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right to know how much money you make. That's why the IRS was set up separately from the rest of the gov't, why it's supposed to not share data with the rest of the gov't (yeah, right), and why the income tax was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Ct...
Of course, that's all dark history today that no one studies or takes seriously. Sigh.
--Alan
The latest "Wired," 1.6, has an article entitled "Big Brother Wants to Look Into Your Bank Account (any time it pleases)." It describes how FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, cross-refererence IRS records. (I've been curious about FinCEN since around early 1990, when I first heard about its formation--as a joint task force of Treasury, State, NSA, FBI, etc.--and this article in "Wired" has filled in a lot of gaps. Suffice it to say that FinCEN is likely _very_ interested in our schemes for money-laundering, tax evasion, black markets, and collapse of the U.S. and other governments.) By the way, I generally avoid here the well-trodden ground of libertarian politics, anarcho-capitalism, the "duties" one putatively owes the State, and so on. One should not take my unwillingness to "debate the basics" to mean assent for the views others express here. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.