Threats against Internal Revenue Service workers and facilities continue to pour in following last month’s plane crash at agency offices in Austin.
IRS watchdogs are investigating more than 70 reported instances of inappropriate comments made to agency workers by taxpayers, union officials said earlier this week.
Despite earlier reports suggesting it was 70 actual threats, National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen M. Kelley clarified on Wednesday that workers have received a mix of inappropriate comments — including jokes or statements of support for pilot A. Joseph Stack III — and more serious threats. Kelley said she learned of the threats from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which tracks threats against IRS workers.
Neither TIGTA nor the IRS would confirm an actual number of threats or share details of ongoing investigations.
“TIGTA is actively and aggressively investigating all threats made against IRS employees, infrastructure and property,” said J. Russell George, the treasury inspector general for tax administration.
IRS workers are instructed to report threats made against them to TIGTA immediately. The watchdog has established a toll-free hotline, e-mail address and internal messaging system for workers to quickly report potential threats.
“It would be a little naïve to think that we don’t get some threats over the course of doing business,” said IRS Communications Director Terry Lemons.
As The Eye has reported previously, attacks and threats against IRS workers and facilities happen frequently and are not confined to the annual tax filing season. The most recent attack at the Austin offices comes amid a wave of attacks at government and military facilities in the last six months.
