Nearly 1,600 IRS employees evaded taxes
Well, this is a banner week for government corruption: A new audit of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) found that nearly 1,600 workers intentionally avoided paying their taxes between 2004 and 2013. In spite of specific legal requirements, most of them were not fired, and some actually saw their pay increased.
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense (DOD) is more into liquor and prostitutes. A DOD audit revealed that both uniformed and civilian Pentagon employees used their government credit cards to gamble and hire escorts. Their goal was to hide these illicit purchases from their spouses.
This is not a new problem at the Pentagon: A 2008 audit noted that employees used their company cards "to subscribe to internet dating services, buy video iPods for personal use, and pay for lavish dinners that included top-shelf liquor."
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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