Treasury Secretary <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/janet-yellen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Janet Yellen</a> lauded the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden</a> administration’s efforts to provide the Internal Revenue Service (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS</a>) with an $80 billion raise.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides funds to hire 87,000 new IRS employees over the next decade — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-inflation-reduction-act-would-allow-irs-to-hire-up-to-87000-new-employees-raise-taxes-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than doubling</a> the agency’s size. During a Thursday <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a> at the New Carrollton Federal Building in Maryland, Yellen remarked that “adequately funding the IRS is core to our success.”
“It raises the revenue for us to make important investments in our economic strength,” she said. “It makes sure that all Americans are playing by the same rules. It avoids misallocation of resources in the economy at large. And it does so by deterring taxpayers from shifting their activities toward more opaque sources or engaging in tax evasion.”
Yellen repeated her promise that the new funding will not be directed to increase audits for Americans households earning less than $400,000 per year “relative to historical levels.” However, she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/janet-yellen-vows-irs-audits-wont-rise-for-middle-income-americans-but-theres-a-catch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failed to clarify</a> that “historical levels” of audits were far higher as recently as one decade ago. According to a <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104960.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Government Accountability Office, audit rates for Americans earning between $25,000 and $200,000 fell 76% between 2010 and 2019, while those earning less than $25,000 saw audit rates fall by 61%.
“In all, a strong IRS is critical to the economic success of this country — and I am heartened that we are finally reflecting that in our funding decisions,” Yellen added.
A <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Congressional Budget Office based on an earlier proposal to hire 87,000 new agents found that audit rates “would rise for all taxpayers,” even as higher-income taxpayers “face the largest increase.” According to Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee, the new agents would be <a href="https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/americans-chances-of-audit-more-than-doubles-as-newly-supercharged-irs-targets-lower-middle-income-earners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">capable</a> of carrying out 1.2 million more individual audits per year, with nearly half impacting Americans earning less than $75,000.
Noting that the average American takes 13 hours to file a tax return, Yellen said that many of the new resources will exist to decrease wait times and facilitate access to IRS services. Beyond increasing the number of staff available to answer phones, Yellen emphasized in-person help centers. “By next year, every single center will be fully staffed,” she said. “As a result, we will triple the number of Americans served at these centers.”
Yellen also discussed the need to make &#8220;sure that everyone pays their fair share” — observing that wealthy Americans were estimated to have underpaid their taxes by $160 billion in 2019. Accessing the funds would allow for higher levels of investment in government programs.
The economic agenda of President Joe Biden has indeed hinged upon the creation of new federal initiatives and a higher degree of government intervention into the economy. A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-releases-massive-document-detailing-bidens-economic-achievements" target="_blank" rel="noopener">handbook</a> recently published by the White House emphasized the administration’s legislative victories and claimed that they are responsible for a purported economic recovery.
“President Biden’s agenda has contributed to the strongest and most equitable economic and labor market recovery in modern history, and catalyzed a resurgence in public investment that will help ensure a strong, innovative, clean energy future that is made in America,” the report said. “Together with generational investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing, the Biden economic agenda has coupled historic job creation with a long-term strategy to ensure that good jobs of today and tomorrow are created in America.”

President Biden Meets With CEOs And Remarks On The Economy

Janet Yellen: ‘A Strong IRS Is Critical To The Economic Success Of This Country’

Janet Yellen Celebrates $80 Billion In New IRS Funds

Biden Administration

Economy

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Janet Yellen

Taxes

The Department of Treasury&#8217;s internal watchdog will audit the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internal Revenue Service</a> to ensure that its own agents are paying their taxes.
The audit was initiated at the request of Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) following a Democrat plan for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-inflation-reduction-act-would-allow-irs-to-hire-up-to-87000-new-employees-raise-taxes-report">87,000</a> new employees at the tax enforcement agency. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has previously found that hundreds of IRS employees may have failed to pay their own taxes, with some offering excuses such as they didn&#8217;t know how. Some were even re-hired for a second stint at the agency after being fired for &#8220;willful failure to properly file their Federal tax returns.&#8221;
&#8220;Ironically, hundreds of employees at the IRS itself may have willfully failed to pay their taxes. More than 300 of these were repeat offenders, yet the tax agency did little to discipline the tax offenders on its payroll,&#8221; Ernst said Wednesday. &#8220;Before Biden&#8217;s army of auditors starts harassing innocent taxpayers, let&#8217;s first make sure the tax collectors have paid their own taxes.&#8221;
Ernst wrote to Inspector General J. Russell George this summer voting that his office found in 2019 that 1,250 IRS employees had not paid their tax bills in full or on time, including hundreds of whom were willfully delinquent or repeat offenders, and that the tax collecting agency had &#8220;done little to discipline these tax cheats on its own payroll.&#8221;
With Democrats and President Biden ramming through legislation to double the size of the IRS workforce, conservatives and even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects more aggressive audits of middle class taxpayers.
&#8220;Innocent, hardworking Americans should not be subjected to unfair and costly IRS audits when the agency is ignoring tax cheats on its own payroll,&#8221; Ernst wrote.
The IG responded that at her request, it would audit the department to find out how many employees are not &#8220;fully compliant on their Federal tax obligations&#8221; and the number of current workers who were brought back after being fired or retiring following performance issues, including failure to fully pay their taxes.
The plan to dramatically expand the Internal Revenue Service was part of Democrats&#8217; Inflation Reduction Act, whose recent passage Biden celebrated Tuesday. The Biden administration said new auditors would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irs-we-will-absolutely-not-target-everyday-americans-with-new-army-of-agents">focus</a> on the wealthy and corporations, but Ernst told The Daily Wire she is skeptical.
&#8220;The chances [of that] are very slim,&#8221; Ernst said. &#8220;Eighty-seven thousand agents and Joe Biden said no one making under $400,000 would be audited, but we know that&#8217;s not true. They will go after the low-hanging fruit, and that&#8217;s hard-working Americans.&#8221;
The 2019 IG report said that IRS agents are required to be removed from their jobs for &#8220;willfully&#8221; failing to file or understating their taxes. But following a bureaucratic process filled with union protections, out of 1,250 cases in 2017, the IRS found that only 90 were &#8220;willful,&#8221; meaning the IRS agents &#8220;should have known&#8221; how to file their taxes properly.
For 15 of the offenders in 2017, it was not their first time being caught for tax misconduct, but they were not fired previously because the IRS said it wasn&#8217;t &#8220;willful.&#8221; Some employees said that they &#8220;forgot&#8221; to claim Form 1099 income, and &#8220;four employees cited an inability to properly use e-file software, such as TurboTax,&#8221; the report said.
The IRS&#8217; Labor Relations department did not seem to try very hard to get rid of bad employees, the report said. For example, it failed to include evidence of past misconduct in paperwork that would determine whether the employees would be fired or not.
In a <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2017reports/201710035fr.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2017</a> report, the IG found that the IRS&#8211;which cross-references databases to catch ordinary Americans underreporting their income&#8211;did not bother to integrate a database showing HR issues of past employees. As a result, more than 200 employees who were fired for past misconduct &#8212; including failing to pay their taxes or falsification of government records &#8212; were hired a second time in 2015 or early 2016. &#8220;Some of these employees held positions with access to sensitive taxpayer information,&#8221; the report said.
&#8220;Some employees repeated past violations upon being rehired,&#8221; it said.

