Bill 1813: Pay Your Taxes Or

Lose Your Freedoms

By James Donahue

Bill 1813 which recently was passed by the Senate, sounds like a gasoline tax bill, which seems bad enough for most drivers in the United States. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has tacked an amendment to this bill that adds an even more ominous implication.

The Reid amendment would authorize the State Department to revoke the passports of anyone the IRS certifies as owing a delinquent tax debt exceeding $50,000.

In other words, if the IRS accuses a person of owing this amount of unpaid tax, the government can strip his or her proof of citizenship and freedom to travel in and out of the United States.

Most Americans don’t earn much over $30,000 to $50,000 in any given year so the thought of being in debt to the IRS by $50,000 seems to be a non-threat issue. But there are implications to this amendment, which has yet to pass in the House that should scare us all.

As it is written, the bill gives the IRS the power to simply accuse a person of owing $50,000 in unpaid tax, the debt does not have to be proven before the State Department can seize the passport. Thus anybody can be targeted and blocked by the government from leaving the country.

By law, once a passport is revoked by the government, the person’s name appears on the federal “no-fly” list. Once your name gets on this list it is very hard to get it removed.

Membership in the no-fly group puts us on a list of potential domestic terrorists, thus we might find ourselves subject to constant surveillance by the FBI.

Along with this distinct listing comes another restriction. We are stripped of our Second Amendment right of gun ownership.

Overall, Bill 1813 is a very bad document that we sincerely hope our representatives in the House have sense enough to reject. Their failure to do so will mean one more major loss of civil liberties in America.