To the Editor:

Time magazine published an article this week exposing the fact that $1 million in bonuses were paid out to IRS employees who owed back taxes. I’m pretty sure if I owed back taxes the IRS would be knocking on my door and threatening to garnish my wages.

Why are IRS employees treated differently? It seems the all-too-familiar reason is that they work for the government and the government treats “their own” differently. If you are ever audited by the IRS — you are guilty until proven innocent and often the best course of action is to simply roll over and pay whatever they ask. That’s statesponsored extortion. It doesn’t matter if you are right or not — it will cost you more in time and money to try to prove you are right. With a tax code approaching 80,000 pages that’s pretty much impossible.

It is time to eliminate the IRS and the oppressive income tax and switch to something that is simple, fair and visible. Something that is easy to administer, easy to comply with and difficult to cheat. That solution is the FairTax.

A national retail sales tax with no tax on the basic necessities of life. No IRS, no income tax and millions of new jobs.

James R. Donnell

Cameron Park, Calif.