IRS written on a paper. Financial concept.

Watchdog To Probe IRS After Hundreds Of Employees Failed To Pay Taxes

IRS To Be Audited After Its Agents Fail To Pay Their Own Taxes

Inspector general

Joni Ernst

It&#8217;s a tale of two scions.
A Mexican heir to a political dynasty is being prosecuted in his notoriously corrupt home country on tax charges, but his former pal and business associate, Hunter Biden, seems to be getting a pass in the U.S. on similar allegations &#8212; and worse.
Miguel Alemán Magnani, the grandson of a former president and son of a onetime governor, co-founded the now-defunct low-cost airline Interjet with his father. Now Alemán, who appears frequently in emails and messages on Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop, is on the lam in France and accused of defrauding the Mexican government of $3.2 million in taxes. But just a few years ago, Alemán was a high-flying executive with powerful connections north of the border.
Alemán figures into some of the most problematic examples of the Bidens apparently mixing personal and official business, all laid bare on the laptop Biden abandoned at a Delaware repair shop. In one case, Hunter Biden wrote the Alemán in February 2016, ahead of a trip to Mexico with the then-vice president, to complain that White House access hadn’t translated into business opportunities.
“I’m attending meeting w/ President N w/ Dad,&#8221; Hunter Biden wrote in an email to Alemán that was reviewed by The Daily Wire. &#8220;We have so many great things to do together and I want you at the plane when the the VP lands with your Mom and Dad.
&#8220;We have been talking about business deals and partnerships for 7 years,&#8221; the younger Biden&#8217;s email continued. &#8220;And I really appreciate you letting me stay at your resort villa… but <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hunter-biden-family-inc-emails">I have brought every</a> single person you have ever asked me to bring to the F’ing WHite House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration and then you go completely silent.”
Perhaps it is not surprising that Hunter Biden was miffed. By 2016, he and Alemán had a long history together. In addition to Alemán having a stake in Biden&#8217;s Rosemont investment firm, the pair had worked on several deals together and Alemán had been invited to the inauguration after Barack Obama and Joe Biden won a second term in 2012.
&#8220;Thank you again for your invitation to Washington. I am very honored,&#8221; Alemán wrote Hunter Biden in January 2013.
Early the following year, Hunter Biden brought Alemán, his father, and attorney and pal Jeff Cooper to lunch with Joe Biden in his vice presidential office, emails show. Hunter Biden later asked the White House to have his father sign the pictures so he could give them to Alemán, according to emails.
Alemán and Hunter worked together to attempt to broker a deal between Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that paid Hunter up to $80,000 a month, and Pemex, a Mexican state-owned energy company.
Alemán “wants us to try to bring a Burisma exec with us on our trip (which he is still trying to figure out exact timing),&#8221; Cooper wrote Hunter Biden and another close pal, Devon Archer, in November 2014.
They pulled government strings to make it happen.
“Miguel has the energy secretary lined up for a meeting on Monday. Devon, can you and someone from Burisma be there?&#8221; Cooper wrote in two months later. &#8220;Hopefully it works out and hopefully we can make some hay next week.&#8221;
When Alemán invested $1 million in what Hunter called &#8220;a portfolio company of mine called ePlata,&#8221; a cut went directly to Hunter Biden.
“Good news, we did receive a $1,000,000 injection into ePlata from Miguel late today. I wanted to wire you the $50,000 first thing tomorrow AM,” a March 2015 email to Hunter Biden from a Cooper associate said. Alemán was later named to the ePlata <a href="https://info.eplata.com/2020/02/09/eplata-board-of-directors-announcement-coverage/">board</a>.
The deals with Hunter Biden apparently didn&#8217;t insulate Alemán from tax troubles in Mexico. In July 2021, at the request of Mexico&#8217;s Attorney General&#8217;s Office, a Mexican federal judge issued an <a href="https://www.mexicanist.com/l/mexican-businessman-miguel-aleman-magnani/">arrest warrant</a> on tax fraud charges. Migration authorities realized his jet had left the country six months earlier, and in August, Interpol issued a red alert to 190 countries to search for Alemán. His lawyer said that year that Alemán was fighting the arrest warrant from France, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-13/interjet-founder-is-fighting-mexico-arrest-warrant-from-france">Bloomberg</a>.
Alemán’s criminal charges stem from $3.2 million in taxes that Interjet allegedly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-13/interjet-founder-is-fighting-mexico-arrest-warrant-from-france">collected</a> from customers and employees but did not forward to the government. His lawyer told Bloomberg that the company, not Alemán, is responsible and that his client&#8217;s French citizenship &#8212; courtesy of his actress mother &#8212; means he cannot be <a href="https://www.archyde.com/miguel-aleman-magnani-cannot-be-extradited-from-france-assures-his-lawyer/">extradited</a>.
Alemán joins a crew of other Hunter Biden associates to face serious legal problems. But Biden himself so far has not faced criminal charges, despite his tax troubles being so severe that his passport could not be renewed, according to an email on the laptop. In 2020, he paid off a $450,000 tax lien, a retroactive payment which would not absolve him of any criminal liability, but could mitigate any punishment.
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss is reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/critical-stage-feds-consider-charging-hunter-biden-with-multiple-crimes-including-gun-charges">weighing</a> charging Hunter Biden with tax, lobbying, or gun violations, and some witnesses have been called to testify before a grand jury, according to reports.
But other reports indicate that the investigation may be less than aggressive. FBI agents reportedly sat on the laptop for a year after receiving it. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said whistleblowers told him that Timothy Thibault, a top FBI agent who resigned amid an investigation into partisan social media posts, &#8220;attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future.&#8221;
The <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/09/04/fbi-agent-timothy-thibault-hid-intel-from-whistleblower-on-hunter-the-big-guy-joe-biden/">New York Post</a> said the FBI failed to follow up with Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden business partner who said that Joe Biden was the &#8220;Big Guy&#8221; who was to get 10% of a foreign windfall. That&#8217;s despite Bobulinski being a well-placed source and seemingly highly credible witness, as a former Navy officer with top secret clearances who has donated to politicians of both parties.<a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"></a>

