Democratic economic package adds 87K new IRS agents
U.S.
Tom Palmer
Posted: Aug 5, 2022 / 04:28 PM CDT | Updated: Aug 5, 2022 / 06:07 PM CDT
(NewsNation) — A large cash infusion for the Internal Revenue Service is part of the economic package Democrats are working to push through Congress before their August break.
Under a deal worked out by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would spend an extra $79.6 billion on the agency over the next 10 years.
The added cash is expected to go toward hiring 87,000 new IRS agents, roughly doubling the agency’s size. The IRS says the money is expected to go toward efforts to crack down on wealthy tax evaders and to modernize its technology.
Democrats say the IRS investment is needed to ensure that corporations and wealthier Americans pay what they owe in taxes.
“This will give us the chance to raise the revenue from wealthy tax cheats who are getting out of paying what they owe,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
But Republicans are warning it will lead to increased scrutiny of small business owners and IRS audits will affect more people.
Milwaukee to host 2024 GOP convention
A Wall Street Journal editorial argues the move targets the middle and upper-middle classes “because that’s where the money is.”
IRS commissioner Charles P. Rettig told Congress that the agency would not increase audits of households earning less than $400,000, according to the New York Times.
The Congressional Budget Office projects the plan will generate an additional $203.7 billion in revenue for the federal government, for a net gain of more than $124 billion.
Treasury Department estimates indicate that IRS enforcement could raise a net $400 billion over the next decade, while improving customer service to the extent that the agency could go from answering just 15% of its phone calls to all of them, according to a senior administration official who spoke to The Associated Press.
The bill has the backing of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a centrist seen as the pivotal vote in the 50-50 chamber, and appears on track toward Senate votes this weekend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/inflation-reduction-act-irs-agents/
Hmmm, 87,000 new IRS agents + 5 million rounds of ammo??? Planning on competing in the national matches or olympics, ya think?
IRS Stockpiles More Than 5 Million Rounds of Ammunition
Republican lawmakers want to stop the agency from purchasing more
By Darlene McCormick Sanchez
August 1, 2022 Updated: August 1, 2022
Apparently, the IRS needs a little firepower to help with those audits.
The IRS has stockpiled five million rounds of ammunition and spent $725,000 on bullets this year, according to Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who has introduced a bill to block future ammunition purchases by the agency.
The Republican lawmaker announced his sponsorship of the Disarm the IRS Act in a July press release. The bill would ban the IRS from acquiring ammunition through direct purchase or otherwise. The bill awaits a potential vote in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Cosponsors of the bill included three additional U.S. House of Representative members: Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.).
The issue drew national attention after Gaetz appeared on Fox News’ Jesse Waters Primetime last week, saying that the IRS had spent $750,000 in 2022 alone on ammunition.
“Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the heaviest artillery an IRS agent would need would be a calculator, not $725,000 worth of ammunition,” Gaetz said during his appearance on Fox News.
Other bill cosponsors took to social media, questioning the need for a heavily armed tax agency.
“Why is Biden trying to weaponize the IRS?” Rep. Jeff Duncan posted on Twitter on July 7, adding that while the IRS builds up its arsenal, citizen Americans face ammunition shortages.
Rep. Gosar commented on Twitter July 14 that it was time to disarm “this band of highwaymen and stop them from taking our money under the threat of violence.”
While people may not think of the IRS needing weapons and ammunition, it has a criminal investigation division with armed law enforcement to pursue tax felons.
A 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office said the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division had 2,148 law enforcement officers, 4,461 weapons—including 15 fully automatic firearms—and 5.05 million rounds of ammunition.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, four officers with the IRS have died since 1989 from medical conditions or accidents. None was firearm related.
Government Amassing Firepower
But the IRS isn’t the only governmental agency building up massive caches of guns and bullets.
OpenTheBooks.com, a nonprofit government watchdog group, released a report called “The militarization of the U.S. Executive Agencies” in December 2020, detailing how agencies that people wouldn’t normally associate with law enforcement were stockpiling weapons and ammunition.
a Rock River Arms AR-15 rifle
![url]](http://[url=https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2021/06/22/assault-weapons-600x400.jpg t=_blank]https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2021/06/22/assault-weapons-600x400.jpg[/url])
In this photo illustration, a Rock River Arms AR-15 rifle is seen with ammunition in Miami, Fla., on Dec. 18, 2012. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The Environmental Protection Agency owns 600 guns. At the same time, special agents at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are equipped with machine guns and AR15s. Even the Smithsonian Institution employed 620-armed “special agents,” up from zero officers in 2008, according to the report.
Adam Andrzejewski, CEO & founder of OpenTheBooks.com, told The Epoch Times via email that the public should question why these agencies are armed to the teeth. Not only do they wield legal power, but they are also amassing firepower.
“Just who are the federal agencies preparing to battle?” Andrzejewski wrote.
Andrzejewski said there is no public purpose for rank and file, paper-pushing federal agencies to load up on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment.
“Our data shows that the federal government has become a gun show that never adjourns. Taxpayers need to tell Washington that police powers belong primarily to cities and states, not the feds,” he stated.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/irs-stockpiles-more-than-5-million-rounds-of-ammunition_4636607.html?est=lrz2%2Bs1U35F74XU00w0rn5sbEYiFrpWuuilhDebowVG2PlQ75oHfMMHcn0wOnsw%3D
U.S.
