Civil Asset Forfeiture Not Just a Texas Problem

The Texas legislature is trying to fix the problem of local law enforcement officials taking people's property without an arrest or even a charge, let alone conviction of a crime. It is estimated that $45M per year is taken by law enforcement from Texans. The proposed legislation allows law enforcement to take and keep property only after a conviction.

It turns out the IRS also takes peoples money from their bank accounts without ever proving in a court of law that the taxpayer has broken the law. The IRS Inspector General  has found that the IRS used civil forfeiture to seize millions of dollars from innocent business owners.

"The report covers IRS cash seizures against businesses and individuals suspected of deliberately trying to avoid federal reporting requirements for large bank deposits.

To combat criminal activity, individuals and businesses are required to report all bank deposits greater than $10,000 to federal authorities. Intentionally splitting up large sums of cash into sub-$10,000 amounts to avoid that reporting requirement is known as “structuring” and is illegal under the federal Bank Secrecy Act.

The IG took a random sample of 278 IRS forfeiture actions in cases where structuring was the primary basis for seizure. The report found that in 91 percent of those cases, the individuals and business had obtained their money legally.

“Most people impacted by the program did not appear to be criminal enterprises engaged in other alleged illegal activity,” according to a news release from the IG. “Rather, they were legal businesses such as jewelry stores, restaurant owners, gas station owners, scrap metal dealers, and others.”

More troubling, the report found that the pattern of seizures — targeting businesses that had obtained their money legally — was deliberate."

It is clearly time to reign in our government, both local and Federal, to protect the property rights of American citizens!