Interjet, A Leading Mexican Airline, Makes Its Inaugural Flight To McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas

Mexico Pursuing Charges Against Hunter Biden Associate And Son Of Mexican Political Royalty, In Contrast To DOJ Treatment Of Hunter

Hunter Biden

Mexico

An expansion of the Internal Revenue Service (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS</a>) by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/inflation-reduction-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inflation Reduction Act</a> threatens to <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/taxes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reap</a> $20 billion from small businesses and middle-income Americans, according to a preliminary assessment last week from the Congressional Budget Office.
The $740 billion legislation, which currently awaits a signature from President <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> after passing both the House of Representatives and the Senate, provides <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-inflation-reduction-act-would-allow-irs-to-hire-up-to-87000-new-employees-raise-taxes-report">$80 billion</a> in funds to hire 87,000 new IRS employees. The agency <a href="https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce">employed</a> nearly 79,000 full-time employees as of fiscal year 2021.
Although Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) initially offered an <a href="https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/5404.Crapo11.pdf">amendment</a> to explicitly codify that none of the new funds “may be used to audit taxpayers with taxable incomes below $400,000,” the amendment was rejected by every Democratic member of the Senate. A preliminary assessment from the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the amendment would have eliminated at least $20 billion of the projected $124 billion in new revenue the expanded IRS is slated to collect, per Republicans on the <a href="https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/cbo-new-irs-audits-will-grab-at-least-20b-from-lower-middle-income-families/">House Ways and Means Committee</a> — implying that the legislation will cost the middle class $20 billion.
Biden, however, recently <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/07/statement-by-president-biden-on-senate-passage-of-the-inflation-reduction-act/">promised</a> that the Inflation Reduction Act “does not raise taxes on those making under $400,000 a year” — a promise upon which he had campaigned in 2020. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a similar statement in a recent letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, directing him to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/janet-yellen-vows-irs-audits-wont-rise-for-middle-income-americans-but-theres-a-catch">refrain</a> from using any new resources “to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.”
Yellen failed to clarify that “historical levels” of audits were far higher as recently as one decade ago. Audit rates for Americans earning between $25,000 to $200,000 fell 76% between 2010 and 2019, while those earning less than $25,000 saw audit rates fall by 61%, according to a report from the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104960.pdf">Government Accountability Office</a>.
Another study from the <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444">Congressional Budget Office</a> based upon an earlier proposal to hire 87,000 new IRS agents revealed that audit rates “would rise for all taxpayers” under such a policy, even as high-income taxpayers “face the largest increase.” According to the Republicans on the <a href="https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/americans-chances-of-audit-more-than-doubles-as-newly-supercharged-irs-targets-lower-middle-income-earners/">House Ways and Means Committee</a>, the new employees would be capable of executing 1.2 million more individual audits per year, with nearly half impacting Americans earning less than $75,000.
In her letter, Yellen also referenced a communication Rettig <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irs-we-will-absolutely-not-target-everyday-americans-with-new-army-of-agents">addressed</a> to lawmakers last week as they deliberated on the Inflation Reduction Act, in which he vowed that the agency would “absolutely not” use its 87,000 new employees to target taxpayers by “increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans.”
“As an extremely proud American, I’m grateful for your support of the IRS and our dedicated employees,” Rettig wrote. “I cannot be forceful enough in emphasizing that these resources will be transformative for the agency and for American taxpayers.”
Beyond the promise to refrain from taxing Americans earning less than $400,000 per year, the Inflation Reduction Act seems to have failed in a key renewable energy incentive. Upon the bill’s successful movement through Congress, automakers Ford and GM each <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-inflation-bill-made-7500-electric-vehicle-tax-credits-ford-and-gm-just-raised-their-prices-by-the-same-amount">raised prices</a> for many of their electric vehicles by $6,000 to $8,500 — a move that appears to subvert the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credits created by the legislation.

