7 ms·

Why would anyone be opposed to the IRS catching tax cheats? This seems like such a bone-headed take. In any case it’s also historically illiterate, the IRS has

Why would anyone be opposed to the IRS catching tax cheats? This seems like such a bone-headed take. In any case it’s also historically illiterate, the IRS has long been used as a political weapon, infamously against “Tea Party” activists.

ihsw 9mo ago
[dead]
tock 9mo ago
> Why would anyone be opposed to the IRS catching tax cheats? This seems like such a bone-headed take. And ICE says they only go after illegals.
ceejayoz 9mo ago
Speaking of historically illiterate... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy > Conservatives claimed that they were specifically targeted by the IRS, but an exhaustive report released by the Treasury Department's Inspector General in 2017 found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used both conservative and liberal keywords to choose targets for further scrutiny.
fwip 9mo ago
I feel like you can both want illegal aliens to get deported, but not approve of how ICE is executing protesters in the street, entering homes without warrants, and kidnapping people in unmarked vans. Similarly, you can think it would be good to catch tax fraud, but think that it should be handled without executing folks.
- sejje 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - crawfordcomeaux 9mo ago
    You aren't seeing them because you aren't looking for them. And you're making excuses for the ones you see. Go find them. Do searches.
    - sejje 9mo ago
      Sorry, just rattle off a couple names of ICE executions, and I'll go do research on them.
      - crawfordcomeaux 9mo ago
        Do your own research and find them. You'll need to search social media because they go unreported/under-reported if not white.
        sejje 9mo ago
        [flagged]
        etchalon 9mo ago
        You should probably update your search tool.
        sejje 9mo ago
        You should probably make your argument with names.
        ceejayoz 9mo ago
        V.M.L. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/25/us-citizen-deportation-donald-trump-00311631 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/25/us-citizen-deportat... > U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, said the child — identified in court papers by the initials “V.M.L.” — appeared to have been released in Honduras earlier Friday, along with her Honduran-born mother and sister, who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week. > The judge on Friday scheduled a hearing for May 16, which he said was “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
mekdoonggi 9mo ago
"Why would anyone be opposed to deporting criminals" is verbatim what I've read from conservative commenters. That isn't the issue being discussed. This is illustrating that armed, masked goons as a political weapon is a pandora's box that will get turned against everyone, regardless of status. Some people just don't care about the violence in Minnesota because it isn't happening to them.
- sejje 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - qeternity 9mo ago
    > In every state of the US (and most countries), people disobeying law enforcement will die. If you want to live, you comply, and you fight in court. This is one of the worst takes I have ever seen, to the point that you must just be trolling. Disobeying law enforcement is not a death sentence. It is often not even illegal. Just because LEO shouts "I am giving you a lawful order" does not in fact make it a lawful order. And this certainly is not happening in most other countries. The desire to be part of the Trump Tribe has made people forget what actually made America great.
    - crawfordcomeaux 9mo ago
      Enslavement, genocide, domination, and extraction made it great. For those who forgot. What we're watching is the collapse of such an unsustainable approach.
    - sejje 9mo ago
      If it's not a lawful order, you fight that in court. It's almost a free pass to get out of whatever you did. But what she was given was a lawful order. That's the one I'm talking about. I'm not a trump voter.
      - mekdoonggi 9mo ago
        How did you determine "what she was given was a lawful order" without a trial?
ndsipa_pomu 9mo ago
There's nothing wrong with catching tax cheats as long as due process is followed and the person's rights are not infringed. However, selective enforcement can be used as a weapon - never investigate people "on your side" and always investigate "enemies" even if there's no evidence of fraud. Another way to weaponise enforcement is to have a law that is almost never prosecuted and rarely followed (e.g. only using bare hands to eat chicken in Gainesville, Georgia), so then a law enforcement officer can threaten to prosecute for it unless the victim complies.
- plorg 9mo ago
  Another great way to do this would be to preemptively arrest your political enemies with a pretext of assumed fraud and use that as a fishing expedition. Then you could spread your retribution by trying to violently suppress anyone who got in your way and use that as a pretext to send in the army to raid some billionaires' compounds.
insane_dreamer 9mo ago
> infamously against “Tea Party” activists that claim was disproved by the way but, it is famously how the feds managed to get Al Capone
bena 9mo ago
No, they went after tax cheats and it wound up that there were a lot more people cheating taxes hiding behind conservative-sounding fronts than there were hiding behind liberal-sounding fronts. This was spun as "targeting conservatives".

