Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis continues to battle the IRS — this time, asking Taylor Swift fans to come forward if America’s tax collectors come for them.
At a roundtable event on Wednesday in Doral, Patronis slammed a new law that will require online ticketing agencies to report to the IRS personal information on customers who sold tickets.
Patronis was responding to a recent Wall Street Journal report that said federal tax authorities would come gunning for anyone who made more than $600 a year from reselling tickets to pop culture events.
Swift, who is arguably the hottest pop star in music, is on tour, and according to the Journal, resold tickets for her performances can go for as high as $1,100 apiece.
In the news: Trump Calls Biden EV Push A ‘Hit Job On Michigan’ Of Auto Jobs
U.S. News & World Report added that the average resale concert ticket this year retails for about $245.
“Just when you thought Washington couldn’t further intrude into the lives of Americans more, the deep state has found yet another way to screw over honest, hard-working taxpayers by digging deeper into your wallets,” Patronis said in a statement issued by his office.
“The Biden administration’s new ‘Taylor Tax’ on Taylor Swift fans who choose to resell their tickets are now at risk of being audited by the IRS. If Swifties bought tickets and made a profit of over $600 from their resell, you can bet that the IRS will expect you to report that profit to them.”
“While Biden said he wants to go after millionaires and billionaires, turns out he wants to go after moms and dads who can’t attend Taylor Swift concerts,” he added.
Patronis also used the occasion to champion the state’s “IRS Transparency Portal” that he created.
As the Tampa Free Press reported in July, Patronis said the website was designed to help the state “identify patterns of discrimination where specific IRS agents are targeting certain political causes, practices or beliefs.”
On Wednesday, Patronis said, “We setup our IRS Transparency Portal to report abuses by the IRS, and this is a perfect example of bureaucrats running around unchecked by a do-nothing-Congress.”
“As we take in these complaints we’ll use it to inform our efforts in building state laws to fight back against the IRS for the upcoming session, and we’ll also provide it to the correct Congressional committees to document these abuses.”
In the news: Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis Takes Aim At IRS
Last week, Patronis sent a letter to financial-app operators Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, and Zelle demanding that they end plans to tax Floridians for small dollar transactions and that they release all communications between their companies and the federal government about enforcing a new federal rule for taxing transactions of more than $600.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s the federal government’s job, and I sure don’t want Uncle Sam knocking on my door. Taylor Swift is her own economic development engine and has done more good for the economy than Biden ever will,” Patronis told those at the roundtable.
“In this economy, people do everything they can to afford record-high inflation. If for some unforeseen circumstance occurs and you have to resell your concert tickets, you should be able to do so without any repercussions.”
“The land of the free and home of the brave is swiftly becoming the land of the forgotten middle class and the home of the over-taxed,” the CFO added.
“This is yet another example of federal overreach. It’s despicable, and I can’t think of a better way to ‘shake off’ the new army of 87,000 tax-hungry IRS agents who have you and your families in their sights than to help us fight back by reporting IRS activity to our IRS Transparency Portal.”
Android Users, Click To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook and Twitter. Signup for our free newsletter.
We can’t do this without your help; visit our GiveSendGo page and donate any dollar amount; every penny helps