IRS sends out email touting Trump tax cuts ahead of election. Why one ethics expert questions the timing.
The Internal Revenue Service released an email touting President Donald Trump's tax cuts he signed into law last year. Credit: Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla
WASHINGTON — Just days before Tuesday’s critical midterm election, the Internal Revenue Service is emailing taxpayers with a notice touting the tax cuts signed into law last year by President Donald Trump, a missive that government ethics experts say could potentially violate rules barring the use of federal resources for campaigning.
"Hardworking Americans like you are keeping more of what they earn because of President Trump’s historic tax cuts," reads the email signed by IRS CEO Frank J. Bisignano.
The email, which appears to have been sent to subscribers of the IRS’ public alerts system, comes on the heels of other election-time checks and notices being sent by the administration to Americans in the runup to Election Day. So far, the Trump administration has sent out $90 Medicare rebate checks to more than 20 million U.S. seniors and automatically enrolled millions of U.S. children into the Trump Accounts investment program. Trump, meanwhile, has pledged to give $5,000 dividend checks to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans win control of Congress, a proposal that would require $1.2 trillion in new federal spending.
The IRS declined to comment on the timing of the email and how many Americans were sent the dispatch. The IRS and the Social Security Administration, also led by Bisignano, sent out separate emails this week to an unknown number of recipients, urging readers to activate Trump Accounts for their children while touting the president’s policies, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Government ethics attorney Brett Kappel said the IRS emails come as the Trump administration has recently faced backlash and lawsuits over a series of TV ads that aired last month promoting Trump’s presidency, which were paid for using $20 million in Department of Homeland Security funds.
"This email raises questions about whether appropriated funds are being used in violation of the congressional prohibition on using such funds for ‘publicity or propaganda,’ " Kappel, an attorney with the Washington-based law firm Harmon Curran, told Newsday in an email. "This email is closer to the line than the campaign ads that were repurposed by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month in that it provides information about an ongoing government program. Sending it out right before the election, however, with no discernible tax reason for disseminating it now undercuts the argument that it isn’t political propaganda."
On Long Island, Marv Bernfeld, of Melville, was among the recipients of the IRS email. He said he was unsure how he ended up on the list of recipients.
"To me, it's politicizing the IRS," Bernfeld, a registered Democrat, said in a phone interview. "It's totally inappropriate."
The White House did not return a request for comment on the timing of the IRS email, but when previously asked about the timing of recent rebates and notices, a spokesperson told Newsday the president was simply delivering on his campaign promises.
"With the continued support of the American people, President Trump will keep delivering real results," said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle.
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
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