On Tax Day, Sen. Ernst cracks down on the IRS

WASHINGTON – As Americans fork over their hard-earned money to Uncle Sam on Tax Day, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is introducing a trio of bills to reform the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in response to concerning reports that the agency is stockpiling weapons and filled with tax-dodging bureaucrats.

The new legislation comes after Ernst laid out a series of recommended changes for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to implement at “America’s least favorite government agency” to cut down on costs, increase efficiency, and better serve taxpayers.

“The spirit of 1776 is alive and well at the most unlikely of places – the IRS,” said Ernst. “The agency is stockpiling weapons and staging a tax revolt. This Tax Day, I am holding these tax collectors accountable by forcing them to live by the rules they are supposed to enforce and auditing the auditors!”

An Ernst audit revealed that more than 5,800 IRS and contractor employees owed nearly $50 million in overdue taxes. In November 2024, the IRS admitted that 2,044 employees still had tax balances totaling more than $12 million. Unfortunately, tax-dodging bureaucrats are not limited to just the IRS. In Fiscal Year 2021, the IRS found 149,000 federal employees owed approximately $1.5 billion in unpaid taxes.

Ernst is cracking down on tax-dodging tax collectors and taxpayer-funded bureaucrats with her:

• Audit the IRS Act that requires annual audits of IRS employees and the termination of every agent who isn’t paying their taxes.

• Tax Delinquencies and Overdue Debts are Government Employees Responsibility (Tax DODGER) Act that requires the IRS to annually publish its federal employee tax delinquency report on current and retired federal employees who have delinquent tax debt or have not filed a tax return.

Congressman Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) is introducing the Tax DODGER Act in the House of Representatives.

While many IRS agents have not been paying their taxes, that has not stopped them from spending millions of your tax dollars to stockpile enough weapons to make the agency one of the 50 largest police forces in America.

In response to the IRS stockpiling weapons, Ernst is introducing the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act to prohibit the IRS from using federal funds to purchase, store, or transfer guns or ammo. Any guns and ammo currently in IRS possession would be required to be sold at auction with the proceeds going to pay down the debt.

Congressman Barry Moore (R-Ala.) is introducing the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act in the House of Representatives.

"The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans," said Moore. "Arming these agents does not make the American public safer. My legislation, the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act, would disarm these agents, auction off their guns to Federal Firearms License Owners, and sell their ammunition to the public. The only thing IRS agents should be armed with are calculators."