The IRS Comes Calling

On June 16, 2023, the Wall Street journal reported on a letter that Congressman Jim Jordan sent to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel. The letter demanded to know how an IRS agent had the right to intrude on a taxpayer’s home in Marion, OH, threaten her for unpaid estate taxes that had nothing to do with her, and said that “I am an IRS agent, I can be at and go into anyone’s house at any time I want to be”.

For those of you with WSJ access, you can read the story here. 

What’s worse than the incident described in Jim Jordan’s letter is the fact that this is nothing new. Fifty years ago, I arrived home to my apartment on a Friday evening and found an IRS card stuck in my door. It said I was not at home when the agent called, and it was “imperative” that I call the agent on Monday, between 9:00 AM and Noon.

After worrying about the situation all weekend, I called the agent first thing on Monday. His tone could not have been more accusatory, until he realized he had the wrong person. The name was the same as the taxpayer he sought, but the Social Security number, filing status, tax payments and virtually everything else was decidedly different. No apology was forthcoming.

The IRS and their apologists in the press will constantly say that “no agent will call or come to your home”, and all contact is through the mail. That was not the case 50 years ago, and it obviously still is not the case. Just ask the woman in Marion, or Matt Taibbi. For some unfathomable reason our dysfunctional Congress is unable to lay down their political weapons of war and do something about abusive government practices that can terrorize any of us.