IRS 3

see tax dodge voodoo

9 25 bessant acting head lawfare // fascism

SEE DOGE SCHED F FIRE IG TO HIDE STATS/DAMAGE

SEE RETALIATION 2 TRUMP

see terror 3 bs nspm 7

see inequality

4/23?

SEE GUBMINT INTUIT OVERREACH PVTIZ

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8 26 MAJ REPT This Should Be Illegal

BLIND SPOT IRS INTEL UNIT "BRIEFCASE" TRACK $, ANDERSON APPT NIXON 86 WEALTH DEF INDUSTRY

IRS REQ TO REPORT DIFF BETWEEN OWED COLLECTED 1B$/YR > DOD

57,426 views Aug 15, 2026 The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder

Live-streamed on July 6, 2026. Jeffrey Winters, professor of political science at Northwestern University, joins Sam in a pre-taped interview about his new book; “The Blind Spot: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracy.” Watch the Majority Report live Monday–Friday at 12pm EST on YouTube or http://www.Majority.fm Check out Jeffrey's book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/auth... To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit http://www.ICERRT.com

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AAF is led by Tom Jones, a former legislative director for Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and was head of opposition research for Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign. According to the Wall Street Journal, AAF has received funding from Leonard Leo’s Marble Freedom Trust, but the Center for Media and Democracy has not been able to document this.

AAF is being investigated by the IRS for violating its tax-exempt status, Politico reported in March 2024.

Operatives

President Tom Jones
Research Director Jerome Trankle

Trump's scheme to get $10 billion from the IRS just hit a big snag - Alternet.org

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The IRS is falling apart, a new report from Mother Jones said on Tuesday.

Reporter Stephanie Mencimer writes that she received a notice from the Internal Revenue Service claiming she underpaid her 2025 taxes, even though the agency had not credited payments she had already made. After two hours on hold, she gave up. A few days later, a recorded message about “high call volume” disconnected her. Her accountant said even dedicated lines for tax practitioners were not working, leaving serious issues unresolved with “no contact available at all.”

Mencimer said she “realized that the IRS was finally imploding.”

It's what everyone warned would happen when Elon Musk used his DOGE program to reduce the IRS by 25,000 people. It was about one-third of the entire IRS.

“When, literally overnight, you lose that many people, you’re losing leadership,” former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said when speaking to Mother Jones reporter Michael Mechanic in April 2025. “You really are disabling the IRS.”

Frank Bisignano, a former finance executive whom Trump named to a newly created “IRS CEO” role while also overseeing the Social Security Administration, had boasted in April that the cuts would not hurt operations. But Mencimer writes that her experience, along with IRS data and accounts from other taxpayers and professionals, suggests otherwise.

“You can’t get rid of 30 percent of your staff and expect to be functional,” said Traci DiMartini, a former IRS human capital officer who was laid off last year. “Things are starting to break.”

Members of Congress are now echoing those concerns. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement, “The Administration laid off close to a third of the IRS workforce, sabotaging its mission, and making it impossible to get someone on the phone to answer even the simplest of questions, let alone resolve issues. Yet this Administration refuses to acknowledge the predictable consequences of gutting an agency and keeps telling taxpayers not to believe what they are experiencing.”

The decline follows years of Republican efforts to shrink the IRS.

When the Biden administration took office, Democrats directed new funding to the agency to pursue wealthy tax dodgers and improve customer service. By the end of that term, the IRS had collected about $1.3 billion in unpaid taxes from high-income filers and had hired more customer-service staff — the very people Mencimer could not reach.

Under Biden, IRS call performance improved: in 2024, the agency answered more than 1 million additional calls during filing season than the year before and cut the average hold time from 28 minutes to 3 minutes, according to IRS data. Those gains have largely disappeared under Trump.

“It’s infinitely worse in 2026 than it was in 2025,” New Jersey tax attorney Richard Champion told Mother Jones. He represents low-income taxpayers in tax court and says he now has at least four or five cases where he is “just stymied” because he cannot get through by phone.

Experts across the board report the same problem: taxpayers cannot reach a live person, much less get help setting up payment plans. Wait times now average about 45 minutes, and many calls are disconnected.

The nonprofit Center for Taxpayer Rights (CTR) conducted its own testing this year and found that government measurements showed IRS phone wait times increased more than 70 percent in 2026, even though the agency received 50 percent fewer calls on its main 1040 help line than the previous year. CTR testers found that nearly 40 percent of calls to various IRS numbers were disconnected.

Online access has also deteriorated. When Mencimer logged into her IRS account, she repeatedly saw a message: “Account features limited due to partial outage. While you can still access your account, some features are unavailable, including account balance and payment history.” She checked for a month and never could view her details.

Biden’s administration had allocated funds to modernize IRS IT systems, but Trump cut the IT office by 40 percent. The Taxpayer Advocate Service, which helps people navigate the bureaucracy, was also reduced.

Mencimer’s next step was to contact her congresswoman, but as a D.C. resident without a voting member of Congress, she assumed no one would intervene. Her last resort was snail mail. But the IRS mailroom has been hit as hard as IT.

“According to a recent report by the Taxpayer Advocate, the number of unprocessed correspondence and amended returns languishing at the IRS jumped from 3.8 million in 2025 to 7 million this year,” Mencimer wrote. “And that was before all the people like you were sending in letters,” said CTR’s Nina Olson.

Despite the deteriorating service, the Treasury Department said about 8,000 new hires could be added through September — a small fraction of the tens of thousands of positions eliminated.

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A Social Security advocacy organization on Thursday blasted the Trump administration for covering up damaging information contained in an inspector general report released in December.

According to The Washington Post, a report from the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) inspector general (IG) about call wait times for beneficiaries was altered to make it seem as though wait times to speak to representatives had been reduced to under 10 minutes per call.

“An unpublished draft of the report... showed that the inspector general had planned to report another metric—called the ‘total wait time’—to measure the overall time it takes for callers to be connected with an SSA employee,” the Post explained. “According to that draft report, in 2025 total wait time averaged 46 minutes to over two hours.”

The Post added that this “information was deleted from the draft after the agency reviewed it before publication.”

Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, responded to the report by saying that “now we know why [President Donald] Trump fired the inspector general at Social Security,” noting that the SSA IG was one of several fired across multiple agencies at the start of Trump’s second term.

Altman then argued that the attack on inspectors general was part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle government transparency all together.

“Inspectors general are the American peoples’ eyes and ears in these agencies,” said Altman. “The Trump administration is undermining that oversight at every turn. Under this administration, the IG has no ability to conduct independent oversight. There is no meaningful check on the Trump administration’s Social Security sabotage.”

Democratic communications consultant Jesse Lee linked the damage to the SSA documented in the draft IG report to efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which went on a firing spree of federal workers last year.

“So DOGE did a smash and grab at the Social Security Administration, breaking into the most sensitive data, firing phone and in-person case workers,” Lee wrote. “Trump appointee waved around an IG report claiming wait times were fine—after burying the real report saying they were up to two hours.”

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10/16/2025

Kyle Mantyla

Robert McCoy @ The New Republic: Trump Plots to Use IRS to Go After His Enemies—and All Liberal Groups

The Trump administration is already drawing up a list of targets.

