Nothing To Fear If You've Nothing To Hide

[Revoltingest]

It's less the government I fear. They are mostly too incompetent to do anything bad. Corporations and banks on the other hand ...

Government has far more power over you, eg, draft, taxation, prison, beating you for resisting arrest.

 

[Revoltingest]

It's a lie.

What is?

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes we do have something to fear. You government. You.

Research democide.

Unclear

 

[Father Heathen]

I don't really care, if you can't do the time then don't do the crime.

Even if is a piddling little everyday offence, its still an offence

Even if you've "nothing to hide", allowing intrusion with impunity would be a steep, slippery slope. Do you trust that such power would never be abused or exploited to your detriment?

 

[Secret Chief]

What is?

There's no need to fear if you've got nothing to hide.

 

[Nakosis]

This is what we hear from government when they
question & surveil us. I'm skeptical. How about you?

Biden's Total Financial Surveillance

Excerpted...
Imagine living in a world where every one of your noncash financial transactions—a restaurant meal, a Venmo transfer to a friend, maybe some bitcoin bought on the dips—was automatically reported to a beefed-up, audit-hungry IRS.

That dystopia will become a reality if President Joe Biden gets his way. Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and key Capitol Hill allies such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) are pushing a vast, intrusive financial surveillance system in the name of closing the "tax gap."

But don't worry: There's no need to fear if you've got nothing to hide.

"For already compliant taxpayers, the only effect of this regime is to provide easy access to summary information on financial accounts and to decrease the likelihood of costly 'no fault' examinations," the Treasury Department said this May in a nakedly authoritarian document called "The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda." But "for noncompliant taxpayers," the department continues, "this regime would encourage voluntary compliance as evaders realize that the risk of evasion being detected has risen noticeably."

One can never foresee all the ways information can be used against you.
The "Government" will have access? That is fairly nebulas. People you don't know and have no reason to trust will have access to information that could be used against you. Whether you have something to hide or not is not the issue imo.

The government at any point in time can use enforcement against you. The more information they have about you the more that government enforcement can be used against you.

Corporations OTOH must go through a civil process, to use governmental enforcement. Since 9/11, the government has provided itself ways to side-step a lot of that.

I suspect that the government has little actual interest in me, I hope it stays that way.

So, will the government be able to use this to identify and freeze the assets of people who are in the country illegally?

 

[Daemon Sophic]

Actually, I would like our taxation department (the IRS) to behave like many other western nations, wherein they do all the tax prep for me, then send a receipt (with a check) at “tax time” each year, rather than me having to crank through all that balderdash each March, or my wife (owns her own business) having to run through that crap 4 times per year. If they have the data, and the bylaws, and the people, and the computers, then let them figure it out.
Also, if I suspect they made an error, then I will sit down with one of their reps to review my taxes (I.e. - audit them).

 

[Daemon Sophic]

Private companies with my spending data. Yes. THAT is scary.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

Doing a little searching results the same story without the hysterical conspiracy slant seen in the OP.
Basically, the idea is to beef up the IRS so we can catch the majority of tax evasion which, eek: *gasp of shock and dismay*) is perpetrated primarily by the ultra-wealthy and their private corporations.

Who knew? Right?

'Understaffed' IRS Is Letting Top 1% Avoid Taxes, Biden Administration Laments

Considering Trade-offs to Improving Tax Collections

Treasury: Top 1 percent responsible for $163 billion in unpaid taxes

 

[Regiomontanus]

This is what we hear from government when they
question & surveil us. I'm skeptical. How about you?

Biden's Total Financial Surveillance

Excerpted...
Imagine living in a world where every one of your noncash financial transactions—a restaurant meal, a Venmo transfer to a friend, maybe some bitcoin bought on the dips—was automatically reported to a beefed-up, audit-hungry IRS.

That dystopia will become a reality if President Joe Biden gets his way. Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and key Capitol Hill allies such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) are pushing a vast, intrusive financial surveillance system in the name of closing the "tax gap."

But don't worry: There's no need to fear if you've got nothing to hide.

