IRS video spoofs Donald Trump
You've seen the IRS videos spoofing "Star Trek", "Gilligan's Island", and reality TV dance competitions. Now you can see the tax agency make fun of Donald Trump.
On the heels of those earlier videos, which dealt a series of embarrassing blows to the beleaguered tax agency, comes a new pair of videos, again financed by taxpayers - one mocking Trump's television show "The Apprentice," the other bringing viewers behind the scenes of the agency's video production outfit.
The first video, which was produced in 2011 for an IRS small business conference at a cost of roughly $10,000, features an IRS official wearing a wig, a nod to Trump's inimitable hairstyle, berating his "employees" for their performance.
"You have great ideas, and they are big ideas," he tells those gathered around a conference table with him. "But where are they taking you? How many houses do you own? How many hotels, casinos? But enough about me."
The video was never shown because the conference was canceled.
The second video gives viewers a closer look at the production process for these IRS videos. It shows IRS employees being treated as celebrities as they prep for filming, showcasing the "talent," the stage, and the teleprompter used in filming. Several employees are shown getting professional makeup as they prepare for their time in the sun.
The IRS director of communications, giving a pep talk to employees ahead of a show, asks, "Everybody in a happy place?"
The House Ways and Means committee, which released the videos, is evidently not in a happy place about them. Committee chairman Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., blasted the agency in a statement.
"Another day, another example of abuse and waste at the IRS," he said. "Months ago, I demanded the IRS come clean about the time and money it spent to produce these frivolous videos. While we may have no answers, we do have an endless supply of what appears to be the IRS' idea of entertainment."
"There is nothing amusing about the American people footing the bill for this rogue and out-of-control agency," he added.
The IRS defended itself, noting that it slashed spending on instruction videos by 90 percent during the last fiscal year. "Simply put, this video would not be made at the IRS today," IRS spokesperson Michelle Eldridge explained in a statement, insisting the "stringent policies" the IRS has recently instituted will "ensure that all training videos are made at the lowest possible cost and with appropriate content."
Despite the embarrassment caused by a rolling disclosure of videos, it's not the biggest black eye the IRS has sustained this year: The agency has been under fire for months for its burdensome scrutiny of activist organizations applying for tax-exempt status during the 2012 election.