Not Fit To Prince
January 13, 2022
The Good News
- Video Reunion Between Dog Dad and Pet Missing in the Snow for Days (People)
- On Her Way Up: Yankees Tap Woman as Minor League Manager (NYT, $)
“As we peer into society’s future, we — you and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Taxed Into A Corner
In 1980, a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs compiled an extensive history of IRS violations of its own formal policies. Over time, numerous attempts to reform IRS audit and collection practices had been made, but Congress neglected to effectively address taxpayer service problems. Sympathy for improving the quality of taxpayer service was growing, possibly driven by a desire to improve the IRS’ public image.
Conservative groups seeking to limit governmental powers to assess and collect taxes began promoting the concept of a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Senator David Pryor (D-AK) introduced 1988’s Omnibus Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights Act (TBOR1), intended to increase taxpayers’ awareness of their rights during an IRS audit, and to enhance procedural safeguards available to them during an audit. TBOR2 became law in 1996, and established the Office of Taxpayer Advocate, aka the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), an independent organization within the IRS. The head of TAS is the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), who is appointed by the Treasury Secretary, and is required to report annually to Congress.
Erin Collins is the current NTA; her annual report was sent to Congress on Wednesday. She does not mince words in describing an agency “in crisis.” Collins writes: “There is no way to sugarcoat the year 2021 in tax administration: From the perspective of tens of millions of taxpayers, it was horrendous.” As of mid-December, the agency had nearly 11million returns left over from last year. It also had some 5 million pieces of unanswered mail. When taxpayers had a question, they endured enormous difficulty connecting with someone at the IRS who could help them. Customer service representatives answered just 11% of roughly 282 million telephone calls received last year. The agency is beginning the upcoming filing season already behind. Processing delays could be “as bad, and potentially worse” this year than last, Collins advised.
The report noted that existing problems at the IRS, created by longtime underfunding and workforce shrinkage, were exacerbated not only by the pandemic, but by the additional workload. Congress tasked the agency with sending out billions of dollars in economic relief benefits, like stimulus payments and monthly enhanced child tax credit payments. And although Congress provided supplemental funding to help the IRS implement pandemic-relief programs, Collins said it simply wasn’t feasible for an agency the size of the IRS to quickly staff up and train new employees. Additionally, the social distancing required during the pandemic forced the agency to close or limit staffing in processing centers where employees work in close quarters, further restricting its production capacity. The Treasury Department has already warned taxpayers to expect delays when they begin filing their 2021 federal returns on January 24. (UMichLaw, IRS, CNN)
Referendum On Hungary’s Homophobic Law Scheduled
- Last June, after the E.U. condemned Hungary’s controversial new LGBTQ law as homophobic, the country’s right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recommended holding a referendum on the measure. The law effectively prohibits any discussion of LGBTQ themes in schools by banning educational materials and programs for children that are considered to promote homosexuality and gender reassignment.
- The E.U. even launched legal action against Hungary, a member state, saying the legislation violates the “fundamental rights of LGBTIQ people ” under E.U. law. The referendum is seen as a response by Hungary’s hard-line nationalist government to this criticism.
- Orban has outlined a five-question referendum vote that will ask the public if they support the “promotion” of content related to sexual orientation to children and is urging the public to vote “no.” The government announced Tuesday the vote will be held on April 3, the same day as the general parliamentary election. (CNN)
Not Fit To Prince
- A Manhattan federal judge, Lewis Kaplan, refused to dismiss a civil case filed against Prince Andrew over allegations he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17 years old. Kaplan rejected the argument put forth by Andrew’s legal team that Giuffre had waived her right to sue him under a previously secret settlement she made with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2009.
- Giuffre said Epstein had trafficked her to have sex with several people, including Andrew. Legal experts say the Duke of York has “no good options left” and could face the prospect of divulging titillating aspects of his personal life in a high-profile trial this fall unless he’s able to reach an out-of-court settlement that could cost him millions.
