The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at WSJ written by the editor, James Taranto.
They’re the JV Team
“Tom Brady Addresses Deflate Gate: ‘This Isn’t ISIS’ ”—headline, Newsweek, Jan. 22
Stop and Fisc
The Internal Revenue Service’s threats of a work slowdown—noted skeptically here last week—have drawn support from the New York Times editorial page, which harrumphs that Congress should increase the IRS budget, that IRS efforts to suppress conservative political speech were fine, and (falsely) that the IRS attempted to suppress liberal speech as well.
That’s not exactly surprising, but this bit got our attention:
For individual taxpayers, the latest $346 million budget cut means the agency will resort to delayed refunds, fewer audits (a boon only to tax cheats) and severe cuts in services for citizens seeking guidance.
Really, fewer audits are “a boon only to tax cheats”? Assuming you’re not a tax cheat, suppose you received a notice that the IRS was auditing your returns. How do you think you’d react, with serenity or dread?
This isn’t to deny that audits are a necessary evil. But if the IRS could identify tax cheats in advance, it wouldn’t need to audit them. The Times has objected to the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk techniques on the ground that they impose burdens on the innocent. Whether or not the trade-off is worth it, it would be preposterous to insist that limiting stop-and-frisk is “a boon only to criminals.”
(Note: “Stop and Fisc” from the Jan. 20 BOTW post.) For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
