IRS CI is the 6th largest law enforcement agency in the US

First Published: Aug 15, 2022

Did you know that the IRS Criminal Investigation department is the 6th largest law enforcement agency in the United States?

If you didn’t, don’t worry, neither did a lot of people. It is not something that the average citizen focuses on. But propagandists know this is not common knowledge, and are currently exploiting that.

With the announcement of the Inflation Reduction Act propagandists sprung into overdrive. The act authorizes $78 Billion for the IRS over the course of the next 10 years. As the Treasury reports this will allow the agency to hire 87,000 employees by 2031.

Conservatize pundits and politicians started to post the IRS is hiring 87,000 new auditors. Ignoring the fact the IRS employs more than “auditors”.

Like all organizations the IRS requires people in many different positions. The funding will allow the IRS to hiring people like janitors, human resources, and more. Not every employee at the IRS is an auditor. Many of these “new employees” will be replacements for employees retiring over the next 10 years.

Conservative pundits and politicians have referred to this as “Biden’s Army”. This language, combined with the false claims of increased auditors, has caused a panic with their right wing viewers.

The second to last bullet point caused an uproar in conservative circles. “Carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.” Quickly the conspiracy theories of new armed IRS auditors kicking in citizen’s doors with zip-ties and guns draw spread.

The issues with this conspiracy theory is the IRS has had an armed special agent division since 1919, the IRS CI. For reference the FBI was formed in 1908. IRS CI is only 11 years younger than the FBI. 102 years old and so far no “mass raids” on American citizens.

IRS CI does conduct arrests but not in mass. Their main function is investigating tax evasion, money laundering and funding of terrorism. While the general public has a view of tax evasion and money laundering as being purely “blue collar crime” there are dangerous organization that commit these acts. Tax evasion is the crime that ultimately became the downfall of Al Capone, and it was IRS CI that took him down. It makes sense for special agents working in IRS CI to be armed.

Conspiracy theories and propagandists also really like leaving out key facts when they post their evidence. For example this job posting was posted in February 2022, while the new funding for the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act came about in August 2022. The funding is not retroactive to pay for a job posting that previously existed.

So no, armed IRS auditors are not coming for you…unless of course you’re Al Capone.