RADIOApril 18, 2023

Is our IRS system WEAPONIZED against us?!

Happy Tax Day! Glenn, for one, is very excited to perform his patriotic duty of paying taxes. And he's not at all upset about how complicated and corrupt the IRS system has become or what our government is wasting all this money on! But is the fear of an audit the point? In this clip, Glenn and Stu discuss how the government has weaponized our tax code to be able to go after whoever they want, as well as some of the most un-American taxes out there ...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Stu, I have known you for, oh, 27 years. That can't be possible. Really?

STU: No. It's not that long, is it? I hope not.

GLENN: Yeah, well.

STU: Twenty-five. Something like that. Too long. Too long.

GLENN: Anyway, too long.

I've never known you to pay your taxes on time, ever.

STU: I don't think I've done it in that time period.

Now, it's possible at some point.

GLENN: At some point.

You always file for an extension.

STU: Always file for an extension.

GLENN: Why?

STU: Well, part of it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let's say you're 2013. And you file for an extension.

You have to pay that by October. Then you're like, two months away from the forms coming in.

So it's like, it just feels really close. You just did this them.

Then all of a sudden, you have to do them again. It's too close. I need an extension.

So you wind up shifting the entire calendar. To October to October instead of April to April like everyone else.

GLENN: Yeah, got it. Okay. Yeah. Sure.

STU: I will say, as time has gone on, there have been -- you know, I don't like to admit, that a couple of good things have happened. In my working career with you, and things have improved in some ways.

And in those ways, they have -- while a lot of good things come from maybe some extra income and such.

GLENN: Sure. Right.

STU: It also complicates your tax forms.

And now my full-time job is doing my taxes, and my part-time job is this.

GLENN: Go to the bank more now. Gosh, I feel bad.

STU: I mean, your ATM card gets worn down. I mean, honestly

GLENN: I know! He has to build a pool now.

STU: Compared to you and your taxes, my arc, super simple. Right?

GLENN: So I pay taxes in all 50 states.

STU: Well, probably not all 50. Because some of them don't have state income tax. Thank you, Texas. Thank you, Tennessee. Thank you, Florida.

GLENN: Good. Thank you.

So I pay any state, that is charging tax.
And I think, I don't even know how it works.

I think it started, when I started traveling and doing shows in states.

And you sell tickets. Now, if we sell T-shirts of anything in any state. I think I have to pay for it. I don't -- I don't really know.

I think it's a scam myself.

STU: We're just driving in each state. Do not come after us.

GLENN: Yeah. So usually, it's no big deal.

I owe the state of Georgia, like $23,000.

I don't think I was in Georgia last year. Georgia, what are you doing to me!

What did I do? Did I sell like a whole bunch of TheBlaze's socks or something.

Because I don't get that money. So maybe you should -- seriously, what did we sell or -- was I in Georgia?

STU: I don't remember you being in Georgia, but it's possible you were there.

GLENN: I don't think so.

STU: One of the things they do, especially for -- they call it the jock tax.

And it started really because of like baseball players. And, you know, baseball player. You live in Texas.

But you go play a game in California. And California is like, oh, wait a minute. That guy makes a lot of money. And he was here for a weekend. Jokers I pay New York. New York State, New York City, and California, if I ever broadcast, they make me pay tax for the number of days that I have been there.

STU: Yeah. They act like you worked there for one day, and therefore, you owe us income tax. Which is of course a completely ridiculous standard, but of course they apply it. And they apply it largely to people in the media, or who are playing for sports teams, because everyone knows where you are. Right?

If you're a person who is working a normal job.

GLENN: Nobody. Really cares.

STU: You're filing some spreadsheets out in California, no one does anything.

GLENN: And likely, your boss is not asking, is Fred here today? Where is Fred?

STU: Exactly. And especially with the homework thing. It's a totally different scenario. I know people who just bought campers during COVID. And just we're working every day from a different location, and investigating, and going through the United States. And checking out new areas.

GLENN: That's why campers are so cheap right now. They really are.

They're like crazy cheap.

STU: Why --

GLENN: Because everybody bought a camper.

They're like, this is the end! I got to get into a camper. And they got a camper, and now they're like, okay. It wasn't the end.

STU: I'll never use this again. I don't like driving those roads.

GLENN: Right. I actually went to the national parks. Holy cow. We'll never do that again.

STU: But back to the taxes part of this.

I'm now at the point where I have five forms that I know I have, that have not come in.

And I'm getting notes from the people. Yeah. I couldn't get this done. It's -- we'll get it to you in a couple of months. It will be to you before October, though, don't worry about it.

