A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is continuing his crusade against new hires by the Internal Revenue Service, contending they will be used to pester his family and others.
“They have 87,000 more IRS agents, so they’re just going to go out to go and harass all of our families,” Scott complained. “This is wrong.”
Scott made the comments this weekend after his speech at the National Conservatism Convention, in a friendly interview with the right-of-center One America News Network, part of comments about what the interviewer called the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement Scott discussed in his speech.
Scott’s assertion agents would harass the families of Scott and others went unchallenged in his interview.
Scott has messaged heavily against the workforce additions at the IRS, including a letter telling people there is no point in applying to join the “IRS super police force” because Republicans would defund them.
“We aren’t talking about joining your local police force, or even the U.S. military — this is the federal agency charged with collecting taxes. The IRS is making it very clear that you not only need to be ready to audit and investigate your fellow hardworking Americans, your neighbors and friends, you need to be ready and, to use the IRS’s words, willing, to kill them,” Scott alleged, in a letter from his Senate Office.
PolitiFact has evaluated this and related claims from Scott as “mostly false.”
While most media outlets have not challenged Scott’s assertions about IRS intentions, he did face adversarial questioning recently on the topic.
During a Sept. 9 appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, after Scott first suggested it was pointless to go after “rich people” because “they’ve hired all their lawyers and are trying to follow the rules already,” he was pressed on the incongruity of taking “law-and-order” positions on other issues, but not on tax enforcement.
“The IRS right now doesn’t answer the phone hardly at all. They haven’t used technology the way they should’ve. Why don’t they start fixing some of their problems?” Scott said.
“You’ll have some issue over moving expenses or something like this, and they’ll have 10 or 15 people in there harassing the daylights out of you,” Scott asserted, before going on to say that the IRS targeted “conservative groups and Tea Party groups” while ignoring the evidence provided that the IRS needs some upgrades to function.
IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig paints a picture of incremental change at the agency, meanwhile.
“The IRS has struggled for many years with insufficient resources to fulfill our important mission. During the next 10 years, these funds will help us in many areas, including adding critical resources to not just close the tax gap but meaningfully improve taxpayer service and technology. This will allow the IRS to provide services to taxpayers in the manner they expect and deserve,” Rettig wrote in August.
9 comments
Joe Corsin
September 15, 2022 at 2:05 pm
Rick Scott having to pay taxes is considered harassment to him and rich people like him…who hoard money and vote for politicans who make it easier to do so…all while complaining about inflation and money printing? The hogs and crooks have lost their GD minds.
Jay Smif
September 15, 2022 at 2:21 pm
Man, you’d think a clown like Scott who got rich by literally stealing his fortune from the taxpayers wouldn’t be running his criminal, traitor mouth as much as he does, but then again he’s literally going on “OAN,” and the cult is dumb enough to believe that “87,000 IRS agents” start work in January, 2023.
Again, conservatives are painfully dumb and gullible.
Hope
September 15, 2022 at 3:07 pm
Senator Scott is right the Republicans will defund the IRS additional agents and only allow the number it takes to investigate the Bidens, Pelosis, Schumers, Nadlers, Schiffs, Jim Acosta, Bill Barr, Liz Cheney, Soros, Chris Wallace, Rachel Maddow, Gavin Newsome, and the Clintons,.
Hope
September 15, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Senator Scott is right the Republicans will defund the IRS additional agents and only allow the number it takes to investigate the Bidens, Pelosis, Schumers, Nadlers, Schiffs, Jim Acosta, Bill Barr, Liz Cheney, Soros, Chris Wallace, Rachel Maddow, Gavin Newsome, and Clintons,.
PeterH
September 15, 2022 at 2:38 pm
New agents are needed to replace retiring agents AND to investigate the extensive PPP fraud in Florida.
Rick if you pay your taxes …. You will have nothing to worry about.
Hope
September 15, 2022 at 2:41 pm
Senator Scott is right the Republicans will defund the IRS additional agents and only allow the number it takes to investigate the Bidens, Pelosis, Schumers, Nadlers, Schiffs, Jim Acosta, Bill Barr, Liz Cheney, Soros, Chris Wallace, Rachel Maddow, Gavin Newsome, and Clintons,.
Frankie M.
September 15, 2022 at 4:14 pm
“The IRS right now doesn’t answer the phone hardly at all.” —Rick Scott
Hence the need to hire more peopl CPT Obvious. I thought this guy was all about jobs…smh. Wasn’t he some sort of former businessman/con artist?
I am what I am
September 15, 2022 at 8:24 pm
In today’s America all migrants are untitled to harras anything and have all that personal information ℹ️
Leave this stupid countryside because nothing good is coming of it.
Kathy
September 16, 2022 at 6:48 pm
Google the wealthiest US Senators, Scott always top 2 with over $200 million. Guess he must have used the “Ill Gotten Gains” option on tax returns. This SOB was so busy demonizing the IRS (face it, no bbn one has wonderful things to say), his office was unable to assist me with an IRS cluster eff. I just needed help getting the 3rd stimulus payment. With $14,000 annual income in Social Security the IRS said I had to file a return. Calling every day, after one month, the agent said I didn’t have to file. Again, I tried to claim the payment and was refused. My requests to Scott’s office went unanswered. I received the payment 11 months later with the assistance of AARP. Skeletor did nothing. I hope those new agents make him Number 1 on their audit list. Plain and simple, he is a liar and a shyster.
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