Trump Plots to Use IRS to Go After His Enemies—and All Liberal Groups

The Trump administration is already drawing up a list of targets.

IFrame Content

The Trump administration is devising a new plan to weaponize the government against his political opponents. This time, his team seeks to mold the Internal Revenue Service into a cudgel to be wielded against the left, and is already putting together a list of targets, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

Under the plan, MAGA allies would be installed at the IRS criminal investigative division, where they would “exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations.” Spearheading the plan is IRS official Gary Shapley, who, according to WSJ sources, has expressed the possibility of taking the place of the IRS veteran currently heading the investigative unit.

He also reportedly has been compiling “a list of donors and groups he believes IRS investigators should look at.” Possible targets include liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a long-standing boogeyman for the MAGA right, whom the DOJ is reportedly investigating as Trump has called for him to be jailed.

The new IRS plot was conceived after “a separate effort to strip tax-exempt status from certain nonprofits” wasn’t yielding sufficient results for the administration, per the report.

As the Tax Law Center notes, federal law prohibits many government officials, particularly those in the executive branch, from directly or indirectly requesting that a taxpayer be audited or investigated. Such guardrails were strengthened after President Richard Nixon sought to weaponize the IRS against his enemies—abuses detailed in the second article of impeachment against him.

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Gary Allen Shapley Jr. was born in December 1977.^[1] He graduated from Norwich High School. Shapley attended Binghamton University and later volunteered for the National Civilian Community Corps. He later graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and business administration and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Baltimore.^[2]

Career

IRS Criminal Investigation agent (2009–2025)

Shapley began working in the IRS Criminal Investigation in July 2009.^[2] He oversaw the agency's investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of president Joe Biden. Shapley publicly alleged that the Department of Justice had "slow-walked" the investigation into the younger Biden in an interview with CBS News in May 2023.^[3] Michael Batdorf, the director of field operations at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), claimed that he removed Shapley and his team from the Biden case in December 2022 after David C. Weiss, who oversaw the Biden investigation at the Department of Justice, believed that Shapley could not "remain objective in the investigation";^[4] handwritten notes from Shapley released by Politico in September revealed that he had concerns over Weiss beginning in October 2022.^[5] Biden sued the IRS, him, and Ziegler that month over alleged violations of privacy.^[6] He testified before the House Committee on Ways and Means about the investigation into Biden in June.^[7] His testimony was used by Republicans to critique Weiss's claim that he had independence in his special counsel investigation.^[8] Shapley testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform the following month alongside Joseph Ziegler, alleging political bias in Weiss's investigation.^[9] He and Ziegler spoke with the Committee on Ways and Means in December, after the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden began.^[10]

Deputy Chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation (2025–present)

In March 2025, secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent promoted Shapley and Ziegler to senior advisors^[11] to investigate the IRS, including alleged misconduct in the Biden case.^[12] Shapley was named as deputy chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation.^[13]

Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue

On April 15, 2025, president Donald Trump named Shapley as the acting commissioner of internal revenue to succeed Melanie Krause, who resigned after administration officials sought to enjoin the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)'s data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.^[14] That day, Trump had asked the IRS to revoke Harvard University's tax exemption.^[15] On April 18, Trump replaced Shapley with Michael Faulkender, the deputy secretary of the treasury, amid a struggle between secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent and Elon Musk. According to The New York Times, Bessent was unaware that Shapley was named acting commissioner.^[16]

References

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Trump signed a memorandum Thursday directing the federal government to investigate and dismantle “domestic terrorism networks.”

The move appears targeted at left-leaning progressive nonprofit groups, which Trump days ago vowed to dismantle, falsely claiming they fund and support political violence and terrorism in the U.S.

The memo directs the FBI’s National Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to go after “anti-fascist” movements in the U.S.

“This ‘anti-fascist’ lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties,” the memo reads.

Trump signed the memo shortly after the New York Times reported that the Department of Justice directed several U.S. attorneys offices across the country to open investigations into the Open Society Foundations, a progressive grant network founded by Democratic megadonor George Soros.

Asked what specific people or organizations the memo seeks to target, Trump named Soros, who Republicans have long claimed without evidence funds violent protests in the U.S.

“Soros is a name certainly that I keep hearing,” Trump said. “I don’t know. Soros is a name that I hear.”

Trump earlier this month asserted Soros must be “jailed” because “he’s a bad guy,” while Vice President JD Vance baselessly claimed that Soros and the Open Society Foundations pay “the salaries of terrorist sympathizers” and “promote violence and terrorism.”

The Open Society Foundations in a statement to Democracy Docket said the Trump administration’s “accusations are politically motivated attacks on civil society, meant to silence speech the administration disagrees with and undermine the First Amendment right to free speech.

“When power is abused to take away the rights of some people, it puts the rights of all people at risk,” it added.

“The Open Society Foundations unequivocally condemn terrorism and do not fund terrorism. Our activities are peaceful and lawful, and our grantees are expected to abide by human rights principles and comply with the law.”

“Our work in the United States is solely dedicated to strengthening democracy and upholding constitutional freedoms. We stand by the work we do to improve lives in the United States and across the world.”

Trump also named LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, one of the largest donors to the Democratic Party. Hoffman founded the Aphorism Foundation, a California-based private grantmaking group that focuses on noncontroversial causes such as supporting universities and hospitals.

Through a separate nonprofit, Hoffman provided financial support for writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault lawsuit against Trump.

In terms of specific actions, Thursday’s memo ordered the commissioner of the IRS “to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism.”

“In addition, where applicable, the Commissioner shall ensure that the [IRS] refers such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution,” the memo reads.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has repeatedly threatened to strip left-leaning organizations of their tax exemptions.

Federal law bars senior executive branch officials from directing the IRS, which is currently headed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an acting capacity, to audit any taxpayer or nonprofit organization.

However, the Trump administration could create pretext triggering an IRS audit through several different means.

The White House has repeatedly attempted to link the recent murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to progressive causes and groups. The effort has heightened fears that Trump and his allies seek to exploit the killing to further attack institutions that power the political left.

The Trump administration has also specifically targeted the Ford Foundation, another progressive philanthropic organization.

Earlier this week, Trump signed a separate memo claiming to designate “antifa,” a leaderless and decentralized anti-fascist movement, as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

Trump and many of his fellow Republicans have long used antifa as a catch-all designation against protests or speech they disapprove of.

Senior White House officials Thursday claimed that large-scale nationwide protests in recent years, such as the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, were organized by unspecified organizations and amounted to terrorism.

“This is the first time in American history that there is an all-of-government effort to dismantle left-wing terrorism, to dismantle antifa, to dismantle the organizations that have been carrying out these acts of political violence and terrorism,” Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security advisor, said as the president signed the memo.

“Whether it be going back to the riots that started with Black Lives Matter and all the way through to the antifa riots, the attacks on [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers, the doxing campaign and now the political assassinations, these are not lone isolated events,” Miller added. “This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism.”

Miller recently referred to the Democratic Party as “not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.”

*This breaking news story has been updated with additional details throughout.

Next Up

DOJ Obeys Trump, Indicts Comey Days After Order to Pursue President’s Foes

Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on two criminal counts days after President Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue his perceived enemies more aggressively.