Joe Biden

Here’s How Much Biden’s Twice-As-Large IRS Could Take From The Middle Class

Biden's IRS To Pull $20 Billion From Middle Class

Inflation Reduction Act

Tesla and SpaceX CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> poked <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/memes">fun</a> at his fellow Americans on Thursday for allowing the Internal Revenue Service (<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/irs">IRS</a>) to more than double in size.
Musk posted a meme depicting a laughing British redcoat, along with the caption: “when the country that revolted over taxes hires 87,000 new IRS agents.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Fate 🖤 Irony <a href="https://t.co/RHZ9BEws7k">pic.twitter.com/RHZ9BEws7k</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557759290219171841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk, a South African who lived in Canada before becoming an American citizen, told a user that he already gets “audited every year by default.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
True. I already get audited every year by default.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557761535979638784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Indeed, top Biden administration officials — including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig — have argued that the 87,000 new employees, who will be hired through an $80 billion carveout from the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, will focus primarily upon wealthy Americans. The IRS employed nearly 79,000 full-time employees as of fiscal year 2021, according to the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce">agency</a>, which also reported $13.7 billion in operating costs.
“I direct that any additional resources — including any new personnel or auditors that are hired — shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” Yellen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/janet-yellen-vows-irs-audits-wont-rise-for-middle-income-americans-but-theres-a-catch">told</a> Rettig in a Wednesday letter. “This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.”
Yellen did not mention, however, that “historical levels” of audits were significantly higher as recently as one decade ago. According to a report from the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104960.pdf">Government Accountability Office</a>, audit rates for Americans earning between $25,000 to $200,000 fell 76% between 2010 and 2019, while those earning less than $25,000 saw audit rates fall by 61%. Taxpayers earning between $200,000 and $500,000 — representing those at the upper end of the Biden administration’s vow to not raise taxes for those earning less than $400,000 — saw a 92% decline in audits.
The report added that IRS officials “attributed the overall decline in audit rates to decreased funding, and therefore reduced staffing to conduct audits” — constraints which are directly addressed by the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency’s job <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/guns-body-armor-spy-gear-heres-what-bidens-beefed-up-irs-investigation-unit-will-pack">description</a> for new agents says that employees must “carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.”
Yet Rettig vowed that his agency will “absolutely not” use its new employees to target middle-class Americans and small businesses. Instead, he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irs-we-will-absolutely-not-target-everyday-americans-with-new-army-of-agents">promised</a> that the new funding will create better information technology systems that will help Americans more easily comply with tax laws.
For his part, Musk has repeatedly warned about the dangers of unsustainable fiscal habits. “True national debt, including unfunded entitlements, is at least $60 trillion — roughly three times the size of the entire US economy,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/something-has-got-to-give-elon-musk-issues-dire-warning-about-national-debt">commented</a> on social media earlier this year. “Something has got to give.”
Even as several left-wing lawmakers — such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) — accused Musk of “freeloading off everyone else” and failing to pay his “fair share,” the entrepreneur <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pramila-jayapal-reacts-to-elon-musk-paying-11-billion-in-taxes-by-asking-rich-to-pay-their-fair-share">revealed</a> that he paid $11 billion in taxes last year.
“And if you opened your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year,” Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-will-pay-more-taxes-than-any-american-in-history-this-year-elon-musk-obliterates-elizabeth-warren-with-one-tweet">retorted</a>. “Don’t spend it all at once … oh wait you did already.”

