Americans were so distracted by that other IRS scandal that they almost missed out on this one: an inspector general’s report released June 20 found that IRS employees used credit cards to make some dubious purchases. While the expert accountants at the IRS have a catch-all category called “team-building supplies” that apparently covers just about anything, charging wine, romance novels and online pornography really seems to abuse the concept.
"IRS credit cards paid for 28 bottles of wine at a 2010 luncheon… there were 41 guests" http://t.co/Ph65v5iHTe
— Brittany (@bccover) June 25, 2013
https://twitter.com/lgabriellel/status/349626422928752642
Your tax $$$ – IRS employees making these purchases w/ gov't issued credit cards pic.twitter.com/xrrAq3XS29
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 25, 2013
Audit finds $119 worth of Nerf footballs in #IRS cabinet http://t.co/FRV8mFsBga Hope they were the cool kind: pic.twitter.com/oHZjMGReTc
— Emma Fidel (@emmafidel) June 25, 2013
Many questions. Are the footballs still in the #IRS filing cabinet? Could they have been used in a Star Trek video? http://t.co/tcplySLd7Q
— Richard Rubin (@RichardRubinDC) June 25, 2013
They couldn’t store them in that EPA warehouse; there’s no room after storing all those unused pianos, TVs and refrigerators.
https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/349608917334097921
According to the Washington Examiner, the two employees whose cards were used to buy porn both claimed their cards were stolen, but only after the audit uncovered the purchases.
https://twitter.com/BradThor/status/349624276988604416
https://twitter.com/BradANGSA/status/349643744754143232
The IRS blames a “lack of oversight” for the errant purchases, most of which are below $3,000 and escape extra scrutiny as federal “micro-purchases.”
https://twitter.com/SeeTac7/status/349639181225574401