Right-wing media’s conspiracy theory of a militarized IRS is really about protecting wealthy donors and sponsors from paying higher taxes – Media…

Right-wing media figures are arguing that a key part of new legislation meant to increase federal tax revenue from high-earners and corporations is secretly designed to militarize the IRS and unleash the agency on conservatives. In fact, the new bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, provides the agency with $80 billion in new funding to counteract decadeslong conservative efforts to reduce the IRS capacity to enforce tax compliance, and to modernize the agencys technology.

Although the IRS in the past has spent a relatively small amount of their funding on ammunition, only agents from the IRS-Criminal Investigation division are allowed to carry weapons. There is no evidence to support the claims that the agency is targeting conservatives, and the suggestion is clearly a red herring designed to obfuscate the real purpose of the new legislation.

The right-wing medias response leading up to the bills passage has been to resurrect a debunked conspiracy theory that the bill will turn the IRS into a militarized police force and will increase the agencys audits of working- and middle-class families while ignoring billionaires.

On August 4, Fox News marquee star Tucker Carlson warned that the IRS was being used as a military agency.

In 2018, the Government Accountability Office reported that more than 2,000 IRS enforcement agents have more than 4,000 weapons. Guns -- that kill people, remember? Carlson added. The IRS is also stockpiling more than 5 million rounds of ammunition.

Carlsons guest that night, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), argued that the Biden administration is raising taxes and disarming Americans. So, of course, they are arming up the IRS like theyre preparing to take Fallujah. Gaetz was on the show to talk about a bill he introduced called the Disarm the IRS Act in July; the bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), two of the most extreme members of the House Republican caucus.

Read more:
Right-wing media's conspiracy theory of a militarized IRS is really about protecting wealthy donors and sponsors from paying higher taxes - Media...