Liberaler turnabouts in the New York Times, as economics editor Deborah B. Solomon appeared in Wednesday’s Business section to defend yet another government agency from conservative “conspiracy theories,” this time the intrusive Internal Revenue Service: “I.R.S. to Conduct Security Review Amid Threats Agency and Staff.”
The Internal Revenue Service, which has been under sustained attack by Republican lawmakers and conservative outlets, is undertaking a “comprehensive” review of its security amid threats to the tax agency and its employees.
On Tuesday, I.R.S. commissioner, Charles P. Rettig, cited “an abundance of misinformation and false social media postings, some of them with threats directed at the I.R.S. and its employees.”
As a result, the agency is conducting a review of “existing safety and security measures” at its operations nationwide and has “increased engagement” with law enforcement and security agencies.
By now it’s sadly predictable for a liberal paper to suck up to a government agency with guns. The times have certainly changed. Anything a Democratic presidential administration declares is automatically taken to be gospel truth. Solomon didn’t even nod toward actual IRS abuses of the past, like the Tea Party and the congressional hearings in 1998 during the Clinton years, which included “armed raids against nonviolent taxpayers,” according to the Times.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation In the aftermath of a Democrat supported bill giving the tax collector an additional $80 Billion to combat tax cheats, there has been a proliferation of information about the agency. The legislation, which President Biden signed into law last week, is intended to help the agency hire more than 80,000 employees, upgrade antiquated technology systems and improve its ability to respond to taxpayers.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Mr. Biden have both promised not to increase scrutiny of or audit those earning less than $400,000 per annum.
….
But the funding has spawned a host of unfounded conspiracy theories — including from Republican members of Congress — about the threat that mom-and-pop shops and middle-class Americans will now face from an emboldened tax collector. There are many claims on social media that new agents will have a lot of guns, even though only 1 percent would work in positions that required them to carry weapons.
However, this hasn’t stopped Congressmen from making false claims.
Fox News’s Senator Charles E. Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who sits on the Senate Finance Committee warned Fox News viewers that the new I.R.S. was coming. agents might be coming with loaded “AK-15s” and “ready to shoot some small-business person in Iowa.”
A veteran journalist found this to be truly bizarre.
Some Republican legislators have also warned against more I.R.S. More I.R.S. agents could lead to increased audits of small business owners and the middle class. despite the administration’s pledge.
Ah yes, a promise from a presidential administration, always the gold standard for truth at a hard-nosed journalistic enterprise like the New York Times.
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