Tesla Gigafactory – Elon Musk

Elon Musk Weighs In On IRS Preparing To Hire Army Of Agents

Elon Musk Is Not Thrilled With IRS' New Army Of Agents

Elon Musk

Memes

Treasury Secretary <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/janet-yellen">Janet Yellen</a> vowed on Wednesday that Internal Revenue Service (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs">IRS</a>) <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/taxes">audit</a> rates for Americans earning less than $400,000 per year would not increase — at least according to “historical levels,” which are far higher than current levels.
The Biden administration official’s promise comes as the Inflation Reduction Act — a $740 billion proposal that includes $80 billion for the IRS to hire 87,000 more employees — advances through Congress. In a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/JLY-letter-to-Commissioner-Rettig-Signed.pdf">letter</a> to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, Yellen argued that the funding would help the IRS “improve taxpayer service” and “increase equity in the tax system” rather than allow the agency to target middle-income Americans.
“I direct that any additional resources — including any new personnel or auditors that are hired — shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” Yellen told Rettig. “This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.”
Yellen failed to mention, however, that “historical levels” of audits were significantly higher as recently as one decade ago. According to a report from the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104960.pdf">Government Accountability Office</a>, audit rates for Americans earning between $25,000 to $200,000 fell 76% between 2010 and 2019, while those earning less than $25,000 saw audit rates fall by 61%. Taxpayers earning between $200,000 and $500,000 — representing those at the upper end of the Biden administration’s vow to not raise taxes for those earning less than $400,000 — saw a 92% decline in audits.
Indeed, the report said that IRS officials “attributed the overall decline in audit rates to decreased funding, and therefore reduced staffing to conduct audits” — constraints which are directly addressed by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Another report from the <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444">Congressional Budget Office</a> based on an earlier proposal to hire 87,000 new IRS agents found that audit rates “would rise for all taxpayers,” even as higher-income taxpayers “face the largest increase.” According to Republican members of the <a href="https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/americans-chances-of-audit-more-than-doubles-as-newly-supercharged-irs-targets-lower-middle-income-earners/">House Ways and Means Committee</a>, the new agents would be capable of carrying out 1.2 million more individual audits per year, with nearly half impacting Americans earning less than $75,000.
Despite leaving room for higher audit rates relative to “historical levels,” Yellen argued that information technology updates funded by the bill would help Americans avoid audits in the first place. “The result of this resource infusion will be a lower likelihood of audit by an agency that has the data and technological infrastructure in place to target enforcement resources where they belong—on the high end of the income distribution, where the top 1% alone is estimated to not be paying $160 billion in owed taxes each year,” Yellen wrote. “That’s important as a matter of revenue-raising, but it’s also essential as a matter of fairness.”
The IRS employed nearly 79,000 full-time employees as of fiscal year 2021, according to the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce">agency</a>, which also reported $13.7 billion in operating costs.
Yellen also referenced a letter Rettig <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irs-we-will-absolutely-not-target-everyday-americans-with-new-army-of-agents">addressed to lawmakers</a> last week, in which he vowed that the agency would “absolutely not” use its 87,000 new employees to target taxpayers by “increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans.”
“As an extremely proud American, I’m grateful for your support of the IRS and our dedicated employees,” Rettig added. “I cannot be forceful enough in emphasizing that these resources will be transformative for the agency and for American taxpayers.”

President Biden Delivers Remarks On The Economy

Janet Yellen Vows IRS Audits Won’t Rise For Middle-Income Americans, But There’s A Catch

Yellen Vows IRS Audits Won't Rise More Than 'Historical Levels,' Which Turn Out To Be Pretty High

Internal Revenue Service (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs">IRS</a>) Commissioner Charles Rettig vowed in a recent letter that the agency would “absolutely not” use the 87,000 new employees funded by the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/inflation">Inflation</a> Reduction Act to <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/taxes">target</a> middle-class Americans.
In his <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/commissioners-letter-to-the-senate.pdf">letter</a> to lawmakers, Rettig contended that the $80 billion provided to the IRS through the pending $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act is long overdue. He argued that the resources would be devoted to “large corporate and global high-net-worth taxpayers” while serving as an aide to typical filers.
“These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans,” he wrote. “Other resources will be invested in employees and IT systems that will allow us to better serve all taxpayers, including small businesses and middle-income taxpayers. Enhanced IT systems and taxpayer service will actually mean that honest taxpayers will be better able to comply with the tax laws, resulting in a lower likelihood of being audited and a reduced burden on them.”
The IRS employed nearly 79,000 full-time employees as of fiscal year 2021, according to the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce">agency</a>, which also reported $13.7 billion in operating costs.
“As an extremely proud American, I&#8217;m grateful for your support of the IRS and our dedicated employees,” Rettig added. “I cannot be forceful enough in emphasizing that these resources will be transformative for the agency and for American taxpayers.”
Several Republican lawmakers have blasted the new proposal as an affront to the American taxpayer.
“I couldn’t believe it when I read it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/god-help-us-lindsey-graham-blasts-plan-to-add-87000-new-irs-agents-vows-to-redirect-funding-to-the-border">said</a> at a press conference, noting that some of his state’s college football stadiums would be unable to contain the 87,000 new employees. “They’re talking about expanding the IRS two and a half times… So when you go to the football games this fall, just imagine everybody to your left and right being IRS agents.”
“There are a lot of bad things in this bill, but few are worse than the proposal by Democrats in this bill to double the size of the IRS and create 87,000 new IRS agents,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-dems-want-to-make-the-irs-larger-than-the-pentagon-the-state-dept-the-fbi-and-the-border-patrol-combined">argued</a> during a speech on the Senate floor. “I guarantee you citizens in every one of our states, if you ask them, ‘What do they want?’ they don’t want 87,000 new IRS agents. And they’re not being created to audit billionaires or giant corporations. They’re being created to audit you.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444">Congressional Budget Office</a> concluded from an earlier proposal to hire 87,000 new IRS agents that audit rates “would rise for all taxpayers,” even as higher-income taxpayers “face the largest increase.” According to Republican members of the <a href="https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/americans-chances-of-audit-more-than-doubles-as-newly-supercharged-irs-targets-lower-middle-income-earners/">House Ways and Means Committee</a>, the new agents would be capable of carrying out 1.2 million more individual audits per year, with nearly half impacting Americans earning less than $75,000.
President Joe Biden has likewise argued that the Inflation Reduction Act would “make the largest corporations pay their fair share without any new taxes on people making under $400,000 a year.” Yet <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-claims-legislative-deal-on-his-agenda-wont-raise-taxes-on-people-making-less-than-400k-report-says-otherwise">data</a> from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation indicated last month that the new legislation would increase taxes on every income category except for those earning between $10,000 and $30,000.

