The IRS deleted a job listing seeking “new special agents” who are “willing to use deadly force, if necessary” from their website, following a fierce backlash on social media Wednesday–only to reupload it within a day with the offending portion removed.
Per the now-updated page on the IRS website, “IRS Special Agents are considered the premier financial investigators for the Federal government.”
“Special Agents are duly sworn law enforcement officers who are trained to ‘follow the money,’” the listing says, warning that “no matter what the source, all income earned, both legal and illegal, has the potential of becoming involved in crimes which fall within the investigative jurisdiction of the IRS Criminal Investigation.”
The posting sparked a wave of condemnation from ordinary citizens and influential politicians alike, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who took to Twitter to express his opposition to the proposed new IRS jobs:
“HELL NO. Every Republican should pledge we WILL NOT FUND these 87k armed new IRS agents who will target the American people.”
Funding for the special agents in question is likely to be drawn from a huge budget boost the IRS anticipates, with Democrats in the House set to approve the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.”
Along with around $430 billion the Biden administration says will address climate change and extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, the new spending bill promises to pump $80 billion into the IRS over the next ten years - more than doubling the size of the agency with over 87,000 new positions. According to the now-updated job listing, many of them will be armed; one of the “key requirements” is that applicants “be legally allowed to carry a firearm.”
The ad in question was first noticed by documentarian Ford Fischer, who pointed out in a subsequent post on Twitter that, by June, the criminal division of the IRS had spent more on ammunition in the previous three months than they typically spent in an entire year in the recent past.
Fischer told Sputnik News he finds it “fascinating” that “following the attention [he] brought to this job listing, the page went down for a while, and now with it back online, the ‘willingness to engage in deadly force' line has been removed.”
“The reality is that while perhaps finding some renewed relevance in today's news cycle about the IRS, this listing isn't particularly unusual,” Fischer notes. “The agency has been spending more than $600,000 annually on ammunition, which has been charted out for at least the past three administrations.”
“What's new is that while the left (to be clear, I mean real leftists - not Democrats) have been fairly adamant in their opposition to law enforcement at all levels, the Republicans seem to find opposition when the politics line up. For example, they currently are deeply critical of the FBI, and IRS.”
Opposition to the spending bill authorizing the IRS expansion has come almost entirely from the GOP. A recent analysis by House Republicans found that 60% of new audits expected to be unleashed by the doubling in IRS personnel will fall on those making $75,000 or less a year. But Democrats claim those making less than $400,000 will not be targeted by the new IRS agents.
The IRS reportedly did not respond to inquiries by Fox News or the National Review about its removal of the job posting.