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IRS: tax preparers should have to be "licensed"

Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by rbell, Jun 8, 2009.

  1. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    Scary. What's next...not allowing individuals to do their own taxes?

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98K06RG1&show_article=1&catnum=3

    from the article:

    Their reasoning: To cut down on error and fraud.

    Riiight. I'm sure that the IRS director (Shouldn't Obama appoint him the "legalized theft" czar? How 'bout the "vote buying collection unit" czar?) is intimately concerned about the tax preparers' accuracy.

    First of all, if you tax guy screws up, you pay...not him.

    Secondly, if they were really interested in cutting down errors, they would implement anything other than the train wreck we currently have.

    Finally, it ain't the government's job to protect dummies from carrying out their personality traits. These folks that go to shady, fly-by-night establishments are asking for trouble. Yet another "nanny state" concept...to "help" people.

    Please, oh please give us the FairTax.
     
  2. Pastor Larry

    Pastor Larry <b>Moderator</b>
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    Actually, this may be the only good idea that has yet come from this circus known as the Obama Administration. When you go to a tax preparer now, you know nothing other than that he can advertise. He might be a total fraud, and you pay him, he messes up, and you have no recourse. By licensing, someone would have to show that he or she is able to do taxes, and knows the law. It's no different than licensing builders, doctors, or others who serve the the public.

    I would prefer the fair tax, however.
     
  3. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    If a license is a good idea...wouldn't it be better to allow the states to administer it?
     
  4. Pastor Larry

    Pastor Larry <b>Moderator</b>
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    For state taxes? Probably. But for federal taxes? I think federal issues should be administrated by the federal government. Maybe it would distract them from some of this other nonsense they are pulling.
     
  5. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    Americans should not be forced to contribute to a tax system the average person cannot easily understand. Neither should we be forced to be beholden to excessive charges to prepare what is unfair and unconsitutional in the first place. What this will do is drive up the rate of those who avoid filing. It is one of the sorriest Ideas to come down the pike in a while.
     
  6. Robert Snow

    Robert Snow New Member

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    This is a great idea!
     
  7. Pastor Larry

    Pastor Larry <b>Moderator</b>
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    No one is forced to pay excessive charges for tax preparation. They can do it themselves. There are many free places to do it yourself on line, and you can pay a small fee and do it elsewhere.

    But when you take it to someone, you need to have an assurance that they know what they are talking about and what they are doing. If you have a better idea than licensing, put it forth.
     
  8. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    Go to the Fair Tax [sales tax] and fire all the people in the IRS!
     
  9. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    I agree that the current tax code is way too convoluted. However, a sales tax is not the answer. It is very regressive. There has to be a fairer, yet simpler way to raise revenue for the government than what we now have.
     
  10. rbell

    rbell Active Member

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    The "pre-bate" built into the FairTax eliminates the regressivity that occurs in some sales tax plans.
     
  11. billwald

    billwald New Member

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    All the IRS does in implement the tax code mandated by your elected representatives.

    The fastest way to get a change in the tax code is term limits.
     
  12. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

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    Not so fast my friend. Mortgage originators had to be licensed in 2003...right before the mortgage meltdown occurred. Realtors had to be licensed, as did appraisers. Brokers who sold crappy securities were all licensed. The lawyers who made sure all of it was "legal" had licenses on their wall. All the people who contributed to the current economic maliase all had licenses. While licensing tax preparers (something I do part time in addition to my other financial day jobs) is not a bad idea, but it's not a solution to much of anything either.
    I think the pre-bate is the worst part of this. This is a guaranteed way to keep a leviathan like bureacracy in the IRS/federal govt.
     
  13. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

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    The fastest way to change the tax code is to change the tax code :thumbs:
     
  14. windcatcher

    windcatcher New Member

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    Licensing tax preparers does not insure that people are more competent. It's a revenue thing.... to charge a person a fee before they can perform a service. The lie is that people assume that a license person will perform a better job than an unlicensed person and that quality will be insured.

