Saturday, March 13, 2010
TIGTA Is Investigating 70 Jokes/Inappropriate Statements About the Attack on the Austin IRS Office
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is investigating more than 70 threatening jokes or inappropriate statements made to IRS agents about the Feb. 18 attack on an IRS building in Austin, Texas.
Update: For threatening jokes or inappropriate statements made by the President about the IRS, see:
- Is Obama Ineligible to Work for the IRS? (May 15, 2009)
- Reynolds: Barack Milhous Obama: Presidents Should Not Joke About Using the IRS as Political Enforcer (May 18, 2009)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/03/tigta-is-investigating-.html
Comments
What's 16 inches long and hangs in front of a prick? An IRS man's necktie.
Posted by: yuks | Mar 14, 2010 8:04:44 PM
Ach,
glad I could oblige. As I stated, I worked on the law enforcement side, so I worked with gun toting IRS Special Agents. When a kid wants to grow up to be in law enforcement, do they say "I want to be an IRS Special Agent!"? Policeman, FBI, CIA, Secret Service, NSA, military and I don't know how many other jobs come to mind first. Which leads to the obvious question: How did they wind up an IRS special agent in the 1st place (didn't they try somewhere else, or many somewhere elses, first?)
Btw, one special agent I worked closely with left the IRS shortly after 9/11 to join the undercover plain clothed security force that rode on all the planes in the aftermath of 9/11. It's a cowboy thing. What cowboy wants to work for the IRS when they can be working to stop the next 9/11?
To be fair, I worked with many fine IRS agents. And, trust me, if a person is being prosecuted for a TAX crime, they are a bad person and the likelihood they didn't commit a crime is virtually nil (although there is the difference between what you know and what you can prove in a courtroom). The IRS does not have the resources to police their jurisdiction. The disgruntled (ex-spouse, ex-employee, etc.) information is a very large source of material for prosecutions. And the tax division takes its conviction rate seriously (it is uniformly the highest or very near the highest in all of the government).
Posted by: tax guy | Mar 14, 2010 3:29:51 PM
They need to change their name to "Congressional Tax Collections Service" so people understand that their hands are tied.
Posted by: ErikZ | Mar 14, 2010 7:33:44 AM
"rouge agents" LOL! Thanks, that made me laugh... I know it wasn't intentional, but that was funny! Thank you, tax guy.
Posted by: Ach | Mar 14, 2010 7:04:53 AM
Try making a complaint to TIGTA about IRS midconduct, what a joke.
Posted by: save_the_rustbelt | Mar 14, 2010 6:37:51 AM
They should ask themselves: why do they hate us?
Posted by: Taxing That Ass | Mar 13, 2010 9:44:18 PM
Are they also investigating their employee that turned over all that private tax info to OPR on that boston attorney that got him suspended for 48 months?
i have no problem with what TIGTA is doing as far as protecting their employees. I prosecuted tax protesters and stood eye to eye with them in the courthouse, so I know what some of the 70 people might be like and I am not envious of the person who has to investigate that person. But TIGTA's job is not only to protect the IRS, it is to protect the public from the IRS as well (e.g., rouge agents who violate the law by accessing private taxpayer info). Why isn't TIGTA making noise about the attorney who can't practice before the IRS for 4 years because of info provided by an IRS employee who was his "adversary"?
Posted by: tax guy | Mar 13, 2010 5:46:33 PM
Joke? TIGTA is a Joke!
Posted by: Insider | Mar 31, 2010 6:23:21 AM