Thanks to the IRS Whistleblower Office, they can report anyone they suspect of cheating on their taxes to the IRS.
Now, you're staring at the prospect of paying the infamous "marriage penalty": the higher tax rate that married couples face if they file joint tax returns (something that has been possible since the supreme court struck down the part of the Defense of Marriage Act banning the federal government – and thus the IRS – from recognizing same-sex marriages).
So far, the congressional investigations have revealed that IRS officials in Washington were more involved in handling the applications than the agency initially acknowledged.
However, the investigations have not publicly established that anyone outside the IRS knew about the targeting or directed it.
While these mind games might be exactly what IRS needs right now, there are many reasons why tax lottery would be hard to implement in the US.
"We keep going after the people who look like the worst of the bad guys, but there are going to be some people that we should catch, either in terms of collecting the revenue from them or prosecuting them, that we're not going to catch," IRS Commissioner John Koshinen said earlier this month.
And it might be a stretch, but who knows whether the beleaguered IRS might consider one day following suit for America's corporate scofflaws?
There was the time in February of last year that he said that Americans were afraid to speak up against progressives because they were afraid "they will be targeted, they will be called names, they will be investigated by the IRS and all kinds of unimaginable things will happen".
The information included tax returns and other tax information on file with the IRS.
However, the IRS said the thieves appeared to already have a lot of personal information about the victims.
The IRS, whose budget to audit and investigate wrongdoing has been slashed to a fraction of its size a decade ago, may not have the resources or will to pursue the NRA.
