IRS

The report also revealed that the IRS has discontinued its policy of unannounced visits following Congressional scrutiny.

The report states, "History has demonstrated the immense potential of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with its extensive authority to intrude into the lives of Americans, to infringe upon the civil liberties of American citizens. As Justice John Marshall observed over two centuries ago, the 'power to tax involves the power to destroy.

October 28, 2023

The oversight of the Committee and Select Subcommittee underscores that Justice Marshalls caution remains as relevant today as it was then."

The document highlights several civil liberties violations that have transpired within the first nine months of the 118th Congress. These include an unannounced IRS visit to journalist Matt Taibbi's home on the same day he was testifying before Congress on government abuses, an IRS agent using a pseudonym and deceit to gain access to an Ohio taxpayer's home and subsequently threatening her when asked to leave, and the IRS's decision to abandon its policy on unannounced field visits after the committee and subcommittee's oversight exposed IRS abuses.

The report states, "The Committees and Select Subcommittees oversight revealed, and led to the swift end of, the IRSs weaponization of unannounced field visits to harass, intimidate, and target taxpayers."

It concludes, "Taxpayers can now rest assured the IRS will not come knocking without providing prior noticesomething that should have been the IRSs practice all along. No American should fear again an unannounced visit from the powerful tax collector. No American should fall victim to deception from their own government to threaten and pressure them into submission. The details that the Committee and Select Subcommittee gathered about IRS abuses are shocking examples of the federal governments weaponization."

In Taibbi's case, the report noted that the IRS visited his home at the same time he was testifying before Congress, leaving a note for him to contact them. The IRS informed Taibbi that they had rejected his 2018 and 2021 tax filings. However, the report indicated that the IRS had made no prior attempt to contact him before appearing at his home. This occurred despite Taibbi not owing any money and, in fact, being due a return. The report also noted that the IRS opened Taibbis case in December of 2022, just three weeks after he began publishing the Twitter Files series, which detailed how government agencies were censoring speech on social media.

The report also highlighted another case in which an IRS agent, introducing himself as "Bill Haus," visited the Ohio home of a taxpayer on April 25, 2023. The agent informed the woman that she had not completed filings for an estate for which she was the fiduciary and that she owed the IRS "a substantial amount." The woman claimed she had received no prior notice from the IRS about an outstanding balance. The agent eventually revealed that the visit was due to the "decedent allegedly having several delinquent tax return filings," according to the report.

The agent gave the woman several documents to complete. When she contacted her accountant and then her attorney, the latter instructed the agent to leave. The agent responded aggressively, insisting, "I am an IRS agent, I can be at and go into anyones house at any time I want to be."

At the end of his unannounced visit, Agent Haus threatened the taxpayer, stating he would mail her paperwork to execute and that she would have exactly one week to settle the remaining balance or he would freeze all her assets and place a lien on her house.