In a June 4 story, a new IRS leader says, “Trust has been broken.” What a moronic statement. Has anyone but the hopelessly naive trusted any government department in decades? The Nixon administration used the FBI to spy on Democrats. The Obama administration used the IRS to intimidate conservatives. Different times, different faces, the same abuse of power.
The IRS’ Lois Lerner gives the figurative finger to Congress by refusing to testify. We, the taxpayers, employ her. She refuses to answer questions from our representatives and she is rewarded with a paid vacation of indeterminate length. Why wasn’t she fired?
Every few years, we read about IRS employees living it up at taxpayer expense. Every few years, we are assured that, “We will get to the bottom of this and ensure it will never happen again,” but once the furor dies down and the press’ attention is captured by the next story, we never hear of it again. Is anyone ever fired? Or is there an internal nod and wink. “Try to keep a lower profile next time, it’s embarrassing when our hijinks come to light.” Does anyone seriously believe it is not the latter?
Richard Willerton
Vancouver
