Under the newly passed Inflation Reduction Act spear-headed by the Biden Administration, the Internal Revenue Service received an additional $80 billion in funding and is now seeking to hire armed special agents throughout the country in order to increase enforcement.
On the IRS website, there is a job posting in which the Criminal Investigation Division is looking for new agents that will be required to carry a firearm and “willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments.”
The IRS Website has a headline which reads “We’re Hiring Special Agents Now!” and describes the position “As a Special Agent you will combine your accounting skills with law enforcement skills to investigate financial crimes. Special Agents are duly sworn law enforcement officers who are trained to ‘follow the money.’
“No matter what the source, all income earned, both legal and illegal, has the potential of becoming involved in crimes which fall within the investigative jurisdiction of the IRS Criminal Investigation,” the description on the website read. “Because of the expertise required to conduct these complex financial investigations, IRS Special Agents are considered the premier financial investigators for the Federal government,”
During testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel confirmed that the IRS planned to hire new agents after being questioned by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) about the need and number of new armed agents.
Many Republican lawmakers tried sounding the alarm when Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act passed in Congress on party lines. Republicans warned the country that the IRS would be looking to hire upwards of 87,000 new agents with this funding at the risk of shaking down ordinary Americans to try and fund many new progressive initiatives.
In a tweet from Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in August of 2022 he said, “Stop Biden’s shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents,” trying to warn Americans of what the Democrats were pushing through Congress.
The job posting on the IRS website also described the new hires “be willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments” and “must be willing to use force up to and including the use of deadly force.”
The new hires would be expected to “adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially in maintaining honesty and integrity,” and work “a minimum of 50 hours per week, which may include irregular hours, and be on-call 24/7, including holidays and weekends.” The new agents would also need to “maintain a level of fitness necessary to effectively respond to life-threatening situations on the job.”
The IRS website explained the need for the new agents because “The American system of taxation is based on the premise that all income is taxable (which includes illegally earned income). In many instances, proving that a taxpayer willfully attempted to hide income from the Federal Government is an integral part of proving other criminal activity including fraud, money laundering or Bank Secrecy Act violations. Criminal Investigation continues to fulfill the important role of helping to ensure the integrity and fairness of our nations’ tax system.”