In praise of the Internal Revenue Service
The much-maligned tax agency, battered by the pandemic, has kept the economy going
“NOW YOU may only see a pile of receipts. But I see a story. I can see where this story is going. It does not look good.” These lines, spoken by an Internal Revenue Service agent in “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, a dark sci-fi comedy now showing in cinemas, is perfectly calibrated to strike fear into the hearts of Americans ahead of their tax-filing deadline on April 18th. The agent has a paper trail neatly arrayed on her desk as she conducts an audit. Reality is more frightening, for the exact opposite reason. “Paper is the IRS’s kryptonite,” Erin Collins, a watchdog within the IRS, recently told Congress. “The agency is buried in it.”
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “In praise of the IRS”
United States April 16th 2022
- In praise of the Internal Revenue Service
- Why America keeps delaying student-loan repayments
- Startups aim to reinvigorate local news in America
- Shootings at Brooklyn subway station
- What happens if America’s Supreme Court overturns women’s right to abortion
- Ken Paxton’s bid for re-election is a test of Texas Republicans’ values
From the April 16th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from United States
Tom Homan, unleashed
America’s new border czar spent decades waiting for a president like Donald Trump
An unfinished election may shape a swing state’s future
A Supreme Court race ended very close. Then the lawyers arrived.
Donald Trump cries “invasion” to justify an immigration crackdown
His executive orders range from benign to belligerent
To end birthright citizenship, Donald Trump misreads the constitution
A change would also create huge practical problems
Ross Ulbricht, pardoned by Donald Trump, was a pioneer of crypto-crime
His dark website, the Silk Road, was to crime what Napster was to music