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8 12 FIRED BILLY LONG IRS FOR NOT GIVING UP ALL DATA ON IMMIGRAnts?

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Some Americans who have vivid memories of Watergate — including former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks and 1970s Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — aren't shy about saying that when it comes to attacking democracy and the rule of law, President Donald Trump is much worse than the late President Richard Nixon. Trump, according to those Watergate-era veterans, has crossed lines that Nixon wouldn't cross.

In an article published by National Public Radio (NPR) on May 12, reporter Scott Horsley describes a parallel between Trump and Nixon: a willingness to use the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against political adversaries.

"From utilizing tax data to trace immigrants without legal status to threatening Harvard University's tax exemption, President Trump has been trying to use the IRS for his own political purposes, in ways that may seem unprecedented," Horsley explains. "But they're not. Former President Richard Nixon laid the groundwork more than four decades ago, when he tried to use the tax collector to punish his enemies and assist his friends….. Nixon was angry at universities for not cracking down on Vietnam War protesters; Trump has similarly complained about Harvard and other Ivy League schools not doing more to silence protests against the war in Gaza, amid an administration crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses."

Trump, according to Horsley, is "drawing on Nixon's old playbook, despite laws put in place after Watergate to prevent that kind of meddling by the White House."

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Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, told NPR, "One of the things that Nixon did consider was threatening the tax-exemptions of universities. And that sounds very familiar if you're reading the paper these days…. Nixon tried very hard to misuse the IRS. Congress certainly saw that as a danger afterwards."

Thorndike continued, "If the president is developing enemies lists and sending them to the IRS and essentially saying, 'I want you to audit all these people I don't like,' that's worrisome. And so, Congress was very interested in preventing that."

Oval Office recordings from 1971, Horsley notes, "reveal how Nixon sought to install a hand-picked enforcer at the IRS to do his political bidding."

Nixon, in 1971, said, "I want to be sure he's a ruthless son of a bitch, that he will do what he's told. That every income tax return I want to see, I see. That he'll go after our enemies and not go after our friends. It's as simple as that."

*Read the full NPR article at this link.

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WILL LOSE 4X WHAT DOGE CLAIMED TO SAVE?!

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see crew attack 4 25

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aha in doge coup 2025, trump musk going after any opponent in the way of implementing his agenda/will by doing it IN THE NAME OF, using pretext of, acting in the name of some cherished value like civil rights when he is in fact doing the opposite, dismantling DEI. bad faith jiu jitsu? // projection/rubber glue, self defense? THEY used weaponization/ lawfare against me, so its only fair they should be punished/vanquished by their own bad actions/ taste of own medicine

TRUMP ATTACK HARVARD IN THE NAME OF ANTI-SEM

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An afternoon huddle at the White House revealed a double standard that President Donald Trump does not mind wielding against organizations that cross him.

“In your first term, your attorney general apologized to Tea Party groups targeted by the IRS in the Obama administration,” said one reporter. “Why is it OK for the IRS to change the tax status of Harvard because of a policy disagreement you have with that university?” He added, “If that was wrong why are you considering changing the tax status of Harvard?

“Because I think Harvard is a disgrace,” Trump said. “I think what they did was a disgrace. They’re obviously antisemitic. And all of the sudden they’re starting to behave. But when you see where they—what they were saying, what they were doing — when you see the way they took care of events— when you watch that woman, that horrendous president that ruined the image of Harvard, maybe permanently, in the halls of Congress. When you take a look at what happened there, it was horrific.”

Trump was unclear about the particulars of how Harvard “behaved,” or “what they were saying” and “doing.” And he offered no details on “the way they took care of events,” or seemingly that “woman” who is a “horrendous president.” Alan M. Garber is the current (male) president of Havard who soundly rejected Trump’s demand to jettison diversity programs and accept a political commissar to act as an adjunct of the federal government in Harvard business and education matters.

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In the same breath, Trump tried to distance himself from his own recent call to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, however.

“… I’ve looked at—a lot having to do with it—I’m not involved in it,” he added abruptly. “It’s being handled by lawyers. I’ve read about it, just like you did, but tax-exempt status is a privilege and it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard.”

While personally denying his direct influence in the removal of Harvard’s tax status, Trump also promised he would be directing the IRS to investigate and possibly remove the tax-exempt status of certain non-profits who have angered him, particularly immigrant rights groups and environmental groups. A different reporter asked if he would like to see tax-exempt status removed from, “Immigrant rights groups? Environmental groups?”

READ MORE:['Treasonous fool': JD Vance challenged over 'insane fabrication' about Biden administration

“Could be. Could be. I mean, look, environmental — I have a group named Crew. Crew. Ever hear of it? I think it is c-r-e-w. And they have — the guy who heads Crew — it’s supposed to be a charitable organization, and the only charity they had is going after Donald Trump, so we’re looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things.”

Trump could possibly be planning to target the non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) anti-corruption non-profit, or CREW Land & Water Trust, which is a non-profit land trust in southwest Florida working to preserve the 60,000-acre watershed for water, wildlife and public use. If so, the announcement may not be a surprise coming from an administration seeking to significantly limit the Endangered Species Act's power to preserve wildlife habitats by changing the definition of one word: harm.

Watch the videos below, or by[clicking this link.

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Following years of right-wing media attacks, the Trump admin is gutting the IRS to benefit the ultrawealthy

Conservative pundits have spread conspiracy theories about armed IRS agents to undermine the tax-collecting agency

Written by John Knefel

Published 03/12/25

Right-wing media figures have spent years attacking the Internal Revenue Service, including spreading conspiracy theories about armed agents targeting conservatives. Now, President Donald Trump is gutting the agency in a move that experts say will benefit the richest of the rich in the United States.

According to The Washington Post, the IRS’ “burgeoning efforts to more closely inspect the taxes of some of the country’s richest people and most powerful companies are stalling because of layoffs imposed by the Trump administration."

The Post went on to report that the IRS had fired “7 percent of its roughly 100,000-person workforce in February, including at least 5,000 in the enforcement and collections divisions,” and that “tax experts say the cuts undermine the agency’s much-touted effort to crack down on wealthier Americans — who for years have faced slimmer and slimmer odds of being audited."

The Trump administration’s hobbling of the agency follows years of attacks on the IRS by right-wing media — most notably by spreading a myth that the Biden administration was planning to hire 87,000 armed agents to investigate and persecute conservatives. A Biden-era law did increase funding for the IRS, but didn’t specify the number of new employees and certainly didn’t mandate that they carry weapons. The false number comes from a Treasury Department report that suggested how many total employees the IRS could hire over 10 years to “maintain current levels,” according to PolitiFact. And, crucially, the new hires were tasked with investigating high-income tax avoiders.

Right-wing media attacked Biden-era funding for IRS to go after wealthy tax cheats

In August 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, adding $80 billion to the IRS’ budget to go after wealthy tax cheats. That month, Fox News repeated the falsehood that the IRA added 87,000 IRS agents more than 200 times, including at least 40 instances of falsely saying the agents would be armed.

Host Laura Ingraham said the IRS was the “new Gestapo,” and host Brian Kilmeade claimed “Joe Biden’s new army” is going to “hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers.” (In fact, then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin instructed the IRS not to increase audits for filers making less than $400,000 annually.)

