Do you remember all of those times that the Democrats wanted metric buttloads more money for the IRS (along with all of the guns and ammunition) but they assured you little people that you had nothing to worry about because all of these resources would be focused on a couple of hundred billionaires? Yeah… good times. Well, you can toss that story out the window along with much else that the government has “assured” us of. The latest tales from the adventures of the IRS coming out of the investigations of the House Judiciary Committee are simply alarming and they involve regular old working-class people, not just Donald Trump or Elon Musk. It turns out that IRS agents have used fake names when dealing with taxpayers and engaged in tactics that definitely constituted harassment. And some of them break the rules with impunity, potentially even in violation of the law. (Washington Times)

The IRS allows its agents to use fake names when they contact taxpayers, according to a congressional report Friday that found the pseudonyms can create a tense and potentially harassing system.

The House Judiciary Committee documented a case in Ohio where an IRS agent showed up at a taxpayer’s home unannounced, lied about his name and the reason for his visit, refused to leave when told to do so by the woman’s lawyer, threatened to freeze the taxpayer’s assets and then filed a complaint against the police when they responded.

Police found the man’s behavior so strange that they initially concluded he was an impostor. It was only after they contacted the IRS‘ inspector general that they learned the man was a real agent using a fake name, “Agent Bill Haus.”

The example described above involving “Agent Bill Haus,” is even stranger than it first appears. (I assume that was an inside gag. “Bill House” of the IRS. Get it?) The woman who was being harassed turned out to not even owe any money in back taxes. They admitted as much to her after the fact. So what was the purpose of the intrusion? Was it just intimidation for some unstated reason?

While the House is investigating this, I think the public deserves a good, long look at the official IRS operating procedures and policies. Is the use of fake names something they put in writing or just some sort of unofficial “tradition” that developed at the agency over time? How often does it happen? Or, if this office that employed “Bill Haus” was some sort of aberration, was the employee and/or their supervisor terminated?

Underlying all of this is a more fundamental question. Who uses a fake name for any reason whatsoever unless it is with the intent to deceive or cover up the fact that they know they are doing something wrong? Sure, we could make exceptions in the case of spies or various legitimate exercises of espionage. But we’re talking about the Internal Revenue Service. If a taxpayer is contacted by them it’s already a traumatic enough experience. We have a right to know who we are dealing with in case there are any issues or we feel we need to escalate the matter to their superiors. This is completely unacceptable.

If the police or the FBI show up at your door for any reason they are expected to display a badge so they can be identified. (Exceptions are made for emergency response situations, but they will still have to be identified later.) IRS agents are not sent in to resolve hostage situations or stop a killer in their tracks. There is no point at which they should fail to have and produce appropriate, authentic identification and reveal their name. I want to know how deep this story goes and everyone should demand the same.