Ernst Exposes Massive Tax Evasion at IRS, Demands an Audit of the Auditors

WASHINGTON – After an explosive report showed thousands of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees owe nearly $50 million in overdue taxes, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) blasted IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel for a complete lack of accountability and introduced the Audit the IRS Act, requiring annual audits of agency employees and the termination of every IRS agent who isn’t paying their taxes.

Beyond the widespread tax evasion, the Department of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)’s audit, conducted at the request of Senator Joni Ernst, is full of jaw-dropping pieces of information about the agency, including that it knowingly rehired individuals who committed criminal and sexual misconduct.

“The spirit of 1776 is still alive and well with a tax revolt happening right now at the most unlikely of places in Washington, the IRS,” said Ernst. “While the IRS warns, ‘tax evasion is a serious crime punishable by imprisonment, fines, and the imposition of civil penalties,’ the agency is rewarding its own tax dodgers with paychecks and lavish benefits made possible, ironically, with the taxes paid by law-abiding citizens. My legislation will 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.”

Ernst’s audit of the IRS revealed:

• More than 5,800 IRS and contractor employees owe nearly $50 million in overdue taxes.
• Despite the IRS having the authority to fire employees who willfully fail to pay taxes, just 20 of the agency’s tax cheats were terminated.
• Over 500 former IRS employees with tax compliance issues or conduct and performance problems, including criminal misconduct, sexual misconduct, inability to perform duties, fighting and assault, and unauthorized access to tax return information, have been rehired by the agency and its contractors. Of these, 282 rehires had multiple previously documented conduct and performance issues.

Click here to read the bill and here to read the letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel.

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