In “Well-intentioned, but Foolish Helicoptering MAWS” (This site, 4/24/23), I wrote that the new government watchdog created by presidential fiat to oversee “environmental justice” will eventually lead to more armed government agents wielding power without safeguards and accountability. I framed that idea in the words of a character named Sense and put it in his dialogue. Today, I opened the website of Americans for Tax Reform to read their report on the IRS call for new agents who will be armed. Yes, armed.
We have already experienced the IRS under the Obama Administration going rogue in the arbitrary actions against Tea Party organizations by denying them the same tax status as Left-wing and Democratic counterparts. We’ve seen the weaponization of government agencies against those who merely stand for policies that differ from the Administration du jour. And recently, we have observed the IRS sending an agent to the home of Matt Taibbi on the day he testified before Congress.
I don’t know your experience with the IRS, but mine has simply been through filling taxes and one letter I received many years ago. IRS agents of the past were armed with pens and typewriters. That, however, seems to be the circumstance in America of old. All that cordial communication professionally written could henceforth be replaced by an unannounced group of IRS agents knocking on the door at, say, 2:00 AM. Armed IRS agents? For what purpose? Doesn’t the IRS have peaceful means of collection? Why the guns?
That’s what $80 billion gets when a Congress forgets its role as stewards of the people. Some 87,000 new IRS agents could conceivably and without bullets do all the accounting work that an enormous economy engenders. So why the bullets? Will a restaurant server be shot at home by mistaking IRS agents for home intruders, just for not reporting all the tips?
If someone owes unpaid taxes, doesn’t the IRS already have legal mechanisms for collection, legitimate collection processes written into codes and acts? And if people make money through illegal activities, aren’t there already agencies assigned to quash those activities and bring the perpetrators to justice? Are these armed IRS agents to be the new G-men who will go off into the woods in search of moonshiners and meth labs that have no tax records? Will these new IRS agents go after human smugglers and fentanyl cartels that pay nothing into the government coffers, thereby duplicating the roles of FBI, ATF, ICE, and other agents? [Robert Stack, please come back. There’s a new TV series role for you] Will these IRS police show up on the doorstep of a journalist like Taibbi, or on my doorstep, or on yours?
And when these new armed agents arrive dressed like SWAT team members and carrying assault rifles, will they knock on the right door or on the neighbor’s door by mistake? Will they coordinate with local police and other government agents? I mean, what could go wrong? They are agents sworn to uphold the Constitution, including all its guarantees against foreign and domestic threats. Certainly, that guarantees a citizen’s safety in matters of a past due tax of, say, $200, $2,000, or God forbid, $more.
Nine IRS sites in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and six in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will be added to the national list of IRS offices with armed agents. There will be 20 such offices in Texas, 18 in California, and 13 in each of Florida and New York. I assume that these armed agents will need SWAT-like vehicles and all the gear associated with a police force. I suppose the Commissioner of the IRS is elated with the prospect of getting eighty billion bucks, but such an amount is hard to spend, even for the government. So, why not spend some of it on the proper policing equipment, right? The IRS can’t have a single armed agent showing up in a little electric sedan to encounter Matt Taibbi on his doorstep. After all, as a reporter, isn’t he armed with a pen? And don’t we all know that the pen is mightier than an assault rifle? Surely, it is. It used to be the weapon of choice for the IRS.
We have already experienced the IRS under the Obama Administration going rogue in the arbitrary actions against Tea Party organizations by denying them the same tax status as Left-wing and Democratic counterparts. We’ve seen the weaponization of government agencies against those who merely stand for policies that differ from the Administration du jour. And recently, we have observed the IRS sending an agent to the home of Matt Taibbi on the day he testified before Congress.
I don’t know your experience with the IRS, but mine has simply been through filling taxes and one letter I received many years ago. IRS agents of the past were armed with pens and typewriters. That, however, seems to be the circumstance in America of old. All that cordial communication professionally written could henceforth be replaced by an unannounced group of IRS agents knocking on the door at, say, 2:00 AM. Armed IRS agents? For what purpose? Doesn’t the IRS have peaceful means of collection? Why the guns?
That’s what $80 billion gets when a Congress forgets its role as stewards of the people. Some 87,000 new IRS agents could conceivably and without bullets do all the accounting work that an enormous economy engenders. So why the bullets? Will a restaurant server be shot at home by mistaking IRS agents for home intruders, just for not reporting all the tips?
If someone owes unpaid taxes, doesn’t the IRS already have legal mechanisms for collection, legitimate collection processes written into codes and acts? And if people make money through illegal activities, aren’t there already agencies assigned to quash those activities and bring the perpetrators to justice? Are these armed IRS agents to be the new G-men who will go off into the woods in search of moonshiners and meth labs that have no tax records? Will these new IRS agents go after human smugglers and fentanyl cartels that pay nothing into the government coffers, thereby duplicating the roles of FBI, ATF, ICE, and other agents? [Robert Stack, please come back. There’s a new TV series role for you] Will these IRS police show up on the doorstep of a journalist like Taibbi, or on my doorstep, or on yours?
And when these new armed agents arrive dressed like SWAT team members and carrying assault rifles, will they knock on the right door or on the neighbor’s door by mistake? Will they coordinate with local police and other government agents? I mean, what could go wrong? They are agents sworn to uphold the Constitution, including all its guarantees against foreign and domestic threats. Certainly, that guarantees a citizen’s safety in matters of a past due tax of, say, $200, $2,000, or God forbid, $more.
Nine IRS sites in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and six in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will be added to the national list of IRS offices with armed agents. There will be 20 such offices in Texas, 18 in California, and 13 in each of Florida and New York. I assume that these armed agents will need SWAT-like vehicles and all the gear associated with a police force. I suppose the Commissioner of the IRS is elated with the prospect of getting eighty billion bucks, but such an amount is hard to spend, even for the government. So, why not spend some of it on the proper policing equipment, right? The IRS can’t have a single armed agent showing up in a little electric sedan to encounter Matt Taibbi on his doorstep. After all, as a reporter, isn’t he armed with a pen? And don’t we all know that the pen is mightier than an assault rifle? Surely, it is. It used to be the weapon of choice for the IRS.
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