usually involves asset seizures.
However, legal source structuring is a practice the IRS has used to target, harass, and seize assets from taxpayers.
But that is all starting to change under President Donald Trump.
The DOJ prosecutor who came up with the infamous Lerner memo on targeting conservatives has been demoted.
The IRS under Trump has stopped its most egregious activity of targeting based on political philosophy.
And now Trump has signed into law a bill which will put an end to property seizures like the one above.
On July 1, President Trump signed a bill that passed with bipartisan support that forces greater accountability on the IRS when conducting property seizures, while also protecting taxpayers from identity theft, strengthening whistleblower protections, and modernizing the tax agency.
Under this new law, called the Taxpayer First Act, the IRS is now required to show probable cause before taking taxpayer assets due to legal source structuring.
Legal source structuring laws come into effect when large financial transactions are divided up into small transactions.
This automatically raises red flags at the IRS.
If dividing the transactions up is done with the purpose of dodging bank reporting requirements, it is considered illegal, and the IRS is allowed to seize assets.
But, according to a 2017 audit from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, there was no evidence of crimes in 91 percent of the structuring cases reviewed!
This bill is another great step towards more IRS accountability, reigning in the rogue agency, and – as many hope – shrinking or even dismantling the IRS altogether.
We will keep you posted on further developments.