Former Fox News marquee star Tucker Carlson repeated the armed-agents conspiracy theory at least 9 times, in one instance telling his audience Biden was hiring “87,000 armed IRS agents to make sure you obey.” Earlier that month, Carlson falsely claimed that the IRS was being used “as a military agency."

Turning Point USA founder and MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk said on his radio show that the “87,000 new IRS agents will be used to go after mom-and-pop restaurants, donors to MAGA candidates, people like you,” and that their assignment was to target “dissidents."

Fox ignored IRS collection of back taxes from the wealthy — while demonizing immigrants

The attacks continued throughout the rest of Biden’s term. In January 2023, right-wing outlets rehashed the 87,000 armed-agents myth as House Republicans voted to slash IRS funding. That fall, conservative pundits cheered on newly minted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s attempts to cut IRS funding. On November 20, Ingraham again accused the IRS of “targeting conservative groups."

In February 2024, Fox News almost entirely ignored a report from the IRS and the Treasury Department that found the agency was “poised to take in hundreds of billions of dollars more in overdue and unpaid taxes than previously anticipated,” according to The Associated Press. As Media Matters reported at the time, Fox spent only 5 minutes discussing the report — which estimated the government would be able to collect $56 billion per year over 10 years — and 55 minutes criticizing a New York City program to provide migrants with prepaid credit cards that cost $53 million.

Right-wing media pushed tax avoidance for the ultra-rich, austerity for the working class

The long-running right-wing media campaign against the IRS has always had one clear goal: to protect the ultrawealthy from IRS enforcement. The Trump administration is now realizing that goal. The recent Washington Post article reported that a West Virginia revenue agent said some of the recently “laid-off employees had about 40 cases between them, each looking at people making $400,000 or more.” Some reports now estimate that the Trump administration could ultimately fire half of the IRS’ 100,000 person workforce.

The programs that Trump is eviscerating have already been successful. As of last July, the IRS had collected more than $1 billion in back taxes from wealthy individuals and families. Right-wing media figures have cheered on these cuts, which will primarily benefit rich tax cheats, as they simultaneously push for austerity measures for the working class.

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MMA CHS PAYNE IRS GESTAPO BS FOX BIZ 1 25

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The Family Research Council is a conservative advocacy group with a “biblical worldview.” While it has a church ministries department that works with churches from several evangelical Christian denominations that share its perspectives, it does not represent a single denomination. Although its activities are primarily focused on policy, advocacy, government lobbying and public communication, the Internal Revenue Service granted the council’s application to be treated as “an association of churches” in 2020.

Concerned that the IRS had erred in allowing the council and similar groups to be designated churches or associations of churches, Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent the Treasury secretary and the IRS commissioner letters in 2022 and 2024 expressing alarm. The House Democrats pointed to what appeared to be “abuse” of the tax code and asked the IRS to “determine whether existing guidance is sufficient to prevent abuse and what resources or Congressional actions are needed.”

As a professor of nonprofit law, I believe some groups that aren’t churches or associations of churches want to be designated that way to avoid the scrutiny being a charitable organization otherwise requires. At the same time, some other groups that should qualify as churches may have difficulty doing so because of the IRS’ outdated test for that status.

Together with my colleague Ellen P. Aprill, I recently published a paper outlining two main arguments in favor of revising the federal government’s definitions of churches as they pertain to tax law.

No 990s means less scrutiny

All charitable nonprofits, including churches, get the same basic benefits under federal tax law. This means they don’t have to pay taxes on their revenue and that donors can deduct the value of their gifts from their taxable income – as long as they itemize deductions on their tax return.

Unlike other tax-exempt charities, churches don’t have to file 990 forms. That means the public does not have access to churches’ staff pay, board membership and funding details, which are in this publicly available tax form that all other charities must complete every year. The availability of 990 forms enhances the transparency and accountability of the nonprofit sector.

And churches and associations of churches are unlikely to get audited by the IRS. Federal law requires that a senior IRS official “reasonably believes” the church or association has violated federal tax rules before beginning an investigation. This means that an official must have reason to believe the organization has violated federal tax law before obtaining any information from the organization.

This standard is higher than what’s needed before an audit can begin for all other tax-exempt organizations and indeed all taxpayers. For everyone else, the IRS is free to begin an examination based only on a suspicion of a violation or even based on random selection.

Also, unlike other tax-exempt charities, churches and church associations are automatically eligible for their tax-exempt status. They don’t have to apply for it.

Why churches get special treatment

Congress has passed laws granting churches and what it calls “integrated auxiliaries” and “conventions or associations of churches” special protections because the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom.

Churches include houses of worship ranging in size from a handful of parishioners to megachurches with 10,000 or more people attending weekly services. Houses of worship of all faiths, including synagogues, mosques and temples, count as churches, according to the IRS.

Integrated auxiliaries are church schools and other organizations affiliated with churches or conventions and primarily supported by internal church sources, as opposed to by the public or government.

Conventions or associations of churches are organizations that have houses of worship from either a single denomination or from multiple denominations as their members. Most denominational bodies, such as the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are likely conventions or associations of churches, although the IRS does not publish a list of such entities.

Not every religious nonprofit belongs in one of these categories.

For example, the University of Notre Dame, where I teach law students and conduct legal research, and World Vision, a global humanitarian group, are both religious organizations that do not fall into any of these categories. This makes sense, because Notre Dame and World Vision are primarily engaged in activities other than fostering a religious congregation or coordinating the activities of churches within a single denomination.

The IRS has long relied on a 14-factor test to distinguish churches from the other religious nonprofits. Examples of those factors include having ordained ministers, a formal doctrine, a distinct membership and a regular congregation attending religious services.

It’s not necessary for all the factors to apply to pass this test.

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Yet for almost as long, courts have been uncomfortable with this test because it draws heavily on the traditional characteristics of Protestant Christian churches, as the U.S. Court of Federal Claims explained in a 2009 ruling. This system therefore may be a poor fit for houses of worship of other faiths, especially given the increasing diversity of faith communities.

These courts have instead adopted an “associational test.” It focuses on whether the organization’s congregants hold religious services on a regular basis and gather in person on other occasions.

With the growth of virtual and televised religious services, an update of this test is overdue.

Proposed solutions

Aprill and I recommend that the IRS change its definition for churches to the associational one adopted by some courts in rulings as early as 1980. As the U.S. Court of Federal Claims explained in that 2009 ruling, this test focuses on whether a body of believers assembles regularly to worship. Given technological advances, the IRS should also make it clear that this test can be satisfied through remote participation in religious services using interactive, teleconferencing apps such as Zoom.

This definition would be also better suited for congregations of all faiths because some faiths do not prioritize many of the factors included in the IRS test, such as having a formal code of doctrine or requiring members to not be associated with other houses of worship or faiths. And it would better reflect how some Americans participate in religious services today.

We recommend that the IRS revisit its test for being a church and that Congress pass a law that would change the definition of church associations. The new law could limit associations of churches to organizations that represent a single denomination, as Congress likely initially intended.

This latter change would make it harder for religious organizations that are primarily involved in bringing churches from multiple faiths together to engage in advocacy or other activities to obtain this status and the lack of transparency and accountability that come with it. We believe Congress, not the IRS, should make this change because of the potential political tensions that narrowing the definition could create.

