In the United States, we are innocent until proved guilty. Everyone knows that, even children and people proved guilty. As usual, what everyone knows is not quite right. In this country, we are innocent of any crime until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The rule is among our most important civil liberties, but outside of criminal law, the rule doesn't apply.
Taxpayers are guilty until proved innocent.
This offends many, because it's contrary to the American sense of the fitness of things. Until recently, the Internal Revenue Service didn't worry about offending taxpayers. The IRS didn't need popularity, because it had power. This fall, however, the IRS fell on hard times. Irate taxpayers and wrathful agency employees filled the halls of Congress with tales of agency wrongdoing and heartlessness.