President Joe Biden says that the United States suffers from a "two-tiered tax system," where "regular workers pay the taxes they owe on their wages and salaries" while "wealthy tax cheats" play by different rules. He used this argument to secure $80 billion in additional funding in the "Inflation Reduction" Act for the tax agency to hire 75,000 employees.
Turns out the IRS is quite effective at ferreting out wealthy tax cheats, but sometimes the Department of Justice is not so good at prosecuting them.
According to whistleblower testimony from IRS agent Gary Shapley, the agency uncovered an array of tax crimes committed by Hunter Biden after receiving a tip from the FBI. The younger Biden routinely wrote off almost every part of his hedonistic, depraved, and criminal lifestyle as a business expense, Shapley and a colleague say: hookers (and their travel), a sex club membership, and swanky hotel rooms for his drug dealer and father.
Since 2002, Shapley’s unidentified colleague told Congress, Hunter Biden has brazenly flouted the nation’s tax laws. That’s why the feds recommended a litany of charges including tax evasion, a felony. Shapley called it a "slam dunk case."
But Merrick Garland’s DOJ was able to pick up what the elder Biden was putting down when he insisted his son "has done nothing wrong." Hence the sweetheart plea deal struck Tuesday between Hunter Biden and the DOJ that is a middle finger to the American people.
The attorney general on Friday responded to critics of this deal by gaslighting them: "Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department by claiming that we do not treat cases alike. This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy." He added: "Nothing could be further from the truth."
If Democrats like Garland want their political opponents to take seriously actual attacks on our institutions of government, such as occurred on January 6, 2021, maybe it’s time to cut the crap.
The bottom line is that the IRS appears well-equipped to sniff out missing tax dollars. A Department of Justice that administers the law without fear or favor—now, that’s something that might be worth $80 billion.