Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is pushing for a regular audit of the Internal Revenue Service after a new inspector general report found that nearly 6,000 employees owe nearly $50 million in back taxes.
The July 24 report , requested by Ernst and conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that while 96% of employees were compliant with tax obligations, over 5,800 IRS and contractor employees owed nearly $50 million in overdue taxes, and only 20 of the agency's employees who were failing to pay taxes were terminated.
“When IRS auditors can’t even pass my audit, it’s clear they can’t be trusted by the taxpayers,” Ernst said in an exclusive statement to the Washington Examiner. "Between their tax evasion and rampant misconduct, the Biden-Harris administration’s army of IRS agents can’t even clear the most basic of hurdles. I’m working to end the double standard and hold these bureaucrats accountable to the same rules they enforce on hardworking Americans.”
Ernst is introducing the Audit the IRS Act on Monday afternoon, which would require regular tax audits of agency employees and prohibit the IRS from hiring or continuing to employ tax evaders, according to bill text obtained by the Washington Examiner. The junior Iowa senator asked the agency to support the bill in a letter sent to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel on Monday.
"I would also like to know what actions you are taking to ensure 100 percent tax compliance by IRS employees and contractors," Ernst wrote to Werfel. "To hold the IRS accountable and to demonstrate the agency takes its own warning that 'tax evasion is a serious crime,' I would strongly urge you to routinely check the tax status of every employee and fire every employee and contractor who is delinquent on their taxes and not enrolled in a payment plan."
Ernst said her legislation would create a "zero-tolerance policy" for tax evasion and misconduct while "ensuring these IRS bureaucrats are no longer allowed to live by one set of rules and enforce another on honest, hardworking Americans.”
The senator also took issue with a figure in the report that found over 500 former IRS employees with tax compliance issues or performance issues, "including criminal misconduct, sexual misconduct, inability to perform duties, fighting and assault, and unauthorized access to tax return information," were rehired. Of the rehires, 282 had multiple previously documented conduct and performance issues.
"There is absolutely nothing fair about forcing hardworking Americans to pay the salaries of tax evading tax collectors while the IRS targets lower-income and middle-class Americans with nearly two-thirds of the new audits," Ernst said in the letter.
Ernst said any repeat employee offenders should be referred to the Justice Department to be subjected to the same imprisonment and fines that are listed as punishments for tax evasion on the IRS's website.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Washington Examiner reached out to the IRS for comment on the letter. In a notice at the end of the audit report, IRS Human Capital Officer Traci DiMartini said of the 72 contractors who were found to have unfiled tax returns, 59 have "already been disapproved for staff-like access to IRS facilities and systems."
The IRS also disagreed with one of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration's recommendations, which suggested the chief human capital officer should ensure that all unfiled tax returns identified in the report have been resolved. The IRS disagreed and said the officer does not have tax collection authority. Instead, the agency said all tax compliance issues are being addressed "consistently with IRS's policies and procedures."
Most Popular
Comments / 0