Nikole Flax will be head of IRS office that will hire 87,000 new agents
September 2, 2022
(Washington, DC) – The Functional Government Initiative (FGI) expressed its concern over the assignment of an individual associated with an IRS targeting scandal to head the office overseeing the office in charge of the 87,000 new IRS agents. Reports that Nikole Flax, who was chief of staff to the IRS commissioner who was fired in the wake of the Tea Party targeting scandal, are sure to stoke fears that these new agents may be used to harass low- and middle-income taxpayers and those identified for political reasons. Contrary to the promises that no one who earns less than $400,000 a year will pay more taxes, the Congressional Budget Office analysis indicates at least $20 billion of the $124 billion in increased tax revenues projected to be gained from these additional agents will come from low- and middle-income Americans.
During the Tea Party targeting scandal, the IRS was forced to pay millions in settlements for improperly denying and slow-walking applications for nonprofit status from conservative groups. Flax was part of the group of IRS employees whose emails inexplicably disappeared due to hard drive crashes as Congress investigated. FGI has submitted numerous requests to obtain information regarding the previous IRS targeting scandal, as well as the proposal to beef up the IRS. In the case of one Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the IRS bizarrely responded that it had “no records” discussing the proposal to add 87,000 new agents to its workforce and $80 billion to its budget.
Peter McGinnis, spokesman for FGI, issued the following statement:
“It’s fascinating, and indicative of the level of dysfunction in government, that the same folks who were part of the Tea Party targeting 10 years ago would be tasked with managing a controversial program with such a tremendous potential for abuse. At the very least, this move is tone-deaf. Most certainly, it serves to heighten the fears that the amping up of the IRS may result in a repeat of the earlier scandal.”
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