A Washington Post reporter yesterday claimed Internal Revenue Service officials told him that “right-wing rhetoric has raised fears that workers could be targeted at their workplaces or in public if identified as IRS employees.”
The Post suggests that public comments by California Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde, and Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott serve as evidence of this rhetoric.
Rep. Clyde told the American Conservative in response, “It’s no surprise that the media on the left is trying to discredit valid concerns about the Democrats’ new oversized IRS.”
The congressman continued, “Having been unfairly targeted myself by the IRS, I can assure people that the comparison between the arming of the IRS and the FBI is not far-fetched. The Democrats have dangerously armed both agencies, and until those institutions start working for the American people instead of the liberal elites, we will only see an increase in both unjust trials and unjust political persecution.”
The article also references a public letter from Senator Scott claiming that the “massive expansion of the IRS will make it larger than the Pentagon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection, and the State Department combined.”
Congressmen are referring to the changes brought about by the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation passed along the party line and signed into law by President Biden last Tuesday, adding over $75 billion to the IRS budget through 2031. About sixty percent of this additional funding (more than $45 billion) will be dedicated to enforcement.
At least a portion of those enforcement resources are granted to the Criminal Investigations Division (IRS-CI), the federal law enforcement agency, which drew attention last week after Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie shared a video on Twitter that went viral. The video includes an interview with a special agent from the department who says agents “generally [wear] Ammo, handcuffs and first aid.” When asked if agents wear tasers, the agent said, “No tasers.” The IRS-CI has a 2,046-strong force of special agents who focus their investigative time primarily on tax crimes.
In a recent job posting, the IRS-CI listed “carrying a firearm and being prepared to use deadly force if necessary” on the list of primary duties for the special agent position; This professional responsibility has since been removed from the agency’s website.
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An example of the agency threatening nonviolent violence with violence was given in a 1998 statement by Texas Senate Treasury Committee William Moncrief: “My employees heard the agents yell, ‘IRS! This business is under criminal investigation. Get your hands off the keyboards and away from the computers. And remember, we’re armed.’”
More recently, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reports describe patterns of negligence and training discrepancies for the agents. A 2017 report claims that “in only five of the 229 interviews conducted, non-custodial rights statements were made, such as: B. the right to remain silent.” Another from 2012 states that between 2009 and 2011 nineteen firearm discharges were reported: eight were intentional and eleven accidental.
The IRS reported in June that “the agency had a backlog of 21.3 million unprocessed paper tax returns.” Experts say the recently added funds should clear this up in no time.
