Darrell Issa Can Turn This IRS Scandal Into a Circus on His Own Just Fine, Thanks

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Congressional Republicans are skeptical the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups warrants a special prosecutor, fearing that step could limit their own investigation into the agency. GOP lawmakers stress that – with just one inspector general's report and three hearings in the rearview mirror – it’s too early to lean on a special counsel, and that calling for the Justice Department to act should be a last resort. “When I can’t do my job because I lack the authority or cooperation, I’ll seek additional remedies,” House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told reporters on Thursday. [The Hill]

 

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For Some Unknown Reason, The IRS Confiscated a Nearly Worthless Scarface Poster in Young Buck Raid

Earlier in the month you may recall the story of hip-hop artist Young Buck being on the wrong side of a IRS raid that involved some of those shiny shotguns.

At that time, we learned that the agents seized several items – recording equipment, jewelry, furniture, his platinum wall plaques – even Mr Buck’s PlayStation (he says it was his son’s but, come on).

Anyway, we now learn that agents also confiscated a $31k Breitling Bentley watch AND a Scarface movie poster with an approximate value of…$10.


We’re not too familiar with IRS protocols, so perhaps when someone’s house is raided, the standard operating procedure is to take literally everything. The furniture. The porno collection. Worthless movie posters that there are literally tens of thousands of copies of. It all goes.

Presumably, the agents could have sold the poster to a kid on the street for a few bucks so they could get coffee but it would still be only enough money for one or two coffees. Or maybe it was enough for one (one!) cover at the local strip joint for the post-raid celebration. Or maybe on of the guys/gals really, really, really wanted that poster. Who knows?

Motivation aside, it certainly serves as another fine example of IRS shrewdness when it comes to collection efforts.

$31,000 watch among items seized from Young Buck’s home [The Tennessean]

IRS Not Too Forthcoming with the Success of Wealth Squad

Remember the “Wealth Squad“? They’re the jolly bunch of IRS examiners that focus their audit efforts on the richest of richies because it’s become clear that wealthy people are incapable of being honest on their tax returns (plus, poor people don’t have any money).

This elite group was formed in 2009 and based on the IRS’s count, they’ve been some busy little taxbusters:

According to the agency, audit rates among taxpayers who reported $10 million or more in income in 2010 jumped to 18% from 10% in 2009. Among taxpayers who reported $5 million to $10 million in income, nearly 12% were audited, compared with 6% in 2008.

Seems like a nice little ramp up in activity which means a boost to the Treasury’s piggy bank, right? If that’s the case, the Service isn’t exactly thumping their chests about it:

The IRS has refused to report how much money the “wealth squad” has brought in. This isn’t so difficult. Britain, which set up a similar “rich squad” around the same time, has announced that its squad netted £162 million ($ 263 million) in 2010-11, up from £82 million the year before. Those amounts are on top of the taxes already paid by the rich who are being targeted.

Conventional wisdom tells us that if the IRS were to release these numbers, it would probably make for some nice political fodder and so the Administration is telling them to keep a lid on the results. If you thought the soundbites about new 16,500 IRS agents were bad, imagine if the IRS actually reported how much more money it got rich people to fork over. On the other hand, it could be that the Service is juking the numbers and the Squad has been a complete failure. Either way, it seems that the IRS wouldn’t gain much by shouting these stats from the rooftops.

Is the IRS’s ‘Wealth Squad’ Working? [WSJ]