May 4, 2023
Senators call on TIGTA to investigate alleged unfair targeting and preferential treatment
washington dc–Senate Finance Committee Republicans, led by Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), are calling on the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) to investigate the recent targeting allegations unfair and preferential treatment in high-profile cases by the Internal Revenue Service. Service (IRS).
The senators’ request is based on two news items:
An IRS employee visited reporter Matt Taibbi’s home to discuss Taibbi’s tax returns on the same day he testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on Arming the Federal Government, and raised questions about IRS procedures and operations; and A career IRS criminal oversight special agent alleging preferential treatment of a high-profile, controversial and politically connected subject with information that would contradict sworn congressional testimony given by a senior political official.
In the letter, the senators note that TIGTA has the responsibility and authority to oversee the operations of the IRS, including its criminal functions and employees:
“Americans have a right to know whether the serious allegations described above are being investigated. We urge TIGTA to immediately open investigations into each of the two investigative requests listed above, and we further call on TIGTA to provide members of the Finance Committee with regularly scheduled updates and briefings on the progress of your investigations into these matters.”
Read the full letter here or below:
Dear Inspector General George:
We are writing to request an investigation into two reports involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The first investigative request involves a report of an alleged targeting of journalist Matt Taibbi by the IRS. In short, the concern is that on the same day that Mr. Taibbi testified on his account of government embezzlement before the House Committee on the Judiciary Select Subcommittee on Arming the Federal Government, an IRS employee showed up at his home unannounced to talk. with him. The reported moment of an IRS agent’s alleged surprise and in-person visit to the home of Mr. Taibbi, along with an alleged IRS investigation into Mr. Taibbi, with the background and timing of the writings and the testimony of Mr. Taibbi on government embezzlement, raise questions about IRS procedures and operations, particularly with regard to these alleged facts.
The second investigation request stems from a report by a whistleblower who made allegations in an article titled “Hunter Biden Probe is Being Malhandled, IRS Supervisor Says,” published on April 19, 2023. The article says that:
A letter sent to Congress on Wednesday says an Internal Revenue Service career criminal oversight special agent has information that would contradict the sworn testimony of a “senior political appointee.” The supervisor also has information about a “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the final disposition of the case,” according to the letter.
The supervisor has details showing “preferential treatment and policy that unduly infects decisions and protocols that career law enforcement professionals would normally follow in similar circumstances if the matter were not politically connected,” according to the letter .
The letter says the watchdog has been overseeing an “ongoing and sensitive investigation into a high-profile contentious issue since early 2020,” which it does not name. The investigation in question is about the younger Mr. Biden, people familiar with the matter said.
The Wall Street Journal article explains more than:
In Wednesday’s letter, Mark Lytle, an attorney for the IRS agent, said his client wants whistleblower protections to provide their information. He addressed both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Despite the serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with the information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight role and wants to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the aisle politician,” he said. the letter, signed by Mr. Lytle.
According to the letter, the employee previously disclosed his information internally to the IRS and the Justice Department’s inspector general. It is limited to sharing some of the information because of privacy laws that protect Americans’ tax return information, the letter said.
Lytle’s letter also notes that the “career IRS criminal oversight special agent” is prepared, among other things, to share testimony with Congress on a bipartisan, bicameral basis.
The Treasury Inspector General for Internal Revenue Service (TIGTA) has the responsibility and authority under the Inspector General Act of 1978 to oversee the operations of the Internal Revenue Service, including its functions penal institutions and their employees. Americans have a right to know whether the serious allegations described above are being investigated. We urge TIGTA to immediately open investigations into each of the two investigative requests listed above, and we further ask TIGTA to provide Finance Committee members with regularly scheduled updates and briefings on the progress of the your investigations into these matters.