Deadline For Filing 2013 U.S. Taxes April 15

IRS: We Will ‘Absolutely Not’ Target Everyday Americans With New Army Of Agents

IRS Head Tells How The Agency Will Use Its Army Of New Agents

Republican South Carolina Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lindsey-graham">Lindsey Graham</a> blasted the provision in the so-called &#8220;Inflation Reduction Act&#8221; that would allow the IRS to hire up to 87,000 more agents.
At a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gsIEmZ1eF4">press conference</a> with South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster Tuesday, Graham assailed the provision to hire up to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-inflation-reduction-act-would-allow-irs-to-hire-up-to-87000-new-employees-raise-taxes-report">87,000 new IRS agents</a> over 10 years, more than doubling the size of the tax collection agency. Graham said that those agents would inevitably target middle-class Americans, since upper-class people have the money to afford accountants and lawyers that most people do not. Graham also vowed to fight against IRS expansion by rescinding the annual spending for the IRS and redirecting it to the southern border.
&#8220;The one that really has gotten a lot of attention is that, for some reason, somehow, every Democrat in Washington and the United States Senate believes it&#8217;s a good thing to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to come after you and your taxes,&#8221; Graham said. &#8220;This is supposed to be for the rich, but let me tell you, the rich have a bunch of lawyers and accountants. Well over half of all the audits conducted in the United States today are conducted on people who make less than $75,000 [a year].&#8221;
&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t believe it when I read it,&#8221; Graham continued. &#8220;They&#8217;re talking about expanding the IRS two and a half times.&#8221; Graham noted that the number of new IRS agents would be enough to completely fill either Williams-Brice Stadium, the University of South Carolina&#8217;s football stadium, or &#8220;Death Valley,&#8221; Clemson University&#8217;s football stadium. &#8220;So when you go to the football games this fall, just imagine everybody to your left and right being IRS agents.&#8221;
&#8220;Look at how it changes the [agency],&#8221; Graham went on. &#8220;[There are] 78,000 current employees, we&#8217;re gonna add 87,00 new ones in the next ten years. [I] wonder what they will be up to. If you think the federal government is out of control now, God help us when you get 87,000 new IRS agents who are looking under every rock and stone to get money out of your pocket. This is bigger than the British army. So, my belief is that we probably need a bigger British army and a smaller IRS.”
Graham then promised to fight the implementation of funding, and redirect that funding toward hiring more border patrol agents. &#8220;Governor, I&#8217;m gonna fight this tooth and nail,&#8221; he said, looking to McMaster. &#8220;This plan — of, I think it&#8217;s $60 billion additional funding for IRS — is implemented over a 10 year period. Every year, I&#8217;m gonna try to rescind the spending for the IRS and send it to the border, where we actually need border patrol agents. We have 18,000 border patrol agents. I&#8217;d like to see a lot more border patrol agents and less IRS agents.&#8221;
Graham closed his remarks by saying that the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vp-harris-breaks-tie-senate-passes-democrats-inflation-reduction-act-climate-tax-and-spending-bill">bill</a> would harm the economy of South Carolina and deepen the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-in-a-recession-after-second-straight-quarter-of-negative-growth">recession</a> the U.S. economy is currently in. He called the bill a &#8220;power grab in the name of climate change,&#8221; and &#8220;a tax and spend bill at a time we can least afford it.&#8221; He urged Democrats in the House to vote down the bill.

Lindsey Graham

‘God Help Us’: Lindsey Graham Blasts Plan To Add 87,000 New IRS Agents, Vows To Redirect Funding To The Border

'God Help Us': Lindsey Graham Blasts Plan To Add 87,000 New IRS Agents, Vows To Redirect Funding To The Border

Recession

spending

With Senate Democrats passing the $740 billion &#8220;Inflation Reduction Act&#8221; Sunday, Americans might see an extra 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents providing taxpayers with &#8220;better service,&#8221; according to one liberal lawmaker.
Amid high inflation and a recession, U.S. Senators broke even on voting for the legislation. All 50 Democrat Senators supported, and all 50 Republicans rejected the act, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to break the tie vote. 
While the bill emphasizes spending toward climate and health packages — an extra $80 billion would primarily enhance IRS enforcement and operations while modernizing new technology systems. IRS enforcement aims to ramp up auditing the wealthy and impose a minimum tax on large corporations over the next decade.
However, the number of new agents has working-class Americans concerned that they could see a tax hike, considering Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) once said raising taxes during a recession is wrong, Fox News <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sen-cardin-denies-democrats-inflation-reduction-act-will-increase-taxes-during-recession" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>.  
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) attempted to ease taxpayer worries to &#8220;Fox News Sunday&#8221; host Mike Emanuel when asked if hiring 87,000 new IRS agents would &#8220;scare the heck out of millions of Americans.&#8221;
&#8220;Millions of Americans aren&#8217;t going to be impacted by that other than getting better service from the IRS having their telephone answer getting the questions they need in order to comply with our tax laws,&#8221; Cardin said. &#8220;The auditing is going to be focused on those of high income, the large corporations, etc.&#8221; 
IRS commissioner Charles P. Rettig told Congress that if the agency were given the additional $80 billion through the legislation, it would not increase audits of households earning less than $400,000, the New York Times <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/business/irs-audits-funding-congress.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/06/inflation-reduction-act-irs/">reports</a> more than half of the agency&#8217;s audits last year targeted taxpayers earning less than $75,000, with 40% earning income tax credits. Data also shows the agency lost more than 16,000 employees since 2010.
 <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-nato-biden-climate-and-environment-7bc6644107e4ce365ab9e225c0591b5c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Associated Press</a> reports that a senior administration official from the U.S. Treasury Department said the bill could raise a net of $400 billion in the next ten years. The net increase could improve the federal agencies&#8217; customer service team, who generally answers only 15% of its calls compared to the remaining callers waiting on hold while the next representative finishes helping other customers. 
&#8220;So there&#8217;s no reason to be fearful,&#8221; Sen. Cardin added. &#8220;And if you have paid your taxes and if you comply with our laws, you should want to make sure everyone else does that.&#8221; 
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1556296383220649984" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash he believes the IRS would target the highest income Americans.
&#8220;As the saying goes, that&#8217;s where the money is,&#8221; Blumenthal said, referencing the quote from the 1930s bank robber Willie Sutton when asked why he robbed banks. &#8220;That&#8217;s where they&#8217;re going to look to collect.&#8221;
&#8220;The idea that there&#8217;s going to be this army of IRS agents &#8230; descending on the average American is just preposterous,&#8221; he added.
The Washington Post reports Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke at a news conference last week, saying the proposed spending for the federal service would &#8220;put the IRS on steroids,&#8221; adding the total amount to about a million per IRS agent.
&#8220;You don&#8217;t need that many IRS agents to go after a few people they say are very, very rich,&#8221; Barrasso said, adding the bill would impact &#8220;families, farmers and the small businesses of Americans, that&#8217;s who&#8217;s going to bear the burden of this legislation.&#8221;
New taxes proposed in the bill show it would raise some $258 billion in new revenue by imposing a 15% minimum tax on companies with more than $1 billion in profits and force companies to follow IRS account principles when reporting income. 
House Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) introduced an amendment to create exemptions for the 15% corporate minimum tax established by the bill.
Thune said of the IRS on the Senate floor last week that it only succeeded in answering about one out of every 50 phone calls during the 2021 tax season. 
&#8220;Yet 4 percent of the $80 billion is going to taxpayer services; 57 percent goes to enforcement so that the IRS can spend more time harassing taxpayers around this country,&#8221; Thune added.
The bill now heads over to the U.S. House of Representatives, where members are expected to reconvene at the end of the week to vote on the proposed legislation.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Examines US-Russia Policy

