(Headline USA) A new government watchdog report revealed the Internal Revenue Service has spent $10 million on weapons, ammunition and combat gear since 2020.
The findings, published by OpenTheBooks, show that in 2021 alone the newly militarized IRS spent more than $5 million on its weapons arsenal.
Since 2020, the agency has spent $2.3 million on ammunition, $1.2 million on ballistic shields, $474,000 on Smith & Wesson rifles, $463,000 on Beretta 1301 tactical shotguns, and $243,000 on body armor vests.
Another $1.3 million went toward “various other gear for criminal investigation agents,” according to the report.
The agency’s spending on weaponry has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic. Before 2020, the IRS had stockpiled 5 million rounds of ammunition for its 2,159 special agents, and owned 4,500 firearms, including 621 pump action and semi-automatic shotguns, 539 semi-automatic rifles, and 15 submachine guns.
The IRS is also currently hiring hundreds of new criminal investigators. According to the agency’s recruitment ads and other hiring materials, applicants must be able to “carry a firearm; must be prepared to protect him/herself or others from physical attacks at any time and without warning and use firearms in life-threatening situations; must be willing to use force up to and including the use of deadly force.”
President Joe Biden is also pushing for millions of dollars in additional funding for the IRS so that it can hire an additional 80,000 agents.
Republicans have slammed Biden’s attempt to make an “army” out of IRS agents. Just this week, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. introduced a bill that would redirect all of the money Biden requested for the IRS to border security.
“Americans need more border agents keeping them safe—not thousands more IRS agents looking over their shoulder,” Scott said. “While President Biden continues to drop the ball, I’m introducing legislation to fund border infrastructure and give our Border Patrol agents the tools they need to help stop the unaddressed flows of illicit goods and persons into this country.”
