WASHINGTON, DC – After the IRS failed to fulfill a request by Congress’s top tax panel to inform the agency’s more than 80,000 employees about a new whistleblower portal for reporting misconduct and abuse within the agency, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement:

“Our government agencies must answer to the people they serve, and they must do so through transparency and accountability. Unfortunately, the IRS – with its history of targeting Americans and repeatedly leaking confidential taxpayer information to further a political agenda – has a long way to go to restore the trust of the American people. By ignoring a direct request from the Ways and Means Committee – which has clear responsibility for oversight of the IRS – to inform its employees about the existence of the whistleblower portal, the agency has failed to take a simple but vital step towards demonstrating its willingness to work in good faith to shine a light on any abuse and mistreatment of taxpayers. Inaction by IRS leadership only intensifies the American people’s concerns about the agency and alarms career civil servants – who are in a position to help Congress – that IRS leadership will not tolerate whistleblowers.”

In a January 25 letter to Acting Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, Chairman Smith requested the agency confirm by February 8 that the information regarding the Whistleblower portal had been shared with all IRS employees:

“We welcome and...

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