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Government Corruption

Jim Jordan Demands IRS Explain Unannounced Visit to Matt Taibbi's Home

2023-03-28

[NATIONALREVIEW] Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Internal Revenue Service (IRS
...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies...
) Commissioner Daniel Werfel demanding an explanation of why the federal agency deployed federal agents to visit "Twitter Files" journalist Matt Taibbi.

Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent the notice on Monday requesting more information into the timing and circumstances of the raid on Taibbi’s house in New Jersey on March 9.

Federal agents were dispatched to Taibbi’s residence the very same day that the investigative journalist appeared before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, also chaired by Representative Jordan.

According to the letter, first obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Taibbi notified Jordan that the IRS instructed him to phone the federal agency four days later, and he was later told that both his 2018 and 2021 tax filings were requested because of "concerns over identity theft."

Taibbi shared his 2018 tax submission with the Select Committee, which showed that his filing was "electronically accepted" and that no problem was registered with the return for "more than four-and-a-half years," the Journal editorial notes.

While Taibbi’s initial 2021 return was rejected twice despite his accountant using an "IRS-provided pin number." Taibbi added that the issue at stake is not "monetary" and that the federal agency actually owes him a "considerable" amount of money.

During Taibbi’s visit to Capitol Hill, Representative Stacey Plaskett (D., Virgin Islands) denounced the former Rolling Stones journalist as a threat.

Courtesy of The Walking Unvaxxed, the Wall Street Journal’s take on the story:

The IRS Makes a Strange House Call on Matt Taibbi

Democrats are denouncing the House GOP investigation into the weaponization of government, but maybe that’s because Republicans are getting somewhere. That includes new evidence that the Internal Revenue Service may be targeting a journalist who testified before the weaponization committee.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter Monday to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen seeking an explanation for why journalist Matt Taibbi received an unannounced home visit from an IRS agent. We’ve seen the letter, and both the circumstances and timing of the IRS focus on this journalist raise serious questions.

Mr. Taibbi has provoked the ire of Democrats and other journalists for his role in researching Twitter records and then releasing internal communications from the social-media giant that expose its censorship and its contacts with government officials. This effort has already inspired government bullying, with Chair Lina Khan’s Federal Trade Commission targeting new Twitter owner Elon Musk and demanding the company "identify all journalists" granted access to the Twitter files.

Now Mr. Taibbi has told Mr. Jordan’s committee that an IRS agent showed up at his personal residence in New Jersey on March 9. That happens to be the same day Mr. Taibbi testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government about what he learned about Twitter. The taxman left a note instructing Mr. Taibbi to call the IRS four days later. Mr. Taibbi was told in a call with the agent that both his 2018 and 2021 tax returns had been rejected owing to concerns over identity theft.

Mr. Taibbi has provided the committee with documentation showing his 2018 return had been electronically accepted, and he says the IRS never notified him or his accountants of a problem after he filed that 2018 return more than four-and-a-half years ago.

He says the IRS initially rejected his 2021 return, which he later refiled, and it was rejected again—even though Mr. Taibbi says his accountants refiled it with an IRS-provided pin number. Mr. Taibbi notes that in neither case was the issue "monetary," and that the IRS owes him a "considerable" sum.

The bigger question is when did the IRS start to dispatch agents for surprise house calls? Typically when the IRS challenges some part of a tax return, it sends a dunning letter. Or it might seek more information from the taxpayer or tax preparer. If the IRS wants to audit a return, it schedules a meeting at the agent’s office. It doesn’t drop by unannounced.

The curious timing of this visit, on the heels of the FTC demand that Twitter turn over names of journalists, raises questions about potential intimidation, and Mr. Jordan is right to want to see documents and communications relating to the Taibbi visit.

The fear of many Americans is that, flush with its new $80 billion in funding from Congress, the IRS will unleash its fearsome power against political opponents. Mr. Taibbi deserves to know why the agency decided to pursue him with a very strange house call.

Posted by:Fred

#3 The modern equivalent of putting a dead horse-head in the bed! Brazen, not subtle, and that's the point isn't it?

Posted by: NoMoreBS 2023-03-28 12:48

#2 The IRS is not accountable to Congress or to anyone else.

Posted by: Super Hose 2023-03-28 10:52

#1 This is part of the reason you're on hold for an hour with these guys, with a 50% chance of your call getting dropped before you get through.

The 2018 return was rejected three years after the fact? Come on - at least try to make the bullshit believable.

Posted by: Raj 2023-03-28 09:53

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