Dem Senator Suggests Adding 87,000 New IRS Agents Will Give American Taxpayers ‘Better Service’

Dem Senator Suggests Adding 87,000 New IRS Agents Will Give American Taxpayers 'Better Service'

Inflation

Senate Democrats

A father and son business duo in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida">Jacksonville, Florida</a>, pleaded guilty to defrauding the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs">Internal Revenue Service (IRS)</a> of millions of dollars while knowingly hiring <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illegal-immigration">illegal aliens</a> — some of whom had been previously deported.
On Friday, The Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/father-and-son-owners-jacksonville-construction-firms-plead-guilty-conspiring-defraud">announced</a> that Raul Solis &#8220;pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to unlawfully employ workers who were neither lawfully admitted to, nor authorized to be employed in, the United States.&#8221; His son, Raul Solis-Martinez, had previously pleaded guilty to that same charge on July 27.
According to authorities, the two men owned two construction companies in the Jacksonville area where they regularly lowered labor costs by paying their employees both in cash and in checks to keep certain income off the books. In total, the DOJ claims that between 2014 and 2019, the two men failed to report $22,186,096.35 in wages. This allowed the business owners to avoid paying more than $5,613,00 in taxes
The DOJ claims that Solis and Solis-Martinez &#8220;knew that many of their employees had emigrated to the United States illegally or were otherwise not authorized to work here.&#8221;
The two have agreed to repay $5,613,082.38 to the IRS. A sentencing hearing will be held at a later date.
The Solis family is not alone in illegally hiring workers while committing fraud in the construction business.
On Thursday, a Tampa, Florida, man was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/tampa-man-sentenced-federal-prison-role-construction-related-wire-fraud-conspiracy">sentenced</a> to 15 months in federal prison after being convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Kelbin Tejada ran a company that supplied workers for various manual labor jobs in the area. Per Florida law, Tejada was required to have adequate insurance for each of his employees. Many of the individuals supplied by Tejada to various construction were illegal aliens.
Yet, in the course of business, Tejada &#8220;falsely and fraudulently&#8221; claimed in insurance applications that his company had a smaller payroll and number of workers working on job sites than in reality. Tejada also &#8220;falsely and fraudulently sent wire communications to numerous contractors representing that his company’s employees had full worker’s compensation coverage,&#8221; a DOJ press release <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/tampa-man-sentenced-federal-prison-role-construction-related-wire-fraud-conspiracy">noted</a>.
In actuality, Tejada had been cashing $18,000,000 in checks from various construction contractors for these employees, while shielding the number of workers on his payroll. That figure &#8220;far exceeded the very limited payroll figures that Tejada had reported to his worker’s compensation insurance company.&#8221; That meant his workers were inadequately insured.
“Mr. Tejada not only defrauded insurance companies of thousands of dollars in premiums by lying on his policy application, more importantly he severely jeopardized the health and well-being of non-citizen laborers who work long hours in hazardous positions,” Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Dumas said in a statement.
“HSI Special Agents and our law enforcement partners are committed to ensuring that all workers performing these jobs have the safety net of proper workman’s compensation insurance,&#8221; Dumas added.

