On May 20, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Billy Long, President Trump’s nominee for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner. During the hearing, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a longtime Congressional champion of whistleblower rights, asked Long about his support for the IRS’s hugely important whistleblower program.
““[The] IRS Whistleblower Program incentivizes those with knowledge of high-dollar tax evasion to alert the IRS, and this deals mostly with corporations. To date, this program has brought in over $6 billion to the Treasury and could raise billions more if used by the IRS to its fullest extent. Should you be confirmed, can I count on you to be supportive of the whistleblower program and work to ensure it’s used to its full potential?” Grassley asked.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of daylight between Charles Grassley and Billy Long on that issue. And you were one of the very first senators that allowed me to come into your office and visit. And we had a robust discussion on whistleblowers, and I’m right there with you, Senator,” Long responded.
Through the IRS Whistleblower Program, qualified whistleblowers, individuals who voluntarily provide original information that leads to a successful IRS action, are eligible to receive monetary awards of 15-30% of the money collected thanks to their disclosure.
The program, which revolutionized tax enforcement by incentivizing insiders to come forward and disclose hard-to-detect...
(CNN) — President Donald Trump made a series of false claims to members of the military on Tuesday in a partisan and combative speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Trump lied again about the 20...