Dear Obama: Jokes About Using The IRS For Retribution Aren’t Funny
Glenn Reynolds scolds Obama for joking about using the IRS for political retribution in his commencement speech at ASU:
At his Arizona State University commencement speech last Wednesday, Mr. Obama noted that ASU had refused to grant him an honorary degree, citing his lack of experience, and the controversy this had caused. He then demonstrated ASU’s point by remarking, “I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson. I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. . . . President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.”
Just a joke about the power of the presidency. Made by Jay Leno it might have been funny. But as told by Mr. Obama, the actual president of the United States, it’s hard to see the humor. Surely he’s aware that other presidents, most notably Richard Nixon, have abused the power of the Internal Revenue Service to harass their political opponents. But that abuse generated a powerful backlash and with good reason. Should the IRS come to be seen as just a bunch of enforcers for whoever is in political power, the result would be an enormous loss of legitimacy for the tax system.
I couldn’t agree more, though I’d note that the legitimacy of the tax system has already been thrown into question through its use by politicians like Obama to manipulate people into certain types of behavior.
Taxes on tobacco. Proposed taxes on sugar and sugary drinks. Tax credits for buying hybrids. Our political leaders are endlessly using our tax code to manipulate our behavior, and it’s not right. If intimidating political dissenters with the IRS is bad, then intimidating smokers or soda drinks with the tax code is bad as well.
The tax code exists to raise the revenue necessary for all the functions of government our politicians approve and/or create. It does not exist to manipulate us into living as the politicians think we should.
