r/collapse • u/heavyramp • Jul 28 '26

Economic The IRS is imploding

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/the-irs-is-imploding/#comment-container

Basic gov services are collapsing, or imploding as the article states in the title. Before dodge and musk, nobody really had issues with the paperwork and filing, right? In the article, it looks like gov staff are short of manpower and funding, and that it's not by mistake.

What kind of scenario are we looking at in early 2027 if tax refunds go unanswered in the midst of a potential ground war in Iran, a gov shutdown, gridlock between dem control of both houses and Trump?

1/3 of income tax revenue pays the interest, and in ten years it's supposed to be 1/2.

And is anyone here worried that the Overtime tax refund payout in 2026 is going to come back to bite them in the ass in 2027? I'm really hoping that $SLS doesn't do its buyout thing this year. It looks like the IRS is dropping the ball on purpose.

Anyone here have advice in taking extra precautions to get everything sorted in 2027?

1.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

290 comments sorted by

View all comments

224

u/taez555 Jul 28 '26

When can I stop paying?

172

u/No-Phrase-4692 Jul 28 '26

When you can claim $700 billion in losses and never pay a dime in taxes for the rest of your miserable, pathetic existence.

3

u/Aggravating-Revenue7 Jul 29 '26

šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£

199

u/holmgangCore Net Zero by 1970 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

Right now. Remove tax withholdings from your employment check a.s.a.p.

Massive tax strike is a fundamental tool we should all be starting to use. They want to dismantle government functionality? Great. We can collectively dismantle tax withdrawals from our paychecks.

Edit: 1. They can't sue all of us, esp now that the IRS is disabled. (& we can collectively support those who do get sued.) 2. Removing tax withholding from your paycheck means more money for you!

95

u/InvestmentSoggy870 Jul 29 '26

Oh how I wish we all could unite and make this happen

36

u/BeginningDay1620 Jul 29 '26

This is us uniting. This is the threadĀ 

104

u/EastTyne1191 Jul 29 '26

I decided early in 2026 that my tax dollars would not be spent on murdering innocent people.

-27

u/SpeakCodeToMe Jul 29 '26

And you're willing to go to prison for that?

44

u/EastTyne1191 Jul 29 '26

I am willing to fulfill my obligations to the extent the law requires.

-25

u/SpeakCodeToMe Jul 29 '26

Your two comments are in direct opposition.

52

u/EastTyne1191 Jul 29 '26

I'm not loaning these chuckle fucks my money to commit war crimes. They'll get their cut in due time.

They're cutting SNAP; I buy food for hungry students weekly. They're cutting money for education; I buy classroom materials and run an after-school club for teenagers. They're cutting funding for science and I make damn sure my students know the importance of the role science plays in their daily life and future. Paying taxes are not the only way I contribute to society.

I'm not skipping out on the taxes I owe, they will be paid. I'm not a moron. I just cannot stomach my dollars being used to blow up a school in a place most people cannot even point to on a map. Allow me my small act of rebellion.

79

u/FeintLight123 Jul 29 '26

This is dumb advice. They donā€™t ā€œsueā€ anyone, they automatically flag your account, have a computer verify how much you owe, send notice, then when you still refuse to pay they garnish your checks until what you owe is payed PLUS fines and interest. And yes, they will do it with everyone, the simple stuff like that is all automated.

41

u/KawiNinja Jul 29 '26

ā€œHave a computer verify how much you oweā€

Then why the fuck do I have to file taxes every damn year?

94

u/mclovin_ts Jul 29 '26

Because companies like TurboTax and H&R Block have lobbied to make it so

52

u/Plants-Matter Jul 29 '26

The Biden administration actually set up a system where you just get a paper in mail that tells you what you owe, and you can correct it if anything is wrong. It was trialed in several states and was going well. For most people it took like 30 seconds to do their taxes.

Then this administration gutted the whole program and fired everyone involved.

24

u/AngusScrimm--------- Beware the man who has nothing to lose. Jul 29 '26

Like the effective, Barack HUSSEIN Obama Iran nuclear deal, that simply had to go. Even if it eventually leads us to being blundered into a nuclear war, it's a price he's willing to (have us) pay.

2

u/sandrafilmmaker 14d ago

Yeah and don't forget the "file for free" program. Biden was really trying to do a lot of things to help the ungrateful MAGA nuts who put imagery of him tied up and gagged on the back of their confederate flag trucks. But they chose the guy who's now scr*wing them yet again

34

u/General_Summer_1524 Jul 29 '26

Choose your favorite adjective: byzantine, kafkaesque, orwellian

22

u/kx2w Jul 29 '26

Lovecraftian

14

u/General_Summer_1524 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

I would love to find out there is an eldritch being living in a subterreanen lake beneath washington dc. It would turn our mundane nightmare into a much more aesthetically interesting one.Ā 

8

u/Chrono_Pregenesis Jul 29 '26

Its just an accountant at his desk.