Gavel

Father And Son Duo Plead Guilty To Hiring Illegal Aliens, Committing Millions In Tax Fraud

Florida

Illegal Immigration

House Republicans are demanding answers from the Internal Revenue Services after the agency destroyed 30 million paper-filed tax documents last year.
House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-KY) and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Ranking Member Nancy Mace (R-SC) sent the letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig on Wednesday, according to a report by Fox Business.
&#8220;Committee Republicans are concerned that the destruction of these documents might slow down already inefficient processing procedures and hurt American taxpayers left unaware that the IRS destroyed documents already entrusted into its care,&#8221; they <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/gop-lawmakers-question-irs-agency-destroyed-30-million-tax-documents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
The letter added that &#8220;it appears that the IRS may now demand that taxpayers provide duplicate copies of information previously destroyed by the IRS.&#8221;
The documents reportedly included Forms W-2, 1099, and 1098. The forms are used by the IRS to verify taxpayer information for millions of Americans.
The letter also requested copies of communications related to the destruction of the documents by the IRS to show who approved the actions.
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/key-dem-calls-for-firing-of-irs-chief-after-watchdog-says-agency-destroyed-30m-documents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> last month that the IRS shredded tax data for millions of filers, according to the agency’s own watchdog, in a move that enraged tax professionals and prompted a key Democratic lawmaker to call for the firing of the agency’s chief.
The news that 30 million paper tax returns had been dumped came in a <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2022reports/202240036fr.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Department of Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration. The report revealed that the agency trashed the documents over a year ago following a large backlog.
“The continued inability to process backlogs of paper-filed tax returns contributed to management’s decision to destroy an estimated 30 million paper-filed information return documents in March 2021,” the <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2022reports/202240036fr.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> stated.
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) called on the Biden administration to fire IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig over the scandal.
“The IRS is vital to public confidence in our nation and its Trump-appointed leader has failed,” Pascrell, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee’s oversight subcommittee, <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-tax/2022/05/16/asking-for-more-from-the-irs-00032636#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20IRS%20is%20vital%20to,admirably%20while%20under%20immense%20pressure.%E2%80%9D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
In addition to the controversy over the destroyed documents, the IRS has faced widespread pushback over its online facial recognition program.
In February, the agency relented over privacy concerns according to a statement released by the IRS.
“The IRS announced today that a new option in the agency’s authentication system is now available for taxpayers to sign up for IRS online accounts without the use of any biometric data, including facial recognition. This is consistent with the IRS’s commitment earlier this month to transition away from the requirement for taxpayers creating an IRS online account to provide a selfie to a third-party service to help authenticate their identity,” the IRS said in a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-new-features-put-in-place-for-irs-online-account-registration-process-strengthened-to-ensure-privacy-and-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
“Taxpayers will have the option of verifying their identity during a live, virtual interview with agents; no biometric data – including facial recognition – will be required if taxpayers choose to authenticate their identity through a virtual interview,” the statement added.

House Republicans Demand Answers From IRS After Destruction Of 30 Million Paper-Filed Tax Documents

Nancy Mace

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on Monday that it will allow taxpayers to opt out of its facial recognition technology requirement following strong pushback from Americans.
The new statement was released by the IRS on its website Monday morning in response to ongoing privacy and security concerns as taxpayers prepare their tax returns for 2021.
&#8220;The IRS announced today that a new option in the agency’s authentication system is now available for taxpayers to sign up for IRS online accounts without the use of any biometric data, including facial recognition. This is consistent with the IRS’s commitment earlier this month to transition away from the requirement for taxpayers creating an IRS online account to provide a selfie to a third-party service to help authenticate their identity,&#8221; the IRS said in a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-new-features-put-in-place-for-irs-online-account-registration-process-strengthened-to-ensure-privacy-and-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
&#8220;Taxpayers will have the option of verifying their identity during a live, virtual interview with agents; no biometric data – including facial recognition – will be required if taxpayers choose to authenticate their identity through a virtual interview,&#8221; the statement added.
The response was noted as a short-term solution as the IRS moves away from ID.me as its verification tool. The statement noted the IRS is working to roll out Login.Gov as its future verification tool.
&#8220;Taxpayers will still have the option to verify their identity automatically through the use of biometric verification through ID.me’s self-assistance tool if they choose. For taxpayers who select this option, new requirements are in place to ensure images provided by taxpayers are deleted for the account being created. Any existing biometric data from taxpayers who previously created an IRS Online Account that has already been collected will also be permanently deleted over the course of the next few weeks,&#8221; the statement noted.
The Login.Gov system is expected to be operational by the time taxpayers file 2022 taxes.
&#8220;While this short-term solution is in place for this year’s filing season, the IRS will work closely with partners across government to roll out Login.Gov as an authentication tool. The General Services Administration is currently working with the IRS to achieve the security standards and scale required of Login.Gov, with the goal of moving toward introducing this option after the 2022 filing deadline,&#8221; according to the statement.
The news marks a strong contrast to reports just last month that the IRS would soon force taxpayers to upload a photo to access certain tax tools. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-irs-will-make-users-upload-pictures-of-their-faces-to-access-tax-information" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on January 20:
<blockquote>“Starting in summer 2022, if you need to login to the IRS’s website to access the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, get your tax transcript or view a payment agreement with the agency, you will need to create an account with third-party identity verification company ID.me,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/20/irs-will-soon-require-a-selfie-to-access-some-of-its-online-tools.html">CNBC</a> reported. “A simple username and password will no longer suffice: You will need to provide a government document with a photo, such as a driver’s license, state ID or passport, and take a video selfie with your smartphone or computer.”
An IRS spokesperson told CNBC that taxpayers can still pay or file their taxes “without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company” by using bank accounts, credit cards, and similar means. However, CNBC again emphasized that doing the aforementioned “basic things” — as well as “applying for payment plans” and “monitoring stimulus checks” — will require facial identification.</blockquote>
The Daily Wire’s first original film, Shut In, has made its cinematic debut, being met with rave reviews. The Daily Wire is building an alternative to the leftist entertainment industry, one gripping movie at a time. Join us in this mission and stream Shut In today by becoming a Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

IRS To Allow Taxpayers To Opt Out Of Facial Recognition After Strong Pushback

Menu