It seems IRS employees owe almost $50 million in overdue taxes and somehow this news slipped right past us. One person who did not miss the memo is Joni Ernst, the Republican senator from Iowa who we assume has no relation to Ernsts Alwin C. and Theodore though we suppose it’s a possibility given the proximity of Iowa to Ohio. Anyway, this is what her office released on Monday:
After an explosive report showed thousands of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees owe nearly $50 million in overdue taxes, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) blasted IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel for a complete lack of accountability and introduced the Audit the IRS Act, requiring annual audits of agency employees and the termination of every IRS agent who isn’t paying their taxes.
Beyond the widespread tax evasion, the Department of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)’s audit, conducted at the request of Senator Joni Ernst, is full of jaw-dropping pieces of information about the agency, including that it knowingly rehired individuals who committed criminal and sexual misconduct.
“The spirit of 1776 is still alive and well with a tax revolt happening right now at the most unlikely of places in Washington, the IRS,” said Ernst. “While the IRS warns, ‘tax evasion is a serious crime punishable by imprisonment, fines, and the imposition of civil penalties,’ the agency is rewarding its own tax dodgers with paychecks and lavish benefits made possible, ironically, with the taxes paid by law-abiding citizens. My legislation will create a zero-tolerance policy for tax evasion and misconduct while ensuring these IRS bureaucrats are no longer allowed to live by one set of rules and enforce another on honest, hardworking Americans.”
Hold up, lavish benefits? At the Internal Revenue Service? Citation needed.
Her strongly worded letter to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel is below and the text of her bill here.
Ernst Exposes Massive Tax Evasion at IRS, Demands an Audit of the Auditors [Senator Joni Ernst, R-IA]
A new survey of more than 300 chief audit executives (CAEs) by Grant Thornton LLP finds that while nearly half believe that the shifting regulatory landscape poses the greatest threat to their company, a vast majority (88%) do not believe that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) should be repealed. Of those that believe SOX should be repealed, the cost of compliance is the main reason for doing so. “Since the passage of SOX, organizations have had to dedicate significant resources to comply with a host of new laws and regulations,” noted Warren Stippich, a Chicago-based partner and Grant Thornton’s national Governance, Risk and Compliance solution leader. “Based on discussions with various CAEs during the survey process, many believe that SOX brings a continued focus by management on financial and governance-related controls. However, CAEs believe that compliance audit processes are now well-defined and are currently exploring ways to contribute value creation to the organization well beyond compliance monitoring and reporting.” [
Shockingly not shocked