The TSA isn't even allowed to blanket ban people from traveling without ID documents in the status quo. (Surprised? https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification)
The whole article has a breathlessly conspiratorial tone.
If you report income honestly and simply don't pay taxes you get sent a bill a few times and then collection efforts escalate with e.g. offsets against your tax refunds, liens against your property, and garnishing your bank account and/or wages. You have to defraud them (very egregiously) to get prosecuted.
Sorry to be picky about this, but we're on a forum chock-full of entrepreneurs and it's highly likely that there exist people here who will have a run-in with the IRS 1+ times in their life. It's not like getting prosecuted for embezzlement. It's like having an acrimonious dispute with your landlord. Money is the root of it, money will solve it, and money will pay boring straight-laced professionals who deal with this sort of stuff five days a week in a way that would make very, very poor television.
If you owe the IRS $50k, that's very, very far from being the end of the world. It's not as socially acceptable as owing Bank of America $50k but it almost certainly carries a lower interest rate [+] and you'll find that the clockpunching bureaucrats over there will diligently pursue their process but won't break any land-speed records over it because neither they nor Uncle Sam really care about whether you pay that this year or in 2021.
+ If you had stiffed Uncle Sam on 50k for your 2010 taxes (due 4/15/2016) you'd presently be looking at paying ~$71k after interest and penalties, which works out to a hair over 7% APR.
The State Department can already refuse to issue or renew passports for as little as $2,500 in unpaid child support, or if you defaulted on a loan from the State Department to help you return to the US. So this general theme is not unprecedented.
John owes the bank $50,000
Hey, John is almost done paying off his mortgage. That's just swell.
James owes the IRS $50,000
Did you hear about James? What is he involved in and why doesn't he pay his taxes?
I think social acceptance is more or less positively correlated with what's common for the middle class. Taking out $50,000 in student loans for a degree with poor ROI is inarguably a bad financial decision, but it's fundamentally sound in terms of social signaling.
Conversely, not paying taxes is something that would be unthinkable to the anxious fiscal sensibilities of the middle class (but notably, not necessarily the upper class if they can benefit from it, and not necessarily the lower class if they can't afford it).
The IRS cannot in general prevent you from receiving government services. You can be accused of tax fraud, at which point your case will be heard in a criminal court. That's it, except for the passport thing.