James48
James48's JournalIRS Hires 4,000 Customer Service Reps, Citing Inflation Reduction Act
From http://GovExec.Com
Hiring surge for enforcement personnel likely coming next.
ERIC KATZ | OCTOBER 28, 2022
IRS
HIRING
The Internal Revenue Service is already putting its cash infusion to use, hiring 4,000 customer service representatives from the new funding it received as part of the Democrats’ major climate change, health care and tax legislation.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law in August, will—with great notoriety—provide $80 billion to the tax agency over the next 10 years. A 2021 Treasury Department report suggested IRS could use the funding to hire up to 87,000 employees, which generated significant backlash—and significant backlash to the backlash.
Republican lawmakers cited the figure to highlight their opposition to the bill and to suggest Democrats were ushering in a new wave of audits and other IRS-initiated harassment. The hiring will not, in practice, grow the size of the IRS as much as the bill’s detractors have claimed: much of it will go to backfilling vacancies and replacing the up to 50,000 employees expected to leave the agency in the next few years.
More: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/10/irs-hires-4000-customer-service-reps-citing-inflation-reduction-act/379064/
Early voting
Looks like women continue to lead the returns of
Absentee votes.
https://rpubs.com/ElectProject/early_vote_2022
I have a dream.
That just this once, all the stars will fall into line.
It will be the biggest democratic turnout in our nation’s history.
And D’S will pour into the polls, and we will get EVERY close race called in our favor.
Can you imagine, say, 68 D Senators, and 288 D House members, and the White House, all at the same time?
Please let this be the election wave of the century. For years I have wondered “where are all my people?”
What If, for once, they all show up and vote?
Give the Ukrainians
The former Soviet Union seat on the security council. Russia has clearly demonstrated its inability to live up to the intention on of that seat.
What air defense can we give Ukraine?
Did we still have any old Hawk antiaircraft missile systems still in storage? Or old Vulcan anti-aircraft vehicles?
I’m old school, and don’t know what else is still in inventory from old days. Hawks would help Ukraine greatly with their drone and helicopter issues.
Anybody know? Anything pre-Patriot missile hardware?
'Incredibly alarming': Republican poll worker in Michigan charged with tampering voting equipment
Source: Raw Story
A Michigan poll worker has been charged after a witness saw him inserting a USB drive into an electronic poll book after the Aug. 2 statewide primary, the Detroit Free Press reports.
James Holkeboer, an election inspector at the Gaines Township 8th Precinct, has been charged with falsifying records under election law and using a computer to commit a crime.
As Detroit Free Press points out, poll books contain voter registration data that includes personal and confidential information that election workers use to oversee elections at their precincts.
Holkeboer registered with the county as a Republican, according to Michigan Radio. Detroit Free Press reported that "an individual with the same name served as an alternate delegate for the 3rd Congressional District at the Michigan Republican Party's State Endorsement Convention earlier this year."
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/amp/james-holkeboer-charged-2658360472?fbclid=IwAR3U7DU_AcRc50c3vdmJJ2uP7rPOOSrbcdsyl_kwUJ6qXcpkftgrnlG9hnM
Voter fraud? Republican.
US Troops Are Volunteering to Fly Abortion Seekers Across State Lines
Using personal planes, off duty, and out of uniform, the pilots say it’s their ”patriotic duty” to help Americans.
JACQUELINE FELDSCHER | SEPTEMBER 26, 2022
http://GovExec.Com
U.S. troops are volunteering to fly people seeking an abortion from states that have banned the procedure to states where they can receive care, arguing that they donned a uniform to fight for freedom—including “freedom of choice.”
Elevated Access is a nonprofit founded in April that connects volunteer pilots with people needing an abortion who live in the more-than-a-dozen states where the procedure is banned. Those pilots use their own private planes, donating their time, fuel, and maintenance costs, said Fiona, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit who declined to use her last name to protect her privacy.
More than 800 pilots have volunteered to fly for Elevated Access, Fiona said. The group does not know how many of those have current and former ties to the military because the application does not ask about their military background. But, some pilots have voluntarily shared their military backgrounds or sent photos of themselves in a military uniform.
“I got an email from a pilot…in California and he’s an Air Force reservist offering to help us recruit more pilots from the military,” she said. “This is a guy who feels like…this is another way to serve his country.”
The group facilitated one flight so far from Oklahoma to Kansas in mid-June. “We have done one flight, and that was by design. We wanted to demonstrate it can be done,” Fiona said. “We’re not going to stand up a national airline overnight.”
More:
https://www.govexec.com/defense/2022/09/us-troops-are-volunteering-fly-abortion-seekers-across-state-lines/377626/
Group coordinating flights: https://elevatedaccess.org/
VA to Offer Abortions in Limited Cases
Source: GovExec.Com
By ERIC KATZ
The Veterans Affairs Department will soon begin offering abortion services in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk, the agency announced on Friday, citing abortion restrictions going into place in states across the country to justify the change.
Abortion opponents have disputed VA’s legal authority to provide abortions, but the Biden administration has maintained it would simply have to engage in a rulemaking process to reverse its current policy. Under the update, the department’s health care providers will offer abortion counseling and limited access to abortions for veterans and beneficiaries who qualify for care from its network. VA will early next week issue an interim rule to formally announce the policy, which will allow the department to immediately start providing the services.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sparking a dozen states to fully ban abortions and several more to institute severe restrictions on the procedure. VA Secretary Denis McDonough quickly said he was “closely watching” the fallout from the decision to determine if the determine should respond to a “diminution in access to services.” VA will say in the forthcoming rule that new state laws are “creating urgent risks to the lives and health of pregnant veterans” and veterans’ beneficiaries.
“In response, VA is acting to help to ensure that, irrespective of what laws or policies states may impose, veterans who receive the care set forth in the medical benefits package will be able to obtain abortions, if determined needed by a health care professional, when the life or the health of the pregnant veteran would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term or the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest,” the department said.
Read more: https://www.govexec.com/management/2022/09/va-offer-abortions-limited-cases/376691/
This is a major change of policy.
"Cancelled debt is reportable to the IRS.
From the IRS:
“In general, if you have cancellation of debt income because your debt is canceled, forgiven, or discharged for less than the amount you must pay, the amount of the canceled debt is taxable and you must report the canceled debt on your tax return for the year the cancellation occurs. The canceled debt isn't taxable, however, if the law specifically allows you to exclude it from gross income. These specific exclusions will be discussed later.”-
Source: topic # 431 at the IRS
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc431
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