The New York Times reported on Wednesday that former FBI directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe were the targets of an extremely uncommon and intrusive type of tax audit that the Internal Revenue Service claims is “random.”
The two men were repeatedly called for to be investigated or jailed for not running the agency in the way that former President Donald Trump wanted.
The chances of getting chosen for that audit in any given year are extremely slim; for example, the I.R.S. targeted about 5,000 out of the almost 153 million individual tax returns submitted in 2017, or roughly one out of every 30,600, according to Michael Schmidt.
“James B. Comey, who had been ousted by President Donald J. Trump from his position as director of the FBI that year, was one of the select few who received a bureaucratic letter informing him that his 2017 tax return would be closely scrutinized. Mr Trump, who was enraged by what he perceived to be Mr Comey’s lack of loyalty and his pursuit of the Russia investigation, had continued to attack him even after his firing, accusing him of treason, calling for his arrest, and complaining in public about the money Mr Comey received for a book after his firing.”
The report stated, “Andrew G. McCabe, who served several months as acting F.B.I. director following Mr Comey’s firing, was among those who were chosen to have their 2019 returns analyzed. McCabe had been Mr Comey’s deputy at the bureau.
“After its watchdog accused Mr McCabe of deceiving internal F.B.I. investigators, the Trump Justice Department later fired him. Like Mr Comey, he had become viewed as an enemy by Mr Trump, who attacked him, accused him of treason, and questioned his financial situation long after pushing for his dismissal and prosecution.
This pattern persisted even after Mr Trump lost the 2020 election and started attempting to have the results overturned.”
Charles Rettig, a former IRS commissioner under Trump, is accused by the IRS of interfering politically against the two.
According to the agency, career civil servants handle individual audits and taxpayer issues, thus Commissioner Rettig is not involved in those.
He has never spoken to the White House about I.R.S. enforcement or individual taxpayer issues while serving as I.R.S. commissioner, under either administration. He has made a commitment to operating the I.R.S. in a totally neutral manner.
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One of several cases of abuse of power committed by former president Richard Nixon that led to the Watergate investigation and his resignation was the use of the IRS to target political rivals.
With a few specific exceptions, it is prohibited for anybody in the executive branch to ask the I.R.S. to initiate a tax audit or probe, according to the study.
“Such requests must be reported to the inspector general for tax administration at the Treasury Department by an I.R.S. employee. Those who break the legislation may receive a prison term of up to five years.”
