Biden's IRS Hits SecDef Hegseth With 'Total Sham' Audit

According to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the Biden administration is reaching out from the ashbin of history to vex him with an IRS audit, one that the SecDef describes as a "total sham." And, to be fair, it wouldn't be the first time that Democrats have tried this kind of harassment.

SecDef Hegseth took to his personal X account to spread the news.

Of course the outgoing Biden IRS rushed an “audit” of the incoming SecDef. Total sham.

The party of “norms” and “decency” strikes again. We will never back down. pic.twitter.com/coW1UpFPrD
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) February 17, 2025

And one reply, interestingly, mentioned just the very person broadly accused of bringing the audit power of the IRS to bear on political adversaries: Lois Lerner.

The weaponization of government agencies has to end. I was audited twice for my political beliefs when Lois Lerner was in charge of the IRS!

Our government bureaucracies have over-stepped their boundaries, and so have the Democrats.

We MUST never back down!
— LionHearted (@LionHearted76) February 17, 2025

Lois Lerner was investigated by Congress for weaponizing the IRS.

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The amount Mr. Hegseth and his wife owe the IRS, according to the document presented by the SecDef himself and in the New York Post, is substantial.

The document said the couple owes the government $33,558.16, which needs to be paid immediately to avoid further penalties.
It’s unclear what year or years the document is addressing.

To be fair, it's also unknown what prompted the audit. But it's something of an understatement to note that the timing is, shall we say, suspicious.

There have been incidents of retaliatory audits before Lois Lerner. Paula Jones, after refusing to settle a sexual harassment suit against then-President Bill Clinton, was hit with a curiously timed IRS audit. In 2021, Senator John Thune (R-SD), speaking on the Democrat-sponsored "election integrity" bill then in consideration, H.R. 1, asserted that the measure would weaponize the IRS.

“Mr. President, everyone remembers the IRS scandal during the Obama administration.
“Around 2013, it emerged that the Obama IRS had been unfairly singling out conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt status, slow-walking their applications and subjecting them to burdensome extra scrutiny.
“This had been going on for more than two years.
“And top IRS officials compounded the agency’s misdeeds by providing misleading information to Congress.
“Well, Mr. President, Americans should brace themselves.
“Because if H.R. 1 is ever enacted, it would allow for the same kind of targeting that went on under the Obama administration – if not worse.
“To start with, H.R. 1 repeals a Treasury Department rule finalized last year that was designed to help prevent the kind of abuse that went on under the Obama IRS.

The power to tax is the power to destroy, and the power to probe into the personal financial affairs of the citizenry is the power to destroy with prejudice. This may well be the best argument for a complete overhaul of the nation's system of taxation, a system that is so unbelievably complex and convoluted that nobody understands it. That, of course, leaves it open for all manner of manipulation and a Beria-esque "Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime" way.

Repeal the 16th Amendment, eliminate the income tax, and replace it with fees, tariffs, and, if absolutely required, a national retail-level (only) sales tax, and the potential for corruption is essentially gone. Until then, the IRS will continue to be wielded as a political weapon.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.