To the editor:

Tax season is here. We may not like being taxed, or the process every year of getting organized, but it does serve a purpose.

All those things we can’t do for ourselves … that’s where taxes come in. Not many of us can afford a fire truck and trained crew to protect our house, so taxes pay for that. None of us can protect our nation from enemies, so yes, taxes. Many don’t have enough to retire comfortably, so social security, funded by taxes, helps out our older folks.

If you earn wages or have a pension you get a W2 or 1099. The IRS knows exactly what you owe, and you can be darn sure you’re going to pay your required amount, usually above 20% for federal. However, if you are super wealthy and have very complicated taxes, you will hire tax experts and lawyers. Whether these wealthy people cheat or not (our tax code is insanely complicated), most will pay a smaller percentage in taxes than the guy getting a W2 or 1099. And the IRS is going to have a much harder time figuring out what is owed and making that person pay up.

For every one dollar that the IRS spends on this kind of enforcement with the super wealthy, it brings in 12 dollars of additional revenue. Sounds like a pretty good return on investment — money well spent. So why is the current administration gutting the IRS in the middle of tax season? Because the criminal president hates taxes. He’s never released a tax return. If he did, we would see how much he cheats and how little he pays. Now he is gutting the IRS so he and his billionaire buddies pay even less.

Former commissioners of the IRS wrote an OpEd on Feb. 24 for the New York Times: [these firings] “will shift the burden of funding the government from those who shirk their taxes to the honest people who pay them.”

Those honest people should not stand for this. This is government by the rich, for the rich. Most people are decent — we need to rise up.

Mike Derrick

Peru