Why do so many people hate the IRS?

Question

I have a friend who, while in Washington, D.C. flipped of the IRS building. Personally, I can't see why people complain so much about paying taxes.

Answer 1

Stupidity. The IRS enforces the law, and people want to cheat and not pay their taxes, when they get caught they get mad at the IRS, instead of accepting the blame for their actions.

Answer 2

The IRS must take taxes. I believe that taxes is just the IRS's job and that people who don't like paying these taxes should have more concern with the government who is responsible for taxes that are mandatory. I think that the hate comes from people just being angry because they aren't involved in how these taxes are allocated and they think it is a scam, or because they are involved in the system and feel they are being over taxed as many citizens of the US do.

Answer 3

Tom, like most people, has conveniently forgotten that the IRS is merely the enforcement arm of Congress. All the things he hates about the IRS exist because Congress has made them so.

Hate taxes? Talk to Congress. Hate the war in Iraq? Congress, again. Hate the thousands of money-sucking pork programs you get soaked for? Congress. 535 self-serving jerks that millions of stupid sheep send back to Washington election after election.

Compared to Congress, the IRS is positively benign.

Answer 4

People hate the IRS for many reasons, my personal issues with the IRS deals not with tax collection in itself, but in how they execute their role.

If they suspect you made a mistake on your tax return, you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. If you truely did made a mistake you are treated as a criminal, even if it was just a mistake. When you are found to have underpaid your taxes you are levied penalties and fines that often total more then the amount owed. Then interest is levied on all of it from the date the return was due, even if the problem was not found until several years later. If you owe them money and they find a source of money from you they take it and if the source of the money has more then what you owe them in it they freeze it until you provide written agreement that they can keep what they took.

The government knows how dispised the IRS is by our citizens to the point that they have been pushing the "Kinder, Gentler IRS" for a few years. But until they change how they treat taxpayers and how they handle problems, since that will never really happen people will hate a government agency that can bring people to ruin.

Answer 5

As a tax payer, I find the IRS to be a disgrace!! You do them a favor filing tax, in return, you get no helps from them. I tried to call them to speak to a direct helper, and they are never there!!!! They put you through a bunch of automated system and you can t still get to them. I can t describe how much I hate them, I just can t stand the IRS! Their employees are a bunch of psychopaths trying to take your money like they were working at gunpoint by the government. You can be having such a good day until something from the IRS comes up. Trust me, if you want to be helped by the IRS, you have to go in person, don t call them because you will never reach them! I tried calling the IRS like 20-30 times throughout my life, I was only able to talk to an employee twice! I don t live near the IRS, so going to the IRS office is like a road trip it s stupid.