Apparently, there's at least one in Jefferson City, Missouri who can't wait to sink his fangs directly into private bank accounts. And he even has Republican lawmakers willing to sponsor it!
Mo. Governor Seeks to Tap Banks for Overdue Taxes.
"JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missourians with overdue taxes may soon have more difficulty avoiding payment. Gov. Jay Nixon(D) is a proposing a law that would let the state seize delinquent taxes directly from people's bank accounts.
The new powers are included among eight specific proposals Nixon has embraced for enhancing the Department of Revenue's ability to track down tax deadbeats and collect what the state is owed.
He is banking first that the Legislature will approve the changes to state tax laws. Then he is banking that those changes will generate $22 million next year to help balance the budget and an additional $49 million in the 2012 fiscal year.
I don't know about you, but that kind of confiscatory power creeps me out. Granted, on the surface, it sounds like responsible policy against dead beats. Everyone should pay their full tax liability, and suffer consequences if they don't pay, but isn't there something written down somewhere about due process & unreasonable seizure?
And I wonder how this squares with Missouri Tax Payer's Bill of Rights? Or will all that be rudely null and void??
Admittedly, the details of the Nixon's plan are sketchy:
"Many lawmakers still are not fully aware of the details of Nixon's proposals to increase state revenues, particularly those dealing with tax collections.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Carl Vogel, R-Jefferson City, said Friday that he plans to sponsor legislation making Nixon's tax collection changes. But Vogel acknowledged that he wasn't familiar with the provision allowing the state to transfer money out of people's bank accounts."
Clueless in Jeff City. I wonder if they'll even read the bill before they vote on it??
And the Banks aren't happy about it, either.
"A lot of our bankers think they're becoming the policemen for money laundering and drug enforcement and terrorism, and it just gets to be too much," Ratliff said.
Now banks would be aiding in another government function -- tax collection.
"We're not too keen on informing on our customers," (Missouri Bankers Association Exec. V.P. Bill) Ratliff said. "We realize the job of the Revenue Department is to collect taxes. The job of banks is to provide banking services to our customers, not to turn them in."
This type of confiscatory power is available in nine other states, and there are parallels for seizure of assets available to other Missouri agencies:
"Unbeknownst perhaps to many Missourians, the Department of Social Services already has a similar power to seize money from people's bank accounts to collect overdue child support. That program works by periodically matching lists of bank account holders with a list of people behind on their child support payments. The banks participate on a voluntary basis."
What the article doesn't mention is where that power the Department of Social Services has to seize money from people's bank accounts comes from: a court order.
Child support is a court ordered judgment, issued after a respondent had his/her day in court. This court ordered judgment is subject to enforcement via wage garnishments or liens.
Currently, the Missouri Dept. of Revenue utilizes county Prosecuting Attorneys to recover any delinquent taxes owed the State of Missouri. Those Prosecuting Attorneys contact the delinquent tax payer in an attempt to resolve the matter outside of court. If unsuccessful, the prosecuting attorney files a civil suit with the court and a judgment is rendered, and liens or seizures implemented.
It seems to me what Gov. Nixon is proposing smells a lot like desperation, driven by government's greed for a quick fix. It by-passes the courts altogether, and veers dangerously close to imperial power territory, which by definition curtails your liberty & rights.
I don't know about you, but that kind of confiscatory power creeps me out.
TY CS
