A prominent Republican wants to take away the weapons and defund the anti-fraud police that locked up criminal Al Capone.
Iowa’s senator from the upper chamber of Congress, Joni Ernst, has proposed a bill that would disarm the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
IRS Expenditures On Weapons And Gear
According to Ernst, ‘The taxman is fully loaded at the expense of the taxpayer’. A serious issue is the continued weaponization of this federal agency against hard-working Americans and small companies.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia congresswoman who criticizes Ukraine, repeated the false assertion on social media in August.
Ernst wants to enact her ‘Why Does the IRS Have Guns Act’, which would deny the IRS the ability to purchase, receive, or keep firearms and ammunition.
Ernst was once mentioned as a potential Trump vice presidential candidate in 2016.
The idea would limit the IRS’s capacity to recover lost tax money from tax evaders, which might damage her reputation for fiscal prudence.
The ex-servicewoman also claims that the IRS should sell whatever firearms it currently owns in order to reduce the staggering $1.4 trillion federal deficit that is projected to occur in 2022.
She referenced research from the watchdog group Open the Books, which revealed that since 2006, the IRS has spent $35.2 million on weapons, ammo, and gear like those used by the military.
Read more: Taxpayer Protection Act: Sen. Ernst Introduces Bill To Prohibit IRS From Buying Guns And Ammo
Assisting High-Profile Convictions Including Al Capone
But in mainstream GOP circles, where Republicans have historically supported law enforcement officials and valued compliance with the law, her call would raise questions.
Its officers assisted in the conviction of mafia boss Al Capone in 1931 with the aim of disrupting and dismantling significant drug trafficking and money-laundering enterprises.
Back then, the elite division was known as the IRS Enforcement Branch.
Furthermore, in 2009, its operatives assisted in the prosecution of infamous financier Bernie Madoff.
Behind bars for swindling investors and retirement funds out of billions of dollars.
Read more: Debt Limit Deal’s Cost: IRS Faces $21 Billion Loss, Reports Kiplinger Tax Letter