(PatriotWise.com)- Democrats are completely up in arms that two former members of the FBI that former President Donald Trump fired were both targeted for rare and highly intrusive IRS audits. And now, they’re wanting an explanation as to how this happened.
This week, the Ways and Means Committee in the House was scheduled to question Charles Rettig, the IRS commissioner who was appointed by Trump. Members want to know why two enemies of the Trump administration — former FBI Deputy Director James Comey as well as Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — were chosen for what they believe are punitive audits.
Both of those officials received these audits after they were dismissed by Trump from their positions at the FBI. The IRS program that they are being audited under is called the National Research Program, or NRP. This audit requires taxpayers to have their returns scrutinized on a line-by-line basis, and it often requires them to explain nearly everything that’s on the documents.
Many political pundits have surmised that Trump ordered these audits as punishment for the two men who were disloyal to him. One source within the House told media outlet The Hill recently:
“The politics here are a lot dicier than you would think. Commissioner Rettig is cordial and solicitous, very solicitous of Congress. We haven’t seen a heavy outcry yet about this really from Democrats or Republicans, but it’s a major story.”
Surprisingly, many Republicans have also supported starting an investigation into the audits. However, they have generally defended Rettig, an appointee of a GOP administration.
Texas Representative Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means committee, released a statement last week that read:
“Commissioner Rettig has stated unequivocally he has had no communication with President Trump, and the research audits are statistically generated. He has referred this issue to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and I support investigating all allegations of political targeting — consistent with the precedent set by the House Ways and Committee when investigating President Obama’s disgraced former IRS director Lois Lerner, who the committee confirmed had engaged in this abuse.”
Many tax attorneys describe the NPR audits as “extraordinarily intrusive.” The IRS says these audits help them “identify where compliance problems occur.”
In an interview with The Hill, tax lawyer Steven Goldburd, who’s working right now on two different NPR audits, explained:
“NRP audits are very, very intrusive. For example, when you go to your accountant and they say give me proof of your child, you can just give them a Social Security number. But with an NRP audit, the IRS will ask to see their most recent report card.
“Could this be targeted? Sure. There are all kinds of ways that the IRS determines who to audit. Someone lives a certain kind of lifestyle that’s not consistent with their tax returns? That’s a way to get audited. Using whole-number estimates on your expenses — $30,000 for a house payment, $2,500 for an auto payment — that’s a good way to get audited right off the bat, because you’re supposed to be using accurate figures.”
