Is there honor among thieves?
I have recently become aware of IRS Publication 525, which states, in part, that U.S. residents are required by law to declare the value of any stolen property to the IRS and declare it as income for tax purposes. The fair market value (FMV) of any such stolen property must be reported as income in the year it was stolen unless it is returned to the victim of the theft before the year's end. Failure to do so will result in interest and penalty charges owed to the federal government, or even tax evasion charges and possible prison sentences.
Now the addition of those extra 87 thousand IRS agents requested by the Biden administration is beginning to make sense. Deploying an army of agents greater in number than Hitler's Gestapo or the former East German Stasi, it seems likely that President Biden is preparing to launch a huge anti-crime campaign, which will declare that if you're going to steal, you will, by God, pay taxes on the fruits of your criminal enterprises.
According to research carried out at Vanderbilt University, crime in the United States is a $2.6-trillion enterprise. If taxes could be collected as directed by this IRS directive at the rate of only 25%, it would result in an annual tax collection of $650 billion. That number would take a sizable bite out of the yearly budget deficit. With the addition of penalties and interest, which seems likely since we are dealing with thieves, we could create a $1-trillion deficit reduction and whittle away at the national debt, which is now well over $33 trillion. Getting all the Corn Pop bad dudes to pay would make Joe Biden a hero to every honest taxpayer in the country.
However, I do see one problem with the scenario. If any of the 87 thousand agents were to go rogue and turn against Biden and start investigating the Biden family's illegal income, the first family would be in big trouble. I believe that it would require half of the 87 thousand agents just to go through Hunter's ill gotten gains.
I was a bit hesitant to write this post, as it may serve to warn the Big Guy. He would likely reassign those agents to investigate any illegal income of Stormy Daniels or any other woman ever linked to Donald Trump. But I say the law's the law. Let the illegal chips fall where they may. Our country deserves to benefit from crime at least as much as the Biden family.
Bill Hansmann is a dentist and dental educator with over fifty years in the profession. He continues to teach and write political blogs and semi-mediocre novels while living with his wife and cats in Florida.
Image: PxFuel.