We don’t think the changes would impinge upon the special role that churches have in our society. Indeed, the revised test for qualifying as a church would better fit with both the increasing variety of faiths in our country and technological advancements.

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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At least 27 House Republicans are urging President-elect Donald Trump to end the Internal Revenue Service's Direct File program as soon as he returns to the White House and begins his second term. But Direct File also has plenty of supporters, including MSNBC's Hayes Brown.

In an opinion column published on December 15, Brown argues that House Republicans have a motivation for wanting to abolish Direct File: making it more "painful" for Americans to file their taxes.

"In the fall of 2023, the Internal Revenue Service announced a pilot program that would allow some Americans to file their taxes directly to the agency — for free," Brown explains. "The Direct File service managed to go against at least a half-dozen federal government stereotypes: it was new and novel in a system that loathes change, it allowed people to be more efficient with their time, and the people who used it this past tax season had plenty of good things to say about their experience."

READ MORE:[New Kristi Noem proposal would fund Christian ‘segregation academies’

Brown adds, "In May, the IRS said the program would be expanded and made permanent. But of course, there are Republicans who would like nothing more than to strangle a popular government initiative in its cradle."

According to Brown, House Republicans who oppose Direct File believe that abolishing the program will make it easier for their party to carry out tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

"The more friction in the system, the more visible of a target the IRS becomes for average Americans," Brown explains. "The more people who are frustrated with the IRS, the better their case for cutting even more taxes for the wealthy. It also doesn't hurt to be in the good graces of massive tax preparation companies like Intuit, which have spent years and millions of dollars to ensure that filing taxes is as painful a process as possible. Among the reforms they blocked was a plan to go further than Direct File, letting many taxpayers file pre-populated forms for free."

Brown continues, "The net effect is that there's no upside to murdering Direct File ahead of tax season beyond making the federal government less responsive and useful in the eyes of Americans. Republicans can falsely claim that they're trying to save taxpayers' money from the clutches of the IRS. It's clear what they're really trying to claw back is a massive refund of Americans’ time and energy in the name of making everything a little bit worse."

READ MORE:['Trump ’28': Bannon calls for third term

*Hayes Brown's full MSNBC opinion column is available at this link.

ref 1 biz insider

IRS has gradually rolled out a program to allow Americans to directly file taxes with the IRS.
It's designed to make filing taxes simpler and easier.
A group of Republicans want Donald Trump to end it, saying it's government overreach.

More than two dozen House Republicans are asking President-elect Donald Trump to terminate the Internal Revenue Service's free direct tax-filing system as soon as day one of his presidency.

Republican Reps. Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Chuck Edwards of North Carolina sent a letter to the president-elect on Tuesday urging him to end the program via executive order, saying it posed a "threat to taxpayers' freedom from government overreach."

The letter was signed by 27 other Republicans and is also addressed to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leads of the Department of Government Efficiency.

The program came about as the result of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $15 million in funding to study the creation of a website allowing Americans to directly file their taxes to the IRS for free. That led to the rollout of a pilot program that was available in 12 states last year and is set to expand to 24 states in 2025.

A spokesperson for the IRS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many Americans rely on tax-prep companies such as TurboTax and H&R Block to do their taxes each year. The new program is designed to compete with those programs and make filing easier and less costly for Americans.

Smith and Edwards argued in their letter that the program represented a conflict of interest for the IRS — that the agency shouldn't be in charge of both assessing taxes and enforcing them. The duo wrote that the agency "has little incentive to ensure hardworking Americans do not pay more than they owe in taxes."

They also cast the free Direct File program as an example of the "weaponization of government against Americans," a long-standing focus of Trump and the MAGA-aligned right.

It's unclear whether Trump will take the lawmakers up on their request, and the Trump-Vance transition didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republicans have broadly sought to roll back the $80 billion in additional funding for the IRS that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act, saying it will be used to enable the agency to target conservatives and ordinary taxpayers.

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MOFO BIZZARROWORLD

Smith, Edwards, Colleagues Call for Day-One Elimination of IRS Direct File

December 10, 2024

Press Release

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Chuck Edwards (R-NC) along with 27 House colleagues sent a letter asking President Trump to immediately end the IRS' unlawful Direct File pilot program upon taking office in January. Copies of the letter were addressed to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump's selections to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as well as Treasury Secretary-Designee Scott Bessent, and Trump's selection to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought.

Cosigners of the letter include:

Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Carol Miller (R-WV), Mark Alford (R-MO), Rick Allen (R-GA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Mike Carey (R-OH), Ron Estes (R-KS), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Kevin Hern (R-OK) Erin Houchin (R-IN), Young Kim (R-CA), David Kustoff (R-TN), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Greg Murphy (R-NC), August Pfluger (R-TX), Keith Self (R-TX), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Greg Steube (R-FL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), William Timmons (R-SC), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Steve Womack (R-AR), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY)

In the letter the members said:

"We write to urge you to take immediate action, including a day-one executive order, to end the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) unauthorized and wasteful Direct File pilot program. The program’s creation and ongoing expansion pose a threat to taxpayers’ freedom from government overreach, and its shaky rollout and structural flaws have already come at a steep price.

...

"This is deeply concerning and a clear conflict of interest.

...

"Under the Biden-Harris administration, the IRS has undertaken an aggressive expansion of its influence, fueled by the exorbitant $80 billion provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, in which it has repeatedly overstepped its authority and targeted hardworking Americans with audits...Even prior, the IRS has a long record of abusing its authority to target political opponents.

How can we entrust the IRS to responsibly prepare and enforce taxes when it has encroached on Americans’ individual liberties at every opportunity? And how can we trust future administrations to not do as the Biden-Harris administration has done in wielding the IRS as a tool to silence political opponents and control private citizens? We should act now to end Direct File to protect Americans from further overreach.

...

"Instead of Direct File, the IRS should be focused on improving its functionality and service to American taxpayers. Under the Biden-Harris administration, Americans experienced significant delays in receiving their tax returns, and the agency has failed to reduce the federal deficit despite the bloated enforcement funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency’s existing issues will only be compounded by an expanded Direct File venture..."

Read the full letter here.

BACKGROUND:

Smith and Edwards introduced legislation in July of this year to terminate the IRS’s unauthorized Direct File program. Smith also introduced legislation, passed by the House in January 2023, to repeal the Biden-Harris administration’s $80 billion IRS expansion.

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As the 2024 election draws closer, U.S. tax policy will be among the many issues debated by Republicans and Democrats.

On Monday, June 17, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), CNBC reports, released a plan they say would "close a major tax loophole" and raise an estimated $50 million in tax revenue over the next ten years.

CNBC's Kate Dore reports that the plan targets "related party basis shifting," which Dore describes as a process in which "single businesses operating through different legal entities trade original purchase prices on assets to take more deductions or reduce future gains."

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, on June 14, told reporters, "These tax shelters allow wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying what they owe."

According to Dore, the plan would ramp up IRS efforts to increase audits for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.

In an official statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said of the plan, "Treasury and the IRS are focused on addressing high-end tax abuse from all angles, and the proposed rules released today will increase tax fairness and reduce the deficit."

