George F. Will: The heavy hand of the IRS - The Washington Post
Civil forfeiture laws can only be described as tyranny. Government agencies can take and keep assets "suspected" of being involved in a crime (not proved, just suspected), forcing the owners to go to court and prove that the assets were not involved in a crime. And how are the owners supposed to go to court if their assets have been seized? Good question, and one for which there are no good answers. The Supreme Court recently blessed all this. I'm suprised a member of the mainstream press picked up on it, but thank you, George Will. Reason has run articles on it, and the Institute for Justice provides legal aid for people caught in this horrible bind. If you want to give money to a truly worthwhile nonprofit, the Institute for Justice is a worthy recipient.
The stiffer banking rules were a direct result of the War Against Drug campaign. Since the DOJ seems inclined to reverse some of the criminal punishments, then perhaps this is an optimum time to attempt to revise some of the banking regulations. It could be argued that the IRS communicating with banks about cash deposits as low as three (or ten) thousand dollars is a violation of privacy and a lack of due process. These type of banking laws were designed to stop criminals but we are all subjected to them. We are all being monitored. Time to change that.