17 Apr 2012

Now I Can’t Get to Colombia!

Big Brother, Conspiracy 22 Comments

The recently-passed Senate Bill 1813 has an interesting provision:

SEC. 40304. REVOCATION OR DENIAL OF PASSPORT IN CASE OF CERTAIN UNPAID TAXES.

    (a) In General- Subchapter D of chapter 75 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

‘SEC. 7345. REVOCATION OR DENIAL OF PASSPORT IN CASE OF CERTAIN TAX DELINQUENCIES.

    ‘(a) In General- If the Secretary receives certification by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue that any individual has a seriously delinquent tax debt in an amount in excess of $50,000, the Secretary shall transmit such certification to the Secretary of State for action with respect to denial, revocation, or limitation of a passport pursuant to section 4 of the Act entitled ‘An Act to regulate the issue and validity of passports, and for other purposes’, approved July 3, 1926 (22 U.S.C. 211a et seq.), commonly known as the ‘Passport Act of 1926’.

As with all of this stuff, I actually don’t know if this type of passport-revocation had been in there all along, and they are just amending the details. Anybody know?

22 Responses to “Now I Can’t Get to Colombia!”

  1. RPLong says:

    No, it’s unfortunately not new. I think what’s new about this is that specific dollar amount. I can’t remember what the old dollar amount is, though.

  2. Joseph Fetz says:

    It’s too late. All of the good money left, and the cops are crackin’ down due to all of the media attention. Maybe next year, Bob.

  3. Jonathan M.F. Catalán says:

    What if you have dual citizenship? You can use your other passport to leave, and they can’t deny you entry into the US if you are a citizen.

    • Joseph Fetz says:

      That’s a good question. I imagine that you’re still a Spanish citizen, right?

      • Jonathan M.F. Catalán says:

        Yea, I have dual citizenship. I’ve taken advantage of it in some of the adverse situations I’ve faced in the past.

    • Silas Barta says:

      I have dual citizenship: United States and Texas.

  4. David R. Henderson says:

    Bob, You’re joking, right? You don’t owe more than $50K, do you?
    To answer your question, I vaguely recall a little piece of the 1986 Tax Reform Act that started the ball rolling on this.

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Yes David I’m kidding. I don’t want to go to Colombia either.

      • Joseph Fetz says:

        It’s been a rough couple of weeks for ‘Bob Murphy: The Comedian’, hasn’t it?

    • von Pepe says:

      I’m pretty sure Bob owes greater than $50,000 in taxes if we PV his future taxes.

      • Bob Murphy says:

        Thank you for the vote of confidence, von Pepe. The capital markets don’t agree with you right now, but they also are wrong on T-bonds.

        • Major_Freedom says:

          My friend’s financial advisor in Luke 12:33 and Matthew 19:21 recommends that we all ought get out of the capital markets asap.

        • von Pepe says:

          Hold it, I am in the capital markets. I don’t agree with me?

          I was thinking the governemnt could jail you if they used your PV number but then your PV number would change because you are in jail.

          They have probably tought of that but realized you need to work to pay them so they let you stay on the outside.

          • Bob Murphy says:

            Subgame perfect.

          • Major_Freedom says:

            Kind of like banks “forgetting” to foreclose on home owners behind on their payments, thus avoiding locking in a loss.

  5. Yancey Ward says:

    Bob,

    We can smuggle you to Columbia on the Underground Railroad.

    • Yancey Ward says:

      Of course, if you want to go to Colombia, we might need an Underground Airplane.

      • Joseph Fetz says:

        I prefer the underground cruise ship.

        • Yancey Ward says:

          Well, Carnival Cruise Lines will set you up for an underwater cruise ship.

          • rayray says:

            bazinga

          • Joseph Fetz says:

            That’s the kind of followup I was looking for. Awesome!

  6. joshua says:

    If they know that you’re delinquent by that much why do they wait til you show your passport to them to get you?

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