Similarly, Lael Brainard, a White House National Economic Council advisor, said, "We should ensure ultra-wealthy taxpayers pay what they owe and play by the same rules by maintaining the president's investment in the IRS."

*Read CNBC's full report at this link.

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Internal Revenue Service (IRS) got an appropriation of much-needed funds to address its backlog and ramp up enforcement. And this week, the agency made it clear who it intended to target with its new resources.

CBS reported Thursday that the IRS is rolling out plans for a "new wave of audits" focused on three specific groups of federal tax filers. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act's $80 billion in additional IRS funding over the next 10 years, agents will now have the ability to zero in on large corporations and the super-rich. The agency is emphasizing that filers who make less than $400,000 per year — the vast bulk of ordinary Americans — will not see any increased enforcement action.

"It sets an important tone and message for complex filers, high-wealth filers, that this is our focus area," IRS commissioner Danny Werfel said.

Werfel identified three primary categories of federal tax filers who will be subjected to increased enforcement activity in the coming years: Large corporations with assets greater than $250 million, large partnerships with assets in excess of $10 million and wealthy individuals who have more than $10 million in total positive income per year.

Audit rates for large corporations, for example, will nearly from 8.8% of returns audited in 2019 to almost 23% by 2026. Over that same time period, Werfel said IRS audits will increase on wealthy partnerships from 0.1% to 1% — a tenfold increase. Its audit rate of super-rich individual tax filers is due to see a 50% increase, from 11% five years ago to 16.5% in the next two tax years.

"There is no new wave of audits coming from middle- and low-income [individuals], coming from mom and pops," Werfel emphasized. "That's not in our plans."

The IRS commissioner also insisted that fears over a supposed armed force of 87,000 new IRS agents over the next decade were overblown and mischaracterized. Werfel told CBS that "any lingering myths about a supersized IRS" were untrue, as the new hires were meant to account for attrition. In recent years, the agency has been experiencing an exodus of agents due to retirement, and has not had the funding to replace them until recently. He added that even with the new agents joining the IRS, its staff numbers were still far lower than they were in the 1980s and 1990s.

Earlier this year, funding woes within the IRS were highlighted in a Washington Post report about the agency being unable to catch up with wealthy individuals who had gone for several years without filing any tax returns. According to the Post, there were roughly 25,000 taxpayers who made more than $1 million in income who hadn't filed a federal tax return in at least one year between 2017 and 2022. An estimated 100,000 other filers making at least $400,000 also didn't file a return over that five-year window.

In those instances, the IRS sends a notice of a missed return, prompting a taxpayer to either file one voluntarily or have the agency file one on their behalf. In the latter instance, the agency has the ability to assess a federal tax payment and levy the payment directly from an individual's bank account if they still refuse to send a payment.

"When people don’t file their taxes, they need to know there’s a consequence," Werfel said.

*Read CBS' full report by clicking here

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top executives at dozens of major, profitable U.S. businesses received more in total compensation in recent years than their companies paid in federal taxes, underscoring the twin outrages of skyrocketing CEO pay and rampant corporate tax dodging.

A report published Wednesday by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) identifies 35 profitable U.S. corporations that paid their top executives more than they paid the federal government in taxes between 2018 and 2022. The list of companies includes Ford, Netflix, NextEra Energy, and Tesla—whose CEO, Elon Musk, is the second richest man in the world.

ATF and IPS found 64 companies that paid their top five executives more than they paid in taxes in at least two of the five years examined.

Tesla, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies and loans, paid nothing in federal taxes during the period examined by the new report, as the electric car company carried forward losses from previous years to offset the $4.4 billion in U.S. profits it made between 2018 and 2022—the first five years of the Trump-GOP tax law that slashed rates for the rich and corporations.

Additionally, the report points to Tesla's apparent use of "accounting schemes" such as "shifting American profits to offshore tax havens."

Meanwhile, in 2018, Tesla's board gave Musk a staggering $2.28 billion pay package, which was at the time "the largest compensation plan in public corporate history." (In 2021, the ratio of Musk's compensation and that of the median Tesla employee was roughly 18,000 to 1.)

"In the intervening years, with the rise in the price of Tesla shares, the value of those options has grown to an eye-watering $56 billion. It became so outlandish as compensation for a single individual that a court in corporate-friendly Delaware struck it down," the new report notes. "Even if that decision survives appeal, whatever Tesla winds up paying Musk will still be more than it pays Uncle Sam."

The other profitable companies that paid their top executives more than they paid in taxes during the five-year study period were T-Mobile, American International Group, Duke Energy, DISH Network, Principal Financial, Metlife, American Electric Power, Kinder Morgan, Dominion Energy, Oneok, Williams, Xcel Energy, FirstEnergy, NRG Energy, Salesforce, DTE Energy, Ameren, Sempra Energy, United States Steel, Entergy, AmerisourceBergen, PPL, CMS Energy, Evergy, Voya Financial, Darden Restaurants, Atmos Energy, Alliant Energy, Match Group, UGI, and Agilent Technologies.

"America's working families are cheated twice when major corporations pay too little to the federal government in taxes while paying too much to their top executives."

The new report argues it is "no coincidence" that companies notorious for paying little to nothing in federal taxes despite massive profits also grant their executives huge pay packages.

"Executives are rewarded for 'tax efficiency'—the euphemism for corporate tax dodging—which is often an easier way to raise profits than by creating goods and services more customers want to buy," the report notes. "And compliant corporate boards have more money to throw around the executive suite when their firms pay less in taxes."

CEOs are often able to make use of so-called "top hat" plans that allow them to set aside unlimited sums, tax-free, for retirement.

David Kass, ATF's executive director, said that "both kinds of corporate misbehavior—underpaying taxes and overpaying executives—ultimately make working families the victim through smaller paychecks and diminished public services."

Thanks to cuts to the corporate tax rate and persistent loopholes, the effective U.S. corporate tax rate has declined sharply in recent decades, falling from around 50% in the 1950s to 17% in 2022—depriving the government of revenue that could be used for key domestic priorities, from healthcare to housing to environmental protection.

"America's working families are cheated twice when major corporations pay too little to the federal government in taxes while paying too much to their top executives in lavish compensation packages," the study argues.

The report estimates that hiking the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% would bring in $1.3 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade.

ATF and IPS also point to the "wealth of proposals" in Congress aimed at reining in out-of-control CEO pay. Earlier this year, progressive lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation that would hike taxes on corporations that pay their top executives over 50 times more than their median workers.

The bill's supporters estimate that it could raise up to $150 billion over 10 years.

"For corporations to reward a handful of top executives more than they are contributing to the cost of all the public services needed for our economy to thrive reflects the deep flaws in our public regulation of corporations," said ATF and IPS. "Rather than more tax breaks, Congress should focus on addressing these deficiencies by cracking down on the use of tax havens, eliminating wasteful corporate subsidies, and closing loopholes that further enrich wealthy corporate executives."

