Simon Black
Business Insider
4/18/2012
The U.S. Passport Act of 1926 is an obscure piece of legislation that was enacted decades ago when the idea of passports started catching fire around the world.
Subsequently absorbed into U.S. Code Title 22, the law was originally intended to authorize and issue passports for citizens to travel abroad.
Several years ago, the law was modified to provide the Secretary of State with the authority to revoke or deny a passport to any U.S. citizen convicted of engaging in immoral acts with minors overseas.
Until now, this has been the only instance of excluding a U.S. citizen from travel abroad. But if Senator Barbara Boxer gets her way, there’s going to be one more.
As part of Senate Bill 1813 (known as MAP-21), Congress has inserted language that would oblige the Secretary of State to revoke or deny a passport to any U.S. citizen who the IRS Commissioner deems as having “seriously delinquent tax debt.”
For the purposes of MAP-21, “seriously delinquent tax debt” is defined as an amount in excess of $50,000 in which a notice of lien or levy has been filed in public records.
Bear in mind, this is strictly an administrative procedure; there is no due process. By comparison, even pedophiles go in front of a judge before losing their passports.
Something is wrong with this picture…
…I’ve taken the time to actually read the entire bill myself … I wanted to ensure that I understood it fully before telling you about it. And believe it or not, there are even dumber provisions within…
