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View Full Version : Poll: If elected, will Pres. Paul pardon tax evaders as he impied at the CA debate?



johngr
10-22-2007, 07:52 AM
When asked in the first debate in Simi Valley, Calif. which tax he would "cut" he replied, "I already got rid of the irs in my first week..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peBGJwE9NXo

Does he mean that literally and would he use his constitutional power to pardon IRS victims en masse in order to accomplish that. My argument is that since he is a man of moral integrity (quite possibly the only such politician) and further, since doing so is the only moral option, the answer is yes.
kylejack
10-22-2007, 08:04 AM
It was a turn of phrase, a joke. It would be a good thing for him to do, though.
Ron Paul Fan
10-22-2007, 08:04 AM
I don't know if he'd pardon them, but he was definitely joking when he said that. He also said when refering to getting rid of the IRS that "you can only do that if you change our ideas about what the role of government ought to be." He has to do that before he can get rid of the IRS. Limit spending overseas by getting out of the middle east and try to work with Congress to limit it here at home. He's said time after time that it has to be a transition period. If you take Paul seriously when he said that then I would seriously question your intelligence. He's said nothing about pardoning tax evaders so I'm not sure where you got that from.
johngr
10-22-2007, 08:22 AM
He cannot in good conscience let IRS victims languish in jail when he has the power to do something about it. I don't believe he will, either.
johngr
10-22-2007, 08:34 AM
I don't know if he'd pardon them, but he was definitely joking when he said that. He also said when refering to getting rid of the IRS that "you can only do that if you change our ideas about what the role of government ought to be."

Neutering the IRS by rendering it incapable of extorting money from people would go a long way towards "...chang[ing] our ideas about what the role of government ought to be." by forcing the issue. Remember, he's the leader and he has that power. If it weren't his only morally consistent option, I might be inclined to think that he would be loath to exercise it.

He would never have explicitly said something like, "... you can only do that if you pardon all tax evaders." That would have been roughly equivalent to turning over 2 aces in the pre-flop betting of a Texas hold-em hand.


If you take Paul seriously when he said that then I would seriously question your intelligence.

When he was asked if he would work to phase out the IRS, he unhesitatingly answered, "immediately". I think that if he didn't have something "immediate" in mind (perhaps hiring US attorneys that make tax cases a very low priority could be another tactic) he would have said something like "absolutely" or "I certainly would". Reading that together with "in my first week" leads me to believe that he wasn't entirely joking with the latter answer.
kylejack
10-22-2007, 08:35 AM
Neutering the IRS by rendering it incapable of extorting money from people would go a long way towards "...chang[ing] our ideas about what the role of government ought to be." by forcing the issue. Remember, he's the leader and he has that power. If it weren't his only morally consistent option, I might be inclined to think that he would be loath to exercise it.

There is no forcing the Congress...they will continue deficit spending.
Malakai0
10-22-2007, 09:59 AM
He wants to get rid of the income tax, sincerely believes it's actually illegal, and has repeatedly said he'd pardon all non-violent drug offenders. I'd say the chances of him doing this are about 99.5%.

I bet he'd investigate (or assign someone to) allegations of torture in our federal prison system as well.
kylejack
10-22-2007, 10:01 AM
He wants to get rid of the income tax, sincerely believes it's actually illegal, and has repeatedly said he'd pardon all non-violent drug offenders. I'd say the chances of him doing this are about 99.5%.
Can I get citations on all that?
johngr
10-22-2007, 01:09 PM
duplicate deleted.
johngr
10-22-2007, 01:12 PM
I've never seen where he has outright said he will pardon drug or tax prisoners but I watch his speech at USC and can't come away with any other impression. If I am right, it is tactically the most astute thing to do to keep mum about it. It would give his critics ammunition against him without making him any more appealing to those who would already support him.

But you can't imo escape that he will have to do so morally when he has the power to.