Welcome To Kafkaville: IRS Jumps On Forfeiture Bandwagon, Seizing Your Money With No Proof Of Crime
The U.S. has turned into a country I don't recognize, where civil liberties and private property are sneered at -- before they are yanked away from us on the grounds we very well might have done something wrong.

Along with cops engaging in civil asset forfeiture -- taking money and possessions because they might have been used in criminal activity (but with no evidence they actually have), and demanding that citizens prove themselves innocent to get their money and stuff back -- the IRS has jumped on the money-stealing train.

Shaila Dewan writes in The New York Times that the IRS is seizing accounts on mere suspicion. Like this lady's:

ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa -- For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away -- until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.

The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes -- in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.

"How can this happen?" Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. "Who takes your money before they prove that you've done anything wrong with it?"

The federal government does.

Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up.

"They're going after people who are really not criminals," said David Smith, a former federal prosecutor who is now a forfeiture expert and lawyer in Virginia. "They're middle-class citizens who have never had any trouble with the law."

On Thursday, in response to questions from The New York Times, the I.R.S. announced that it would curtail the practice, focusing instead on cases where the money is believed to have been acquired illegally or seizure is deemed justified by "exceptional circumstances."

Richard Weber, the chief of Criminal Investigation at the I.R.S., said in a written statement, "This policy update will ensure that C.I. continues to focus our limited investigative resources on identifying and investigating violations within our jurisdiction that closely align with C.I.'s mission and key priorities." He added that making deposits under $10,000 to evade reporting requirements, called structuring, is still a crime whether the money is from legal or illegal sources. The new policy will not apply to past seizures.

So, this woman, for the "crime" of not taking credit cards, has now "borrowed money, strained her credit cards and taken out a second mortgage to keep her restaurant going."

A warning I've made before: This could be any of us. Own a food truck? Make $8,000 and worry about that sitting around? Deposit it in the bank and you could lose that money and all your money unless you hire a lawyer and go through an expensive legal battle to prove that you've done nothing wrong.

Anybody here want to live in this kind of America?

via @Doug_Bandow