On Monday, Rep. Jerry Carl introduced an amendment to the Build Back Better Act to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from using new funds for hiring additional armed IRS agents. However, the proposed amendment was rejected.
Democrats are proposing an additional $45 million to be allocated to the IRS for “enforcement.” According to Carl, the IRS has around 2,000 armed agents who have a track record of frequently mishandling and misusing their firearms.
Carl stated, “While Democrats are working around the clock to beef up the IRS and hire tens of thousands of additional agents to snoop on the banking transactions of innocent Americans, I have been fighting to ensure none of this money can be used to hire even more armed IRS agents.”
Carl argued that the agency has not properly trained these agents, and hiring more would be an abuse of power.
“These agents have a horrible track record of misusing and mishandling their firearms, so the last thing we need is to hire more of them. Democrats have rejected my attempts to prevent any further expansion of the IRS’s army of armed agents, but I will continue fighting this horrible abuse of power because it does nothing more than endanger the lives and property of Americans,” he commented.
The group Americans for Tax Reform reported on a study by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. the article stated that special agents at the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) accidentally fired their weapons more often than they intentionally fired them. The report stated, “According to documentation provided by all 26 CI field offices, the NCITA, and the TIGTA OI, there were a total of eight firearm discharges classified as intentional use of force incidents and 11 discharges classified as accidental during FYs 2009 through 2011.”