ihsw 9mo ago

[dead]

tock 9mo ago

> Why would anyone be opposed to the IRS catching tax cheats? This seems like such a bone-headed take. And ICE says they only go after illegals.

ceejayoz 9mo ago

Speaking of historically illiterate... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy > Conservatives claimed that they were specifically targeted by the IRS, but an exhaustive report released by the Treasury Department's Inspector General in 2017 found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used both conservative and liberal keywords to choose targets for further scrutiny.

fwip 9mo ago

I feel like you can both want illegal aliens to get deported, but not approve of how ICE is executing protesters in the street, entering homes without warrants, and kidnapping people in unmarked vans. Similarly, you can think it would be good to catch tax fraud, but think that it should be handled without executing folks.

sejje 9mo ago
[flagged]
- crawfordcomeaux 9mo ago
  You aren't seeing them because you aren't looking for them. And you're making excuses for the ones you see. Go find them. Do searches.
  - sejje 9mo ago
    Sorry, just rattle off a couple names of ICE executions, and I'll go do research on them.
    - crawfordcomeaux 9mo ago
      Do your own research and find them. You'll need to search social media because they go unreported/under-reported if not white.
      - sejje 9mo ago
        [flagged]
        etchalon 9mo ago
        You should probably update your search tool.
        sejje 9mo ago
        You should probably make your argument with names.
        ceejayoz 9mo ago
        V.M.L. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/25/us-citizen-deportation-donald-trump-00311631 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/25/us-citizen-deportat... > U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, said the child — identified in court papers by the initials “V.M.L.” — appeared to have been released in Honduras earlier Friday, along with her Honduran-born mother and sister, who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week. > The judge on Friday scheduled a hearing for May 16, which he said was “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”

mekdoonggi 9mo ago

"Why would anyone be opposed to deporting criminals" is verbatim what I've read from conservative commenters. That isn't the issue being discussed. This is illustrating that armed, masked goons as a political weapon is a pandora's box that will get turned against everyone, regardless of status. Some people just don't care about the violence in Minnesota because it isn't happening to them.

sejje 9mo ago
[flagged]
- qeternity 9mo ago
  > In every state of the US (and most countries), people disobeying law enforcement will die. If you want to live, you comply, and you fight in court. This is one of the worst takes I have ever seen, to the point that you must just be trolling. Disobeying law enforcement is not a death sentence. It is often not even illegal. Just because LEO shouts "I am giving you a lawful order" does not in fact make it a lawful order. And this certainly is not happening in most other countries. The desire to be part of the Trump Tribe has made people forget what actually made America great.
  - crawfordcomeaux 9mo ago
    Enslavement, genocide, domination, and extraction made it great. For those who forgot. What we're watching is the collapse of such an unsustainable approach.
  - sejje 9mo ago
    If it's not a lawful order, you fight that in court. It's almost a free pass to get out of whatever you did. But what she was given was a lawful order. That's the one I'm talking about. I'm not a trump voter.
    - mekdoonggi 9mo ago
      How did you determine "what she was given was a lawful order" without a trial?

ndsipa_pomu 9mo ago

There's nothing wrong with catching tax cheats as long as due process is followed and the person's rights are not infringed. However, selective enforcement can be used as a weapon - never investigate people "on your side" and always investigate "enemies" even if there's no evidence of fraud. Another way to weaponise enforcement is to have a law that is almost never prosecuted and rarely followed (e.g. only using bare hands to eat chicken in Gainesville, Georgia), so then a law enforcement officer can threaten to prosecute for it unless the victim complies.

plorg 9mo ago
Another great way to do this would be to preemptively arrest your political enemies with a pretext of assumed fraud and use that as a fishing expedition. Then you could spread your retribution by trying to violently suppress anyone who got in your way and use that as a pretext to send in the army to raid some billionaires' compounds.

insane_dreamer 9mo ago

> infamously against “Tea Party” activists that claim was disproved by the way but, it is famously how the feds managed to get Al Capone

bena 9mo ago

No, they went after tax cheats and it wound up that there were a lot more people cheating taxes hiding behind conservative-sounding fronts than there were hiding behind liberal-sounding fronts. This was spun as "targeting conservatives".