The Internal Revenue Service is one of the most disliked agencies within the federal government and it’s no surprise where these sentiments come from.
From the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups to the agency throwing lavish parties for its employees, Americans have good reason to distrust the tax collection group.
Well, a new Senate report should infuriate Americans even more, which found that IRS workers racked up a huge travel tab in what is being described as “luxury” living.
According to the report, the IRS spent more than $1.4 million on “long-term travel” for just 27 employees in fiscal year 2015. The spending included high-end car services and luxury apartment and hotel stays.
One lawmaker blasted the “woefully insufficient efforts” to reduce expenses within the IRS.
From Fox News:
The Senate Finance Committee report, obtained by FoxNews.com, found that while federal guidelines say employees must exercise the same care in incurring expenses as a “prudent person” traveling on personal business, IRS employees who traveled 125 business days or more racked up an average cost of over $52,000 a year.
The committee found more than half of the long-term travel time was spent in the Washington D.C., area. It found cases of five employees living in hotels, primarily in the capital, for months at a time without looking for lower-cost housing or having their per diem rates reduced as outlined in federal guidelines.
Further, the committee found “the IRS does not routinely or actively seek to reduce per diem rates for employees on long-term travel.”
Just 27 IRS employees spent over $1.4 million on travel, Senate report finds pic.twitter.com/1faXrKesHk
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) December 15, 2016
The IRS allows employees traveling to Washington to spend up to $7,099 per month on lodging alone, an expense that the committee saw “virtually no circumstance” to justify that kind of spending allowance.
More from the report:
The report cites the case of one employee spending more than five months at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, racking up a $38,799 tab, while another stayed in a number of Washington hotels including the Ritz Carlton – Pentagon City in Northern Virginia to the tune of $72,544 for the fiscal year.
One employee rented a $1.07 million, four-bedroom townhouse in Arlington, Va., for a year, costing taxpayers $4,950 a month, while another stayed in a luxury apartment building in downtown Chicago overlooking the Chicago River at a price of $4,605 a month.
The IRS needs a complete overhaul, and President-elect Donald J. Trump should demand Commissioner John Koskinen resign as soon as he takes office. Koskinen was never punished for the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups, and his agency continues to waste taxpayer dollars on a daily basis.
Do you think Trump should demand IRS Commissioner Koskinen resign immediately? Share your thoughts below!