{"id":1923741,"date":"2023-05-03T22:57:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T02:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irs-spent-10-million-on-weapons-since-covid-19-pandemic-began\/"},"modified":"2023-05-03T22:57:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T02:57:35","slug":"irs-spent-10-million-on-weapons-since-covid-19-pandemic-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irs-spent-10-million-on-weapons-since-covid-19-pandemic-began\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS Spent $10 Million on Weapons Since COVID-19 Pandemic Began"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Firs-spent-10-million-on-weapons-since-covid-19-pandemic-began%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1923741&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p> \t\t\t\t\t\tThe Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been splashing out millions stocking up on\u00a0guns, ammunition, and combat gear since 2020,\u00a0according to the findings of Open The Books, a watchdog group that tracks government spending.<\/p>\n<p> A report by the watchdog, published on April 27, found that the agency has spent a total of\u00a0$10 million on weaponry and gear since the COVID-19 pandemic began, including $2.3 million on duty ammunition, $1.2 million on ballistic shields, and another\u00a0$1.3 million on \u201cvarious other gear for criminal investigation agents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Additionally, the agency has spent $474,000 on Smith &#038; Wesson rifles, $463,000 on Beretta 1301 tactical shotguns, and $243,000 on body armor vests since 2020.<\/p>\n<p> Another\u00a0$467,000 was reportedly spent on duty tactical lighting, $354,000 on tactical gear bags, and $267,000 on ballistic helmets in the same time.<\/p>\n<p> The report, called \u201cThe Militarization of Federal Bureaucracy,\u201d contains updated data through the end of March 2023.<\/p>\n<p> Since 2006, the IRS has splashed out\u00a0$35.2 million (adjusted for inflation) on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment. The report found that 2020 and 2021 saw them spend increased amounts.<\/p>\n<p>  A sign for the IRS building in Washington, on Sept. 28, 2020. (Erin Scott\/Reuters) Billions in IRS Funding In a statement to\u00a0Open The Books in 2021, an IRS spokesperson said\u00a0IRS\u00a0Criminal Investigation special agents \u201chave been using weapons throughout their history as they have consistently found themselves investigating the most dangerous criminals involved in organized crime, drugs, and gangs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThese types of cases are typically worked in conjunction with other state and federal law enforcement agencies. Firearms and equipment are also used for training purposes. Special agents are required to train and qualify for their weapons and must participate in quarterly trainings to maintain proficiency,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n<p> The Epoch Times has contacted the IRS for further comment.<\/p>\n<p> The latest report comes as Republican lawmakers have raised concerns regarding the\u00a0nearly $80 billion in IRS funding, including\u00a0$45.6 billion for \u201cenforcement\u201d that the IRS is set to receive through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).<\/p>\n<p> While the\u00a0IRS employed 80,006 full-time staffers as of the 2022 budget year,\u00a0according\u00a0to the agency\u2019s strategic operating plan (pdf) released on April 6, the\u00a0Treasury Department has claimed that the agency could hire\u00a086,852 new employees\u00a0over the next decade in order to bolster operations if it were to receive the nearly $80 billion in funding.<\/p>\n<p> Republicans, including House Speaker\u00a0Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), are concerned that the additional funding could be used to target\u00a0everyday American. However, the Biden administration has vowed that the money will lead to\u00a0more audits for wealthy millionaires, billionaires, and large\u00a0corporations.<\/p>\n<p>  IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel testifies before the Senate Finance Committee, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images) IRS Denies Targeting Middle-Income Americans Separately, then-IRS\u00a0Commissioner Charles Rettig stated in a letter to members of the Senate in August last year that the additional funding will\u00a0\u201cabsolutely not\u201d\u00a0be used to increase\u00a0audit scrutiny\u00a0on small businesses or middle-income Americans and will instead help\u00a0the agency in \u201cchallenging\u201d areas such as audits of large corporate and global high-net-worth taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p> The\u00a0Open The Books report also comes after current\u00a0IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told lawmakers last month that the agency plans to hire an estimated\u00a0360\u00a0additional staff who are authorized to carry guns over the next five years.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cOur CI division or Criminal Investigation Division, they do not conduct audits,\u201d\u00a0Werfel\u00a0said during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing. \u201cWhat they do is, they are investigating acute issues of fraud and tax evasion. And typically, they\u2019re armed when they\u2019re putting themselves in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> The IRS Careers website for criminal investigation special agents states that applicants must be willing to \u201ccarry a firearm,\u00a0must be prepared to protect him\/herself or others from physical attacks at any time and without warning and use firearms in life-threatening situations; must be willing to use force up to and including the use of deadly force.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Open The Books\u2019 report also found that since 2006,\u00a0103 \u201crank-and-file\u201d agencies outside of the\u00a0Department of Defense\u00a0spent $3.7 billion (adjusted for inflation) on\u00a0guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment, 27 of which are\u00a0traditional law enforcement under the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n<p> Open The Books founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski said in a statement that \u201ca culture of militarization has permeated across the federal bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u201cIn many cases, these agencies are stockpiling the very weapons some politicians seek to ban citizens from owning,\u201d\u00a0Andrzejewski added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been splashing out millions stocking up on\u00a0guns, ammunition, and combat gear since 2020,\u00a0according to the findings of Open The Books, a watchdog group that tracks government spending. A report by the watchdog, published on April 27, found that the agency has spent a total of\u00a0$10 million on weaponry and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1923742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[10491,3774,8362,4828,4341,7788],"class_list":["post-1923741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-10491","tag-covid-19","tag-irs","tag-pandemic","tag-spent","tag-weapons"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1923742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}