Billionaire troll Elon Musk mocked the IRS for hiring an additional 87,000 employees on Thursday.
The IRS will be making the hires using funds from the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which is expected to pass through Congress in the coming days. Musk remarked that “Fate [loves] irony” and posted a meme on Twitter pointing out that the US first broke with England over taxes.
“When the country that revolted over taxes hires 87,000 new IRS agents,” the meme reads, placed above a photo of a laughing British Army officer from the movie The Patriot.
One Twitter user replied that “They’re not going after you, they’re coming after us,” to which Musk responded, “True. I already get audited every year by default.”
The new hiring has been widely criticized by Republicans, who cited a job posting on the IRS website seeking “Criminal Investigation Special Agents.”
The posting, which has now been deleted, stated that being “legally allowed to carry a firearm” is a “key requirement” for applicants. The posting added that applicants must also “be willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments,” as well as “be willing to use deadly force.”
The new hiring will more than double the current size of the IRS. Democrats argue that a bolstered IRS will gather $124 billion in additional government revenue over the next decade. They say the organization will be better equipped to target wealthy individuals and corporations.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
