OAN’s Roy Francis
11:25 AM – Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Representative Stephanie Bice has demanded a full accounting from the Internal Revenue Service, saying that the nearly $10 million spent by the agency on weapons and tactical gear since 2020 is “concerning.”
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In a letter addressed to the IRS Commissioner, Daniel Werfel, Bice (R-Okla.) said that “the increasing militarization of the IRS is of growing concern.”
“I write to you today to express my concerns regarding the increased rate of weapon purchases by the Internal Revenue Service,” the letter said. “While I recognize the Criminal Investigation division has a law enforcement role, recent reports have indicated that the IRS has made substantial purchases of weaponry and tactical gear. As a civilian agency whose stated mission is to ‘Provide America’s taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all,’ the increasing militarization of the IRS is of growing concern.”
Since 2006, the IRS has spent over $35 million on weapons and tactical gear, with over $10 million being spent since 2020 alone.
A report released in April by the watchdog group, OpenTheBooks, which tracks government spending showed that the IRS has spent around $2.3 million on ammunition, $1.2 million on ballistic shields, $474,000 on Smith and Wesson rifles, $463,000 on Beretta 1301 tactical shotguns, and $243,000 on body armor. The report also showed $1.3 million which was spent on “various other gear for criminal investigation agents.”
The mission of the IRS according to their website is “to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.”
However, the agency has loaded up on hundreds of thousands’ worth of tactical lighting, gear bags, holsters, ballistic helmets, and optic sights for the weapons that they have purchased since the pandemic. Before 2020, the IRS had already stockpiled over five million rounds of ammunition for its special agents, which number a little over 2,000.
The IRS also had owned over 4,500 firearms which include pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, and submachine guns.
According to the agency, new applicants must be willing “carry a firearm; must be prepared to protect him/herself or others from physical attacks at any time and without warning and use firearms in life-threatening situations; must be willing to use force up to and including the use of deadly force.”
According to OpenTheBooks, there are now “more federal agents with arrest and firearm authority (200,000) than U.S. Marines (186,000).”
In 2022, President Joe Biden gave the agency over $80 billion in new funding as part of his $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act.
Bice quoted the findings by OpenTheBooks, and asked the IRS commissioner to respond within five business days and provide “information on the account(s) the IRS has used to purchase such weapons, gear, and ammunition.”
She also asked the commissioner to provide “data on the quantity and type(s) of items listed below in possession of the IRS: Weapons, Weapon systems, Ammunition, Explosive devices, Armored vehicles, Drones/UAVs, Chemical weapons (tear gas and other calming agents.)”
The Republican ended her letter by saying that it is “important for Congress to conduct thorough oversight of IRS, and the American people deserve to have a full accounting of these recent events.”
“We need to know exactly the types and quantities of weapons and ammunition the IRS has in their possession. If the IRS fails to provide a response to Congressional oversight, I will pursue further actions to hold them accountable,” Brice told Fox News.
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