source: www.thenewamerican.com
Written by  Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

“That which is not just, is not Law; and that which is not Law, ought not to be obeyed.”

Algernon Sidney (1683)

Not only does the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have the power to seize your property, put liens on your property, and criminally prosecute you for your failure to “consent” to the federal tax on your income, it now has the authority to approve your travel outside of the United States.

Three years ago, the Republican-controlled Congress gave power to the IRS to revoke passports; it seems the agency is beginning to exercise that unconstitutional authority. Although it was given this weapon three years ago, it has only recently begun to wield it widely, blocking Americans from obtaining a passport, or revoking those already in the hands of those to be kept from leaving the country.

The IRS reports that 362,000 Americans with “seriously delinquent” tax bills will be refused passports or passport renewals if they do not pay the money they owe, according to a report in theWall Street Journal.

As for how delinquent is “seriously delinquent,” the authorizing legislation indicates that any debt over $51,000 will trigger the rejection.

Writing in Townhall, former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.) reports on the IRS’s imminent crackdown on emigration.

“Now, the Internal Revenue Service, arguably the most powerful of all federal agencies — with a demonstrated history of abusing its power — can strip away a treasured constitutional right from whomever it chooses, as long as the agency claims the particular taxpayer owes it the requisite amount of money,” Barr explains.

The provision purportedly endowing the IRS with such expansive power was buried deep within a bill — a “multi-hundred-page piece of legislation,” as Barr describes it — ostensibly providing for improvements in infrastructure called the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.”

Here’s how the Republicans in Congress managed to disguise the disgusting transfer of power over travel to the tax collection agency, according to Barr’s article:

Even if an astute student of the modern legislative process was on the lookout for such a provision as this, he or she would be hard-pressed to find it. The tool given to the IRS with which to pressure taxpayers into giving Uncle Sam his due, is found in the 32nd Title of the massive 2015 transportation infrastructure bill; it is simply an “Offset.” In other words, the IRS now can direct that the State Department refuse to issue a passport to an applicant, or to revoke one already issued, simply because that citizen owes some back taxes. The federal government can now “lawfully” do this because the Congress, in its zeal to implement thousands of pet transportation projects, needed to conjure “offsets” to help pay for them.

The long and short of it is if you owe money to the IRS — or if the IRS says you owe them money, regardless of whether you do or not — the agency can direct the U.S. State Department (the federal agency that issues passports) to revoke your current passport. If you don’t have a passport, the IRS will direct the State Department to reject your application, should you be suspected of being in arrears on your federal taxes.

Read the rest of the story here: www.thenewamerican.com