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4/23

Right-wing media have spent more than a year demanding IRS cuts that House Republicans are looking to accelerate | Media Matters for America

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Right-wing media support IRS cuts even though experts say it would add to the deficit | Media Matters for America

In his first week as speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and the House GOP proposed a contentious funding bill that would finance aid to Israel by diverting tax dollars allocated to the Internal Revenue Service in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. Budget experts have warned that the proposed funding cuts to the IRS will raise the deficit and decrease revenue. Yet numerous right-wing media figures have praised Johnson’s first act as speaker, expressing their support for the proposed bill, with former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich calling it a “brilliant move” that might establish Johnson as a “historical figure.” Right-wing figures have also used the bill as an opportunity to bash the IRS, fearmongering that a well-resourced tax collecting agency would use its budget to bully middle-class Americans.

## House GOP proposes cutting IRS funding to provide aid to Israel, which experts say would increase the national deficit

- Mike Johnson and the House GOP proposed a bill that would include $14.3 billion in emergency aid for Israel. The GOP proposal that passed the House would divert funds that were earmarked for the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law last year. NBC News, [10/30/23; CNN, 11/2/23]
- According to tax expert Howard Gleckman, IRS funding cuts “would actually increase the deficit.” Gleckman, who is a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, warned, “If you cut IRS funding [by $14 billion to $15 billion], you’re actually going to increase the deficit by about $30 billion.” The Hill, [11/1/23]
- The Congressional Budget Office also estimates that the GOP bill will add $26.8 billion to the budget deficit. According to NBC News, “The CBO found that the IRS cuts coupled with the Israel aid would lead to a $26.8 billion decline in revenue, contradicting the stated goal of offsetting the aid. The CBO and the Treasury Department have said the funds, if left intact, would lead to tougher IRS enforcement and the collection of more tax revenues.” NBC News, [11/1/23]

## Right-wing media have repeatedly fearmongered that a well-funded IRS would be weaponized against average Americans
- Right-wing media have spent years fearmongering that the Biden administration has emboldened the IRS to act as an “economic, financial militia against regular people.” Media Matters, [4/20/23; 8/8/22]
- According to a Media Matters study, Fox News falsely claimed over 200 times that the Inflation Reduction Act would add 87,000 employees to the IRS. In 2022, several Fox News hosts claimed that IRS agents were arming themselves to “grab all the cash they can by any means necessary,” and that the IRS was being used by Biden as a “new Gestapo.” Media Matters, [8/9/22, 8/9/22, 8/25/22]

## A number of right-wing media figures praised Johnson’s move, expressed support for the proposed bill, and attacked the IRS

- The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro on the proposed bill: “I’m very much in favor of that bill. I think the IRS should be cut. I think the IRS is a terrible organization.”Westwood One, *The Ben Shapiro Show,* [11/1/23]
- Right-wing radio host Michael Knowles called Johnson “a pretty clever guy” for engineering a proposal that acts as “a good wedge issue to hit the Democrats on.” “Either they’re going to vote with Israel and lose their base, or they’re going to vote against Israel and lose their donors,” Knowles added. *The Michael Knowles Show*, [11/1/23]
- Fox News contributor and former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich: “The bill does not increase the deficit, does not increase the debt ceiling, does not increase the inflation rate.” Gingrich also called Johnson’s proposal “a brilliant move,” adding that Johnson “may well become a historic figure in the first couple of weeks of his speakership.” When asked about President Biden’s intent to veto the bill, Gingrich said, “He’s pretty stupid.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/31/23]
- Fox host Mark Levin argued that the IRS funds from the Inflation Reduction Act are being used to “go after the middle class.” Levin asserted that the Biden administration aimed to tie Israel aid to “border money, but not to secure the border,” but instead to “hire more people, administrators to rubber stamp… and get more people in here faster and faster.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/31/23]
- Fox host Laura Ingraham said the proposal amounted to “some rays of hope breaking through the clouds in the DC swamp.” “Turns out common sense isn’t totally dead,” Ingraham added, before arguing that the Biden Administration intended to use IRS funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to “hire thousands of new agents who would essentially harass hard working Americans.” Fox News,*Ingraham Angle*, [10/31/23]
- Right-wing radio host Glenn Beck called the proposed bill a “very smart move.” Blaze Radio, *The Glenn Beck Program*, [10/31/23]

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Several major national news outlets are promoting House Republicans’ deceptive spin as the party seeks to leverage emergency funding for Israel to enact its top priority of protecting wealthy tax cheats.

President Joe Biden requested $105 billion in emergency supplemental funding earlier this month. His proposed package includes military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan; money to enhance U.S. border security; and humanitarian aid for Palestinian, Israeli, and Ukrainian civilians.

But in a Fox interview last week, newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he planned to split up the package and pass stand-alone Israel funds that would be offset by what he called “pay-fors in the budget.” Johnson explained, “We’re not just printing money to send it overseas. We’re going to find the cuts elsewhere to do that.” House Republicans released their bill on Monday, which pairs $14.3 billion for Israel with $14.3 billion in cuts from the enhanced funding for the Internal Revenue Service passed in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Crucially, this is neither a pay-for nor an offset in any real way but would actually lead to an increase in the deficit: The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the IRA’s $80 billion for the IRS over 10 years, which includes a boost to enforcement spending, would “yield $180 billion in additional revenue for a net savings of $100 billion.” Just last week, the IRS reported that the IRA funds had allowed it to launch a crackdown on wealthy tax cheats that had already brought it $160 million in back taxes.

But the right is violently opposed to the government forcing wealthy taxpayers to pay what they owe. Right-wing propagandists have been screaming about that provision since it was proposed, describing increased funding for the IRS as, among other things, a dystopian plot to “hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers.” Republicans, meanwhile, made overturning those funds their top priority.

Johnson’s proposal uses the Israel aid package as an opportunity to achieve the Republican goal of protecting wealthy tax cheats. He’s counting on journalists to fail to explain this to their audiences — and in many cases thus far, that bet has worked out for him.

Some major news outlets promoted the GOP’s spin that the IRS funding cuts “offset” or “pay for” the Israel spending, while providing no information to their readers indicating that those cuts will likely increase the deficit.

The influential Punchbowl AM newsletter reported that the Johnson bill’s Israel funding “would be paid for by cutting an equal amount from the Inflation Reduction Act’s IRS enforcement,” adding that “the House GOP leadership team considered a host of bipartisan pay-fors, but opted to cut IRS money with hopes of dividing Democrats and solidifying GOP support” and “a standalone Israel bill with offsets is a no-go for the Democratic-led Senate.”

Reuters reported that the House GOP legislation would “provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service.”

And CBS News’ write-up claimed that “House Republicans want to pay for emergency aid to Israel by cutting funding to the IRS” and the bill would “would pay for aid to Israel by cutting the same amount in funding that was allocated to the IRS under the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Other outlets similarly privileged the House GOP’s false “offset” framing, but either acknowledged later in their report that the IRS cuts would increase the deficit or at least cited critics making that point.

The Washington Post’s article initially described the Republican bill as “a proposal to pay for emergency aid for Israel’s war against Hamas by cutting IRS funds aimed at cracking down on rich tax cheats and improving taxpayer service.” But the Post went on to provide a detailed accounting of what the IRS funding goes toward, and noted: “Using the IRS funding to offset the Israel aid might not actually save money: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had estimated in 2022 that the $80 billion IRS expansion would cut the deficit by more than $100 billion by improving collections and enforcement.”