It's like, okay. Thank you. I guess that is extension time. And the best part about an extension, Glenn. I don't know you've enjoyed it, I'm sure you have. But I know you try to avoid this stuff as much as possible.

GLENN: I keep so far away from anything. Extension. I don't need an extension. Why would I need an extension? I wanted to do my patriotic duty. I stay so far away from anything gray!

STU: To be clear, an extension is not gray.

GLENN: Oh, I know it's not. I know it's not. But to me, it's just one of those things. Why didn't he pay his taxes? Why didn't he do it?

STU: But you have to do basically a guestimate.

How much do I owe these people. And you're like, okay.

And, of course, if you don't want to get penalized, you have to overestimate how much you're paying. So you have to dump a bunch of money to the government. And then overpay them a little bit, because you don't want to get to the point where you underpaid. Because even if you underpay on a real normal misunderstanding, they'll act as if you did it on purpose, and penalize you for it.

GLENN: This is so absolutely unAmerican. This whole thing is unAmerican.

STU: It really is.

GLENN: You know, the IRS coming to audit you. Do you have a warrant? Specifically, what are you saying I did?

This is one of the reasons why we broke away from the king of England. I think it's a writ of retainer, or something like that.

Writ -- I can't remember. But the king would just hand these out.

And it was a general warrant. And it was like, Stu was doing something in his house. Go in and look for it.

Okay? You can't do that. You could. But that's one of the first things we stopped. Well, the IRS does that. Looks like Stu must have done something. Give us all your receipts for the last seven years.

STU: Yeah. It's not even that. They don't have to have a belief of what you did wrong or if you did anything wrong, which is, we're just going to check all your work.

GLENN: And you know what, who are you to tell me you're going to check my work? I would like to check yours. Did you see that the inspector general's office for the IRS came out and said, you need to do a study. Because all -- these people are making the same mistakes over and over again. What are you guys doing that is causing these people to ask the same questions and have the same mistakes.

And their answer was, no.

STU: No, we're not going to do the study.

GLENN: No. I'm just suggesting you look in, because it will be easier. No. They don't care. They don't care.

STU: They don't care.

GLENN: This would be so easy, if it was a flat tax. So easy. I made this, subtract this from that. Put it in an envelope, send it.

Okay? I mean, that's how easy it is. This has become so complex.

I'm sitting with attorneys. And I'm trying to do the right things. And I'm sitting with the tax attorneys, just a couple of weeks ago. And I'm like, okay.

So what is the law on this?

Well, nobody really knows. Some people think this. Some people think that.

And I'm like, what kind of law is this?

Because if you have -- now, luckily, we don't have one. If you have a country, that is a little lawless, and just applies the lay differently, to different people, you can go after your enemies.

Just through the tax law.

Because nope. That's not the way I read it.

STU: Yeah. Everybody likes to praise the old Al Capone. Oh, they have him on tax evasion. Yeah. They could do that to anybody.

GLENN: They got him.

They got him on money laundering.

He was laundering the money. And didn't pay the taxes on the money, from the laundry service.

STU: Right. But they basically put him in a position, where it was impossible.

Because if he put the money on the tax forms, it would have been, he's laundering money. If he doesn't put it on there. It's tax evasion.

GLENN: Right. But the basic thing is. The basic thing is, he was making illegal money. I have no problem, if the IRS -- if I'm selling drugs, you know what I mean?

And I'm laundering it through a laundromat. The only way to stop me from selling drugs to kids.

I'm clearly a bad guy breaking the law. Is because the only thing you can find on me, is income tax, where I'm taking all that money and laundering it. I have no problem with that.

STU: I think though, when you think of that story, fundamentally.

Of course, anyone does something illegal. If you're laundering money, you should -- you should be penalized for it. If you've done something illegal. Obviously, we're all against that.

The way that story is used is, when somebody is doing something really bad and you know it and can't prove it, go after him on something else.

Eventually on taxes or something, you'll get him. That's how that story is often utilized.

GLENN: Yeah. No. No longer. So let me take it from Al Capone. And make it Hunter Biden.

The reason why Al Capone, they couldn't get him on anything, is because he was protected. He had a complete lock on the press. He had a complete lock with those who were doing any kind of banking with him.

He had thugs to silence people.

He had the power to get away with it.

So it's not like, I think somebody is doing some wrong. It's somebody that you know, but no one will step up, to the plate.

And it's such a heinous crime, guys, find the window into this.

I mean, this is -- this is the way I am beginning to feel about the Bidens.