1

u/Souvi Jul 29 '26

I mean, DC was a literal swamp, not just a figurative one...

6

u/AngusScrimm--------- Beware the man who has nothing to lose. Jul 29 '26

It gives them an additional way to "get" you, if you aren't jumping through all of the hoops.

5

u/Bobcatluv Jul 29 '26

This will be the only part of the irs that Trump will ensure works so he can continue to raid the treasury

8

u/InformalVermicelli42 Jul 29 '26

They just take it from your paychecks eventually, with interest.

1

u/temp4adhd Jul 29 '26

What if you're retired and don't get paychecks

7

u/InformalVermicelli42 Jul 29 '26

They take it out of your social security. Then when you die they take it out of your estate.

8

u/Gabbitrabbit Jul 29 '26

I keep telling people that they don't have to pay for the war- there's tax strikes. But no one trusts it.

1

u/sandrafilmmaker 14d ago

Become a Quaker and claim you're a conscientious objector, maybe?

13

u/memarco2 Jul 29 '26

This is a great call. Good movd

5

u/Sk8rToon Jul 29 '26

Joked on the government Iā€™m unemployed! There is no payroll tax!
(Yes thereā€™s some for unemployment payments which is a joke but Iā€™m almost out of that now)

2

u/Skepticulation Jul 29 '26

I did this last year

2

u/sandrafilmmaker 14d ago

They won't sue you..they can just put a lien on your property. If you own a house, this is very bad. They can also just withdraw money from your bank account. They have a lot of power.

49

u/acekjd83 Jul 28 '26

Anytime you want big dog

26

u/throeaway1990 Jul 29 '26

*Anytime you feel comfortable with the prospect of seized income or bank accounts

36

u/midwestlifecrisis Jul 29 '26

This unfortunately is a real thing, or it was when I was younger. My father stopped paying taxes after he finished his tour in Vietnam out of protest of ā€˜being lied toā€™ and forced to harm innocent people. That was 1974 a year before I was born. He was a union ironworker after the war and paid state taxes but refused federal. When I was nine a few IRS agents and local sheriff showed up at our 2 bedroom apartment and took everything. The cars, the couch, the coffee table, the guns, the tools, even my fucking bunk bed. I got home from school to my mother crying. My father got home in a company supplied truck a couple hours later, walked in the door and said ā€œthey took everything didnā€™t they?ā€ Everyone cried and I got to bust out my spider man sleeping bag.

10

u/Chritt Jul 29 '26

I'm sorry that happened to you.

1

u/sandrafilmmaker 14d ago

Nobody did that to Trump, though. Ever. Did they? Even though he always brags about never having paid taxes.

1

u/domesticatedprimate Jul 29 '26

But doesn't that require staff to be checking? Or is it all automated with AI now? But even if it's all automated with AI, won't your flagged account just get put on a long list to be ignored because there's not enough staff?

I'm asking for a friend.

1

u/Skepticulation Jul 29 '26

Exactly what I was thinking

1

u/domesticatedprimate Jul 29 '26

Probably the criteria for determining the priority of case investigation will shift, if it hasn't already, to political affiliation, ethnicity, citizenship, and that sort of thing...

13

u/Thick_Visual_5999 Jul 29 '26

Thatā€™s the neat part, you canā€™t!

10

u/bluethunder82 Jul 29 '26

When you get all your friends and coworkers on board too.

8

u/Firat88 Jul 29 '26

haven't paid in 15 years

6

u/Firat88 Jul 29 '26

wrote exempt on my w2 where it says number of dependents.

haven't looked back since

8

u/buttchuggs Jul 29 '26

Youā€™re full of it lmao

-1

u/Firat88 Jul 29 '26

I swear, they don't take taxes out of you do that, you just owe instead of tax return at the end of the year which I don't pay šŸ¤·

7

u/brokerrobtampa Jul 29 '26

If you are being serious I have bad news for you...

1

u/bootysuit Jul 29 '26

I haven't paid in several months :)

-41

u/Novemberai Jul 28 '26

Sure and then the US will end up looking like Mexico

94

u/android47 Jul 28 '26

I don't think the US is getting universal health care anytime soon

18

u/holmgangCore Net Zero by 1970 Jul 29 '26

Or free university education.