Tom Palmer
Posted: Aug 5, 2022 / 04:28 PM CDT | Updated: Aug 5, 2022 / 06:07 PM CDT
(NewsNation) — A large cash infusion for the Internal Revenue Service is part of the economic package Democrats are working to push through Congress before their August break.
Under a deal worked out by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would spend an extra $79.6 billion on the agency over the next 10 years.
The added cash is expected to go toward hiring 87,000 new IRS agents, roughly doubling the agency’s size. The IRS says the money is expected to go toward efforts to crack down on wealthy tax evaders and to modernize its technology.
Democrats say the IRS investment is needed to ensure that corporations and wealthier Americans pay what they owe in taxes.
“This will give us the chance to raise the revenue from wealthy tax cheats who are getting out of paying what they owe,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
But Republicans are warning it will lead to increased scrutiny of small business owners and IRS audits will affect more people.
Milwaukee to host 2024 GOP convention
A Wall Street Journal editorial argues the move targets the middle and upper-middle classes “because that’s where the money is.”
IRS commissioner Charles P. Rettig told Congress that the agency would not increase audits of households earning less than $400,000, according to the New York Times.
The Congressional Budget Office projects the plan will generate an additional $203.7 billion in revenue for the federal government, for a net gain of more than $124 billion.
Treasury Department estimates indicate that IRS enforcement could raise a net $400 billion over the next decade, while improving customer service to the extent that the agency could go from answering just 15% of its phone calls to all of them, according to a senior administration official who spoke to The Associated Press.
The bill has the backing of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a centrist seen as the pivotal vote in the 50-50 chamber, and appears on track toward Senate votes this weekend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/inflation-reduction-act-irs-agents/
Hmmm, 87,000 new IRS agents + 5 million rounds of ammo??? Planning on competing in the national matches or olympics, ya think?
IRS Stockpiles More Than 5 Million Rounds of Ammunition
Republican lawmakers want to stop the agency from purchasing more
By Darlene McCormick Sanchez
August 1, 2022 Updated: August 1, 2022
Apparently, the IRS needs a little firepower to help with those audits.
The IRS has stockpiled five million rounds of ammunition and spent $725,000 on bullets this year, according to Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who has introduced a bill to block future ammunition purchases by the agency.
The Republican lawmaker announced his sponsorship of the Disarm the IRS Act in a July press release. The bill would ban the IRS from acquiring ammunition through direct purchase or otherwise. The bill awaits a potential vote in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Cosponsors of the bill included three additional U.S. House of Representative members: Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.).
The issue drew national attention after Gaetz appeared on Fox News’ Jesse Waters Primetime last week, saying that the IRS had spent $750,000 in 2022 alone on ammunition.
“Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the heaviest artillery an IRS agent would need would be a calculator, not $725,000 worth of ammunition,” Gaetz said during his appearance on Fox News.
Other bill cosponsors took to social media, questioning the need for a heavily armed tax agency.
“Why is Biden trying to weaponize the IRS?” Rep. Jeff Duncan posted on Twitter on July 7, adding that while the IRS builds up its arsenal, citizen Americans face ammunition shortages.
Rep. Gosar commented on Twitter July 14 that it was time to disarm “this band of highwaymen and stop them from taking our money under the threat of violence.”
While people may not think of the IRS needing weapons and ammunition, it has a criminal investigation division with armed law enforcement to pursue tax felons.
A 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office said the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division had 2,148 law enforcement officers, 4,461 weapons—including 15 fully automatic firearms—and 5.05 million rounds of ammunition.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, four officers with the IRS have died since 1989 from medical conditions or accidents. None was firearm related.
Government Amassing Firepower
But the IRS isn’t the only governmental agency building up massive caches of guns and bullets.
OpenTheBooks.com, a nonprofit government watchdog group, released a report called “The militarization of the U.S. Executive Agencies” in December 2020, detailing how agencies that people wouldn’t normally associate with law enforcement were stockpiling weapons and ammunition.
a Rock River Arms AR-15 rifle
In this photo illustration, a Rock River Arms AR-15 rifle is seen with ammunition in Miami, Fla., on Dec. 18, 2012. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The Environmental Protection Agency owns 600 guns. At the same time, special agents at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are equipped with machine guns and AR15s. Even the Smithsonian Institution employed 620-armed “special agents,” up from zero officers in 2008, according to the report.
Adam Andrzejewski, CEO & founder of OpenTheBooks.com, told The Epoch Times via email that the public should question why these agencies are armed to the teeth. Not only do they wield legal power, but they are also amassing firepower.
“Just who are the federal agencies preparing to battle?” Andrzejewski wrote.
Andrzejewski said there is no public purpose for rank and file, paper-pushing federal agencies to load up on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment.
“Our data shows that the federal government has become a gun show that never adjourns. Taxpayers need to tell Washington that police powers belong primarily to cities and states, not the feds,” he stated.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/irs-stockpiles-more-than-5-million-rounds-of-ammunition_4636607.html?est=lrz2%2Bs1U35F74XU00w0rn5sbEYiFrpWuuilhDebowVG2PlQ75oHfMMHcn0wOnsw%3D