"For already compliant taxpayers, the only effect of this regime is to provide easy access to summary information on financial accounts and to decrease the likelihood of costly 'no fault' examinations," the Treasury Department said this May in a nakedly authoritarian document called "The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda." But "for noncompliant taxpayers," the department continues, "this regime would encourage voluntary compliance as evaders realize that the risk of evasion being detected has risen noticeably."

Interesting. But you know that they already know everything about you anyway, right? Email scanned/archived, every ATM withdrawal, ...cameras on so many street corners (though nothing like in the UK I hear)...

 

[Revoltingest]

There's no need to fear if you've got nothing to hide.

That's what they tell you to gain compliance.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

This is what we hear from government when they
question & surveil us. I'm skeptical. How about you?

Biden's Total Financial Surveillance

Excerpted...
Imagine living in a world where every one of your noncash financial transactions—a restaurant meal, a Venmo transfer to a friend, maybe some bitcoin bought on the dips—was automatically reported to a beefed-up, audit-hungry IRS.

That dystopia will become a reality if President Joe Biden gets his way. Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and key Capitol Hill allies such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) are pushing a vast, intrusive financial surveillance system in the name of closing the "tax gap."

But don't worry: There's no need to fear if you've got nothing to hide.

"For already compliant taxpayers, the only effect of this regime is to provide easy access to summary information on financial accounts and to decrease the likelihood of costly 'no fault' examinations," the Treasury Department said this May in a nakedly authoritarian document called "The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda." But "for noncompliant taxpayers," the department continues, "this regime would encourage voluntary compliance as evaders realize that the risk of evasion being detected has risen noticeably."

It is true, nothing to hide = nothing to fear.

Kinda speaks about trumps insane refusal to release his tax returns.

 

[Revoltingest]

I suspect that the government has little actual interest in me, I hope it stays that way.

The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.
I avoid looking like a nail to government's hammers.

 

[Revoltingest]

Interesting. But you know that they already know everything about you anyway, right? Email scanned/archived, every ATM withdrawal, ...cameras on so many street corners (though nothing like in the UK I hear)...

If they already knew everything,
they wouldn't be pursuing more.

 

[Revoltingest]

It is true, nothing to hide = nothing to fear.

Many would disagree.
A couple examples...
McMartin preschool trial - Wikipedia
Duke lacrosse case - Wikipedia

There are laws you've never heard of that you
could be violating. Suppose you deposited $6k
cash in January, & $5k cash in December.
You could have all your assets confiscated for
the crime of "structuring".

 

[74x12]

Unclear

"Government is like fire, a dangerous servant and fearful master."

The government itself is what we should be worried about. What they consider a crime today may not be what they consider a crime tomorrow. Once they have their total surveillance control grid in place they'll show their true colors.

 

[Regiomontanus]

If they already knew everything,
they wouldn't be pursuing more.

It is more of a centralization than anything else, I think. Everything is already out there (for them, among others).

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

Many would disagree.
A couple examples...
McMartin preschool trial - Wikipedia
Duke lacrosse case - Wikipedia

There are laws you've never heard of that you
could be violating. Suppose you deposited $6k
cash in January, & $5k cash in December.
You could have all your assets confiscated for
the crime of "structuring".

Oh my.
All the endless laws are just insane imo.
But if I made cash deposits in banks, I still have nothing to hide.

If I inadvertently break a law, I still have nothing to hide.

Fearing the stupid laws I don’t even know exist is another story.

 

[Revoltingest]

"Government is like fire, a dangerous servant and fearful master."

The government itself is what we should be worried about. What they consider a crime today may not be what they consider a crime tomorrow. Once they have their total surveillance control grid in place they'll show their true colors.

I've seen much color already.

 

[Revoltingest]

It is more of a centralization than anything else, I think. Everything is already out there (for them, among others).

Centralization of info strikes me as a good idea,
eg, keeping tabs in bad cops so they don't just
switch states to continue their mayhem.
However, I want limits on the extent they can
keep info on ordinary citizens.