NBC News’ article featured the subheadline “The newly minted Republican speaker is seeking to pay for aid to Israel by slashing $14.3 billion from IRS funds in the Democratic president's signature law.” But the body of the piece instead accurately described the bill as only “rescinding the same amount of IRS funding” as it included in Israel aid, and noted that “the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that the funds will ‘increase revenues by approximately $200 billion’ over a decade.”

CNN’s write-up claimed in its second and third paragraphs that “the GOP-led bill includes the same amount in spending cuts, rescinding $14.3 billion that had been allocated to the IRS as part of the Inflation Reduction Act,” and that “Democrats are warning that the bill’s offsets could cost it passage in the House.” In paragraph 10, it cited Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-WA) statement that “the cuts House Republicans are proposing would actually increase the deficit by curbing the IRS’ ability to go after billionaire tax cheats.”

And Semafor’s Principals newsletter led with the news that House Republicans had “unveiled a bill that would pay for $14.3 billion in assistance to Israel by slashing funding from the IRS” and that Johnson had “argued that emergency funding should be balanced by cuts elsewhere in the budget,” but later cited Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) statement opposing “reducing our tax collections by shrinking the IRS.”

It’s not impossible for outlets to get it right. Some reporters pointed out to their audiences that the GOP’s spin is deceptive rather than echoing it.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the House Republican’s bill “purports to pay for itself by rescinding $14.3 billion of the $80 billion that Congress gave to the Internal Revenue Service last year to improve the agency’s technology and enforcement,” then immediately added, “Cutting the IRS enforcement budget, in fact, would increase budget deficits by making it harder for the agency to catch tax cheats.”

Politico Playbook likewise reported that the Republican bill “not only seeks to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere but taps Democrats’ signature domestic policy legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, to do it,” but then immediately debunked that language.

“As a policy matter, reversing the bill’s IRS plus-up doesn’t make a lot of sense. Cutting the agency’s planned enforcement surge against tax evaders would have the perverse effect of increasing budget deficits, not trimming them,” it stated. “But as a political matter, the logic is impeccable: The libs, after all, were owned.”

Johnson’s first major move as speaker was to try to deceive the press (and through it, the public) in order to achieve one of his party’s long-sought objectives. His success in getting credulous reporters to adopt his spin is an ominous sign for the months ahead.

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GOP accused of 'hypocrisy' over efforts to gut IRA while cheering money 'flowing to their electorates' - Alternet.org would cost 90b?!$

an test 7 23 must remove ad block

right-wing group Moms for Liberty was recently hit with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) complaint probing "whether Moms for Liberty is a political educational organization," The Guardian reports.

Per The Guardian, the eight-page complaint filed against the "extremist" group by a Michigan attorney "alleges that the rightwing organization is in violation of its 501(c)4 non-profit status," and also questions "if Moms for Liberty is an action organization, raising questions about its participation in political campaigns and active recruitment of school board candidates."

University of Pittsburgh Associate Professor of Law Phillip Hackney told the news outlet he doesn't believe the complaint will go far, but "said he does think the complaint is correct in bringing up the group's intervention in political campaigns."

READ MORE: Top Democrats ignorant of 'extremist' Moms for Liberty despite warnings the group is dangerous

The Guardian reports:

IRS investigations into a 501(c)4 like Moms for Liberty would be 'heavily fact intensive',Hackney said, with an agent reviewing materials and going back and forth with attorneys for 18 months. The IRS has a statute of limitations to complete an investigation within three years, he said. If the group's status is revoked after that time, it probably would not owe back taxes but would reorganize as a taxable, private organization with even less transparency and no prohibitions on political campaigning.

The complaint obtained by the news outlet states, "The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity."

The document also emphasizes, "It would be a permissible educational purpose if there were advocating to remove gender discussions from classrooms and schools if there was a balanced presentation of benefits and drawbacks of using a person's preferred pronouns, supporting LGBTQ youth, impacts on children of being 'exposed' to LGBTQ supportive environments. There is not." I DUNNO DOES LUNG ASSOC DO BENEFITS OF CIGS?

during a segment of MSNBC's Inside with Jen Psaki earlier this month, Psaki exposed the group in a scathing report, noting, "As for their claim that they are just a group of concerned, nonpartisan moms who happen to care about liberty, consider this: One of the founders, who's name is notably emitted from its website, is a current Republican school board member, who is married to the now-chairman of the Florida Republican Party. In 2021, he told The Washington Post, "I have been trying for a dozen years to get 20- and 30-year old females involved with the Republican Party. But now Moms for Liberty has done it for me."

READ MORE: 'May not be what you think': Jen Psaki exposes 'unapologetically extreme' Moms for Liberty group

The Guardian's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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'Woke ideology': DeSantis vows to kill four federal agencies including one that manages US nuclear weapons

David BadashandThe New Civil Rights Movement June 29, 2023

Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has declared he plans to eliminate several federal agencies if elected president, including the one that manages the U.S. Government’s nuclear weapons stockpile, is responsible for promoting worldwide nuclear safety, and reducing weapons of mass destruction.

“Are you in favor of eliminating any agencies? I know conservatives in the past have talked about closing the Department of Education, would you do that?” DeSantis was asked by Fox News’ Martha McCallum on Wednesday.

“So we would do Education, we would do Commerce, we’d do Energy, and we would do IRS,” said the Florida governor, naming the federal agencies he will close if elected to the White House. The Florida governor currently has similar agencies within his administration that he has not attempted to eliminate.

READ MORE: Ron DeSantis: I Would Have Loved to Hang Out With Jesus and His Disciples – America Needs More God

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is part of the Dept. of Energy, which DeSantis says he will eliminate. It is “responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science.”

“Preventing nuclear weapons proliferation and reducing the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism around the world are key U.S national security strategic objectives that require constant vigilance,” says the NNSA on its Energy.gov government website. “NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation works globally to prevent state and non-state actors from developing nuclear weapons or acquiring weapons-usable nuclear or radiological materials, equipment, technology, and expertise.”

That’s just one part of what the NNSA does.

The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, also part of the Dept. of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, “provides militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and ensures they’re safe, reliable and long-lived operation. NNSA’s Naval Reactors Program provides the design, development and operational support required to provide militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and ensure their safe, reliable and long-lived operation.”

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“The NNSA’s Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation (CTCP) is integral to the U.S. Government’s layered defense against nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation,” the NNSA also says.

Then there’s the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, which provides the Navy with “militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and ensures their safe, reliable and long-lived operation.”

Meanwhile, DeSantis did not explain who would do all the vital work these agencies are responsible for, but did promise, “if Congress will work with me on doing that, we’ll be able to reduce the scope of government.”

“Eliminate the IRS?” McCallum pressed.

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“But what I’m also going to do, Martha, is be prepared,” he vowed, ignoring her question. “If Congress won’t go that far, I’m going to use those agencies to push back against woke ideology and against the leftism that we see creeping in to all institutions of American life.”

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“So for example,” he continued, “with Department of Education, we reverse all the transgender sports stuff, women’s sports should be protected. We reverse policies trying to inject the curriculum into our schools. That will all be God we will make sure we have an accreditation system for higher ed, which is not trying to foment more things like DEI and CRT, so we’ll be prepared to do both. Either way, it’ll be a win for conservatives.”

Watch below or at this link.

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