IRS Criminal Investigation: A National Asset Being Damaged
IRS Criminal Investigation is the most critical
component in maintaining the relatively high U.S.
tax compliance rate, the envy of the world and a
linchpin of our democratic system. The superb
financial investigative abilities of its special agents
are an important national security asset when those
skills are in demand for other important needs,
including terrorist financing matters. Yet the congressional
squeeze on the IRS budget is reducing
this national asset to a size that endangers its
viability.
This article explores that impact. Recent congressional
and public pressure to redirect CI resources
to identity theft cases and the continuing demand
for CI services in combating terrorism and for use in
complex international fraud cases like the FIFA
corruption case, combined with a dramatic drop in
agent resources, are decreasing the resources available
to pursue traditional tax fraud cases. The low
agent numbers are now at a point that puts retention
and the critical roles of training and skills
transfer in peril.
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