It’s the strangest coincidence that two former top FBI officials—former Director James Comey and Andrew McCabe, his deputy—were both subjected to IRS audits following their termination by the Trump administration.
Even if there is no connection, the story, which was first published by the New York Times, brings to mind gloomy times when the country’s tax agency appeared to be used as a political weapon.
What is the IRS’s history of being a weapon? Richard Nixon’s “enemies list” came first.
Johnnie Mac Walters, the IRS director at the time, received a list of journalists, union leaders, and actors who were hostile to the President. He vehemently denied anyone was audited as a result of being on the list.
Continue reading David Andelman’s description of his experiences being audited after publishing a report on Nixon’s position on school busing. Andelman is a journalist and academic.
The IRS controversy of the Tea Party period followed.
Even while subsequent investigations showed no partisan political targeting because liberal groups were also investigated, the difficulty conservative political groups faced in obtaining tax-exempt status under the Obama administration led to a politically damaging controversy.
What has just happened? On Wednesday, it was announced that audits would be conducted on former FBI agents. McCabe promptly requested an inquiry.
“It defies belief,” said McCabe, a former FBI agent who is now a CNN law enforcement analyst, on “New Day” on Thursday.
“This one in 30,000 events, twice, for the same people who are targeted in the same way by the former President, and continue to be targeted to this day, I’ll add, is — it is just — it defies belief.”
The IRS said on Thursday that the commissioner has asked a watchdog to look into the matter.
Are there any specific signs that Comey and McCabe were the targets of the IRS?
No. It could just be a remarkable coincidence that these two top FBI agents, who were both abruptly let go by the Trump administration in highly visible fashions, were later the target of a random audit.
What a strange coincidence, do you think?
Big. About 153 million Americans submitted tax returns in the two tax years that Comey (2017) and McCabe (2019) audited. According to the Times story, approximately 5,000 of these audits were carried out in 2017 and approximately 8,000 in 2019.
How did Comey and McCabe come to be chosen at random? Regarding the selection of tax returns at random for these audits, the IRS states the following on its website:
Random selection and computer screening are occasionally used to choose returns rather than using just a statistical method. We contrast your tax return with “norms” for comparable returns.
As part of the IRS’s National Research Program, we generate these “norms” through audits of a statistically representative random sample of returns.
The IRS claims that each return detected by the algorithm will be examined by an expert auditor before being referred for audit.
Had Comey and McCabe’s taxes been done incorrectly? No. The Times said that Comey did receive a minor refund of $347, while McCabe claimed that he had to make a small further payment to the IRS.
The IRS has something to say about this coincidence. It looks like the agency is treating the situation seriously.
The allegation has been forwarded to a Treasury Department inspector general by IRS Director Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee. The IRS vehemently denied any wrongdoing in a statement.
The IRS argued that the idea that top IRS officials in some way singled out certain people for National Research Program audits was absurd and incorrect.
According to the IRS, professional civil officials conduct audits, and measures are in place to defend against politically-driven audits.
When did these unintentional audits happen? According to the Times, Comey received notification of his tax year 2017 audit in November 2019.
In October 2021, after Trump had left office, McCabe was informed of his audit for the 2019 tax year.
Rettig, who has led the IRS since 2018, was not involved in choosing which individuals would be subject to audits, the organization claimed in a statement to the Times.
Before being contacted by the New York Times, McCabe told “New Day” on Thursday that he had no suspicions of wrongdoing.
He also gave praise to the IRS employee who handled his audit. He asserted, however, that a probe is necessary.
Why did the Trump administration once more fire Comey and McCabe? Trump fired Comey, at least in part, because he would not swear allegiance to the then-President and end the FBI’s inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump campaign officials were involved.
In 2018, just days before becoming eligible for early retirement, McCabe was let go from his position as deputy director of the FBI.
He later won a lawsuit against the Justice Department, which allowed him to essentially erase the firing and recoup retirement benefits.
Trump didn’t like McCabe because he was involved in the same Russia investigation and because he frequently criticized McCabe’s wife, a Democrat who ran for state senate in Virginia in 2015.
The Trump campaign has been contacted by CNN for comment. I have no knowledge of this, the former president said in a statement to the Times through a spokesman.
What is the status of IRS audits at the moment?
Read more:-
- IRS Requests That a US Treasury Watchdog Look Into Audits of Former FBI Agents
- Editorial: Two ‘random’ Irs Audits Miraculously Choose to Focus on Two Prominent Trump Foes
- Treasury Watchdog Is Examining the Comey and Mccabe Irs Audits.
A recent GAO report claims that the IRS has been auditing fewer individuals lately.
At the highest rate, it audits people who earn less than $25,000 and more than $500,000, according to GAO.
A different Congressional Research Service report showed that between 2010 and 2019, the IRS’s examination rate decreased by 63 per cent, largely as a result of budget cuts and fewer examiners.
In its collection and examiner workforce, the IRS had more than 46,000 employees in 2010, but fewer than 30,000 in 2019.