    Look at the other professions:
    A doctor gets his education in medicine and completes his residential and then tests out and gets licensed. Year after year he is required to renew his license..... why? to practice medicine legally: But it is his education and his skill and his ongoing hunger to maintain the current contact with continuing education which insures his level of competance and quality of practice and not the license. As far as proof of education...... his diploma and certifications are required when he applies for his license to practice...... Why shouldn't the same posted on his wall suffice for his patients that he has properly prepared? If the doctor kills his patients.... word spreads quickly and people stop attending. If the doctor is good.... no amount of year to year licensing will improve upon his skill....... but if he doesn't pay........ he's out of legal practice. If the doctor is getting senile or has substance abuse problems.... as long as he keeps his license renewed..... he is allowed to practice until and unless someone is able to challenge his competence.....successfully.

    Many occupations are this way..... and most occupational and professional law was written by ...............guess who?

    Lawyers!

    Guess who doesn't have to have a license to practise their 'art'?

    Lawyers!

    Oh...... they may have to pass a bar exam to be recognized as a member of the bar or an official of the court........ However, any person without the pretense of being a lawyer, may represent another upon their request: In such case, the risk of competent counsel is shared and understood by the person being represented and the person who is willing to stand in the counselor's shoes.

    Licensing people who have skills...... limits access to those who have license to practice..... and does not insure the quality of skills, nor the perfection in practice.

    The best hope is simplify the tax code.........3/4ths at least should be trashed and the rest simplified. It should be written in laymans terms and consistent with terms defined in a commonly accessible dictionary. An uncomplicated return should not exceed the requirement of an 8th grade education to understand and negotiate. It is rediculous that even a complicated return..... with carry over losses, tax deferrments, capital gains/losses, tax credits, expense accounts, depreciation........ can't be understood and negotiated by a person with a college degree without having to consult a tax preparer: The fault is with the tax code and its complexities, and licensing folks doesn't insure that you will get what you pay for..... In fact, its more likely you'll pay more........ and the quality will remain the same.

    Want more? Then go to a CPA. They are certified and licensed.... and anyone helping to fill out your tax forms for compensation is required to attest to honestly representing what you produced of your records and documents and your affirmations.

    Licenses produce revenue: License do not insure competence.... only that a person has fulfilled the educational requirements and can take the tests.... the initial one to obtain the license: After that, the quality of continuing education units which a state may require for relicensure is made from an elective selection.... some which are more challenging than others..... but all intended to be passable to maintain the renewal requirements for CEU's. Licenses are both protective of professions by limiting and controlling competition..... from others who may be competent and qualified in all areas (except for obtaining a license) and a means of controlling practice. While the public believes licensing professional practices are protecting us from unscupulous charlatans... which they do but limited, they really do not..... cannot..... fund all the policing and investigating to insure that only the competent remain in practice.... or that all charlatans get caught. What a license does do.... it puts the acheivements, education, and skills, acquired by an individual to perform a service under the control of government to determined who can work and where. License also serve the confidence of unthinking and uninformed public into believing and accepting that a licensed person has a higher degree of competency and delivery of service without the necessity of proof, or recommendation of peers and customers..... and that peer review is in favor of the consumer..... which it is not. (In actuallity....peer review can be politically motivated.... and professionally protective and secretive of all but the most blatant of offenders.)
     
  15. billwald

    billwald New Member

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    >The fastest way to change the tax code is to change the tax code

    Fine, as long as you don't take away my tax breaks. People who want a change should first give up their tax breaks AND GOVT CHECKS as a demonstration of good faith. <g>
     
  16. donnA

    donnA Active Member

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    it might insure that they(tax preparers) actually know what their doing. they've made big mistakes on our taxes before, like refusing to put down our at home 19 year old son was a student for EIC purposes, which is the way it is supose to work. it was the yea rof bush's first tax rebate check, they causes us to lose $400. on that, which we never got.
     
  17. windcatcher

    windcatcher New Member

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    [Sorry you lost that chance, DonnA. Wonder if refiling within the 2 year deadline would have gotten that back.......]

    You will probably pay more to get your taxes prepared by a licensed tax preparer..... but neither that license nor how much you pay insures that you've picked someone who knows or cares about the particular parts of tax law which affect you.

    If you find a mistake on your return....I think you still have 2-3 years to prepare a correction: A franchised tax preparer is likely to back their reputation by doing it without charge (this is the minimum which I would expect for THEIR error)... and/or any other warranties which they promise with their service.
     
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