Yesterday, new reports revealed that Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has asked the Treasury Department, led by a billionaire former Wall Street executive, to reassign thousands of IRS agents from their critical work investigating enforcing the nation’s tax laws and catching wealthy tax evaders to become immigration officers. This unprecedented move would weaken the agency’s ability to pursue wealthy tax cheats and corporations who, in some cases, have spent years avoiding billions in tax bills.  In response, Americans for Tax Fairness released the following statement.

“This request from the Department of Homeland Security is a blatant power grab aimed at aiding the President’s anti-immigrant agenda while allowing his billionaire backers to enrich themselves at taxpayer’s expense. Many of these agents are tasked with investigating ultra-wealthy and corporate tax cheats. Taking them off the job creates more opportunities for the wealthy and well-connected to avoid paying their fair share,” said David Kass, ATF Executive Director. “Many Undocumented immigrants pay a higher effective tax rate than many major corporations. Trump and his billionaire allies are focused on continuing to villainize our neighbors and community members while threatening to deport immigrant workers who contribute substantially to the American economy. IRS agents should never be used as political pawns to fulfill a President’s unrelated policy goals. Congress must immediately investigate and stop this overreach by the Executive Branch.”

 Recently, Senate Democrats, as part of their oversight efforts, have created a form for whistleblowers inside the federal government to report potentially unlawful activity safely.