- Andrew has strenuously denied the allegations, but he’s already been forced to step back from public life, and a settlement could cause further monumental reputational damage for the monarchy. The news comes just three days after full details were revealed for the Queen’s upcoming platinum jubilee in June. Buckingham Palace had no comment. (Guardian)
Additional World News
- Serbia may suspend lithium deal with Rio Tinto (Reuters)
- No progress seen after Russia-US talks over Ukraine tensions (AP)
- Strong earthquake shakes remote area in western China (ABC)
- UN to hold talks in Sudan to end post-coup crisis (Al Jazeera)
- Suspect in South Africa’s Parliament Fire Is Sent for Psychiatric Check (NYT, $)
- Boris Johnson faces PMQs showdown as Tory mood darkens (BBC)
- Boris Johnson had BYOB party at Downing Street during lockdown, email shows (WaPo, $)
Pressing For Information
- On Wednesday, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared virtually before the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. McEnany worked in the Trump White House and was a spokesperson for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. The committee has requested a significant number of McEnany’s records from the National Archives, which remain tied up in court pending the outcome of the former president’s appeal to the Supreme Court to block access to his White House records.
- The committee wants to see “629 pages from multiple binders containing proposed talking points for the Press Secretary, interspersed with a relatively small number of related statements and documents, principally relating to allegations of voter fraud, election security, and other topics concerning the 2020 election.” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) had said earlier “We need to know precisely what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.” (CNN)
A Shift In Focus
- The Justice Department’s top national security official, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, told lawmakers that Tuesday the Department is establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism, in response to what he described as an “elevated” threat from violent extremists in the U.S. “We have seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus, as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies,” Olsen said.
- In the years after the September 11 attacks, the focus was on the threat of international terrorism. The formulation of a new unit underscores the extent to which domestic violent extremism has attracted urgent attention inside the federal government and at the White House. However, the absence of a federal domestic terrorism statute creates ambiguities as to precisely what sort of violence meets that definition. The U.S. criminal code defines domestic terrorism as violence intended to coerce or intimidate a civilian population and to influence government policy, but there is no standalone domestic terrorism charge, meaning prosecutors have to rely on other statutes. (ABC News)
Additional USA News
- Wisconsin judge lets GOP-led election review continue (Politico)
- State of emergency declared in Virginia after record COVID-19 surge (The Hill)
- Many tech workers in San Francisco have a new side hustle: Local politics (NBC)
- Wisconsin Senator and Trump ally Ron Johnson to seek third term (Reuters)
- North Carolina Court Upholds Republican Gerrymander of Maps (NYT, $)
- McCarthy vows to remove Democrats from committees if Republicans win House (CNN)
- Biden Administration Approves 5 More Guantánamo Releases (NYT, $)
See Ya Later, Alligator
- Miniature horses and micro dogs are everywhere, but have you seen a toy crocodile? On Monday, the Folly Farm Adventure Park & Zoo in Kilgetty, Wales posted on its Facebook page that a weekend visitor to the facility had alerted staff to a “mysterious creature” in the banded mongoose exhibit. Zookeepers didn’t know what to expect as they rushed to capture the unidentified enclosure invader. They found whatever-it-was just enjoying a swim in the water feature.
- The keepers “breathed a little sigh of relief” when the animal was identified as a toy crocodile. Apparently a zoo visitor had dropped it. Turns out “toy crocodiles” don’t stay toy-size, like little horses and dogs will. There are two subspecies of dwarf crocodile – the Congo Dwarf and the West African dwarf. Folly Farm has a breeding pair of West African dwarf crocs. And the babies are quite small when hatched: 7 to 10 inches. But after 4 to 15 years when they’re fully mature, they can be almost 5 feet long. Cuvier’s dwarf caiman is the smallest living New World crocodilian. The males can grow to around 5 feet, but females stay smaller, usually less than 4 feet. You can buy them, but they can still really hurt you. (Spruce Pets, Folly Farm)
Additional Reads
- Time has come for UK to return Parthenon marbles, says Greek PM (Guardian)
- Appeal denied for LAPD officers who played Pokémon Go, ignoring robbery call (NPR)
- Hungry badger may have uncovered Roman coins in Spanish cave (Guardian)
- Magawa, the hero rat who sniffed out landmines, has died (CNN)
- Simon Bramhall no longer allowed to practice medicine after branding patients’ livers with his initials (CBS)
- Ruins of Roman settlement found along England’s HS2 rail line (WaPo, $)
- Kim Kardashian sued in crypto ‘pump and dump’ case (BBC)