The IRS has a long history of taxpayer abuse and utter incompetence, and the latest Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report shows this is still the case. Throughout January 2015 to March 2016, the IRS rehired more than 200 employees who were previously employed by the agency, but fired for previous conduct or performance issues.
One would hope that the tax collecting arm of the federal government would hire employees of the upmost character and work effort “given the substantial threat of identity theft and the magnitude of sensitive information that the IRS holds”. In the hopes of ensuring that the IRS holds themselves to high standards, and exposing them when they don’t, TIGTA audits the IRS and makes policy recommendations, compiling their findings in reports submitted to Congress.
According to their report:
- 86 of the 213 employees rehired were previously fired for abuse of absence/leave, workplace disruption, or a failure to follow instructions
- “27 former employees failed to disclose a prior termination or conviction on their application, as required, and were rehired by the IRS”
- Four former employees were rehired after they “separated while under investigation for unauthorized accesses to taxpayer information”
- “One rehired employee had several misdemeanors for theft and a felony for possession of a forgery device”
- “Another rehired employee had threatened his or her co-workers”
- A number of other rehired employees “willfully failed to meet their Federal tax responsibilities”
Prior TIGTA reports identified the same issue at hand in years past, but found that despite pressure for reform, the IRS did not update any hiring procedures, resulting in another year of continued practices of hiring incompetent employees, setting the stage for taxpayer neglect and abuse.
Much in line with their track record of targeting conservative media outlets, and their destruction of a hard drive containing 24,000 Lois Lerner emails, they have yet again failed to show taxpayers the respect they deserve, refusing to improve their rampant disregard for the law. One must hope that the next TIGTA report shows some degree of progress, however unlikely that may be.