Here we go: IRS launching nationwide 'security review' in response to 'congressional Republicans and far-right extremists [...] lashing out'

Ever since we got wind of the Democrats’ plan to spend $80 billion on the IRS and add an additional 87,000 to the IRS’ work force, we’ve been … concerned. Even though Dems and the Biden administration have repeatedly assured us that those additional financial and personnel resources won’t be used to audit anyone making less than $400,000, we find ourselves decidedly skeptical. We just get this feeling that the IRS has plans to do more than just “IT support and answering taxpayers’ questions,” you know?

Like, maybe they are going to audit more people who can’t afford to go through litigation. And maybe a lot of those people will be of the Republican and/or conservative persuasion who are always pouncing and seizing on everything:

Breaking news: IRS launches nationwide security review amid right-wing threats against the agency https://t.co/O7dri8Ast6 pic.twitter.com/bdH9PNvgVz

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 23, 2022

More from the Washington Post:

The Internal Revenue Service will launch a full security review of its facilities nationwide, Commissioner Charles Rettig announced Tuesday, as congressional Republicans and far-right extremists are lashing out at the agency and the new funding it is slated to receive in a massive spending law.

“We see what’s out there in terms of social media. Our workforce is concerned about their safety,” Rettig told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday. “The comments being made are extremely disrespectful to the agency, to the employees and to the country.”

In a letter to employees sent Wednesday, he wrote that the agency would conduct risk assessments for each of the IRS’s 600 facilities, and evaluate whether to increase security patrols along building exteriors, boost designations for restricted areas, examine security around entrances and assess exterior lighting. It will be the agency’s first such review since the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, which killed 168 people.

“For me this is personal,” Rettig wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Post. “I’ll continue to make every effort to dispel any lingering misperceptions about our work. And I will continue to advocate for your safety in every venue where I have an audience. You go above and beyond every single day, and I am honored to work with each of you.”

Oh, we have no doubt it’s personal for Charles Rettig. We got that feeling from Lois Lerner, too.

The tax agency told employees it would conduct risk assessments for all of its offices and evaluate whether to add security patrols and other measures.

It’s the first such review since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. https://t.co/O7dri8Ast6

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 23, 2022

“Other measures” like, say, armed Criminal Investigation Special Agents who are prepared to use deadly force if necessary?

Y'all are aware that most people can see through this, right?

— Zai (@kingxzai) August 23, 2022

Does the IRS care? Especially if they’re allowed to use deadly force on the noncompliant?

Translation: auditing critics

— Steven (@MaVASteve) August 23, 2022

We know, we know, you're going to audit more conservatives… https://t.co/ABXrTu3448

— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) August 23, 2022

Count on it.

Truly leaning into justifying the paranoia https://t.co/PxB1noNpKD

— Peter Wrangel (@PeterWrangel) August 23, 2022

Hey, if the IRS gets even more criticism from Republicans and conservatives for this announcement, they can use that to justify an even more stringent “security review.”