Look, I don't want to go after anybody -- for anything -- if you've committed a crime. We go after you for the crime, you may have committed.

STU: Yeah, uh-huh.

GLENN: This is so clear, that the FBI and everybody else is just turning a blind eye, that you kind of -- you can look at it and go, you know, the only way you'll get justice, is if you get some -- you get somebody like what was his name that led the Treasury Department on this?

Gosh, what was his name. Eliot Ness.

STU: I thought you were talking about the Bidens.

GLENN: No, no, no. When you have Eliot Ness, you need somebody like an Eliot Ness to step up and say, no, I'm not with the rest of the Treasury.

STU: Yeah. I'll give you who Eliot Ness is right now. Alvin Brag.

That is exactly what is going on with Donald Trump right now.

They have decided he is so evil, they have to find something on him.

GLENN: Yeah. No, no, no, no. But they're part of the corrupt system that today's Al Capone is running.

They're part of that corrupt system.

STU: You're seeing it from the other side I'm seeing it from.

You're always the guy who says, how is this going to be used essentially against us?

It is being used against conservatives right now.

Look, I'm not being critical of the Al Capone thing.

GLENN: No, I know.

STU: But I do think this is what governments do. What they're doing with Trump right now is this man is so evil, he's so Hitler. He's so Satan.

That it doesn't matter if the things we're charging him with are real or not.

We just go after him.

Find something in this 65,000 pages of law, that we can convince a couple of people, that he's evil on.

Then we'll throw him away forever.

GLENN: That's the corrupt system.

Okay? That's the corrupt court system of Al Capone.

Donald Trump, there is no crime.

And if it is a crime, it's a misdemeanor.

This is like -- this is like Al Capone, the worst thing he ever did was jaywalk.

GLENN: Yeah. And they get him for income tax evasion. That's a legitimate laundering. What are you talking about? I'm a laundromat. You know what I mean?

STU: There are two sides of the story, here.

Obviously, the Al Capone thing was a lot more serious.

You do see how these governments, when you give them this tax code, with 100 million rules. That nobody understands.

To the point that I talk to my accountants. And I ask them, I said, how is this supposed to be treated? They go, as you point out, I don't know, some people say this. Some people say that.

There's nothing clear in the law. How does a society operate under this?

GLENN: You don't. It causes you to be fearful of the -- that's why people are fearful of the IRS.

I know I've never cheated on my taxes. Never.

And I would say that -- would I cheat on my taxes?

No, I wouldn't. Because then I would be a dishonest person. But I've never cheated on my taxes. Never. But still, you have the fear of, oh, man, they could come knocking on my door.

I mean, they audited me once. The first year that Obama was in. I got an audit in.

Clear. I think they even owed me money.

So I was clear. But it's still that you're something like, oh, no. Not the IRS.

STU: Right. And I know because of this job, I go way above and beyond, of what I even think is legitimate or fair. Because I'm terrified they're going to come --

GLENN: Right. I do too. For a political purpose. For a political purpose.

STU: I just assume it will happen every year. So I go way out of my way to make sure. But still, that's insane.

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?

STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Disclaimer: This episode was filmed prior to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But Glenn believes Max's message is needed now more than ever.
The political world is divided, constantly at war with itself. In many ways, our own lives are not much different. Why do we constantly focus on the negative? Why are we in pain? Where is God amid our anxiety and fear? Why can’t we ever seem to change? Pastor Max Lucado has found the solution: Stop thinking like that! It may seem easier said than done, but Max joins Glenn Beck to unpack the three tools he describes in his new book, “Tame Your Thoughts,” that make it easy for us to reset the way we think back to God’s factory settings. In this much-needed conversation, Max and Glenn tackle everything from feeling doubt as a parent to facing unfair hardships to ... UFOs?! Plus, Max shares what he recently got tattooed on his arm.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

This week has seen some of the most heinous actions in recent memory. Glenn has been discussing the growth of evil in our society, and with the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk, the recent transgender shooter who took the lives of two children at a Catholic school, and the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, how can we make sense of all this evil? On today's Friday Exclusive, Glenn speaks with BlazeTV host of "Strange Encounters" Rick Burgess to discuss the demon-possessed transgender shooter and the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rick breaks down the reality of demon possession and how individuals wind up possessed. Rick and Glenn also discuss the dangers of the grotesque things we see online and in movies, TV shows, and video games on a daily basis. Rick warns that when we allow our minds to be altered by substances like drugs or alcohol, it opens a door for the enemy to take control. A supernatural war is waging in our society, and it’s a Christian’s job to fight this war. Glenn and Rick remind Christians of what their first citizenship is.