Missouri's Billy Long grilled over donations, tax credits in Senate confirmation hearing
Billy Long speaks during a press conference before filing for election during the Missouri Senate primary on Feb. 22, 2022, in Jefferson City (Madeline Carter/Missouri Independent).
Former Missouri Congressman Billy Long denied any wrongdoing regarding his ties to companies involved with controversial tax credit schemes during his confirmation hearing Tuesday on his nomination to lead the Internal Revenue Service.
Long, who worked as an auctioneer before serving six terms representing a Southwest Missouri congressional district, also denied seeking donations from anyone associated with those companies that he used to pay off a personal loan he gave to his unsuccessful 2022 campaign for U.S. Senate.
'You know as well as I do that anytime you're dealing with the (Federal Elections Commission), you have to follow FEC guidelines,' Long told members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. 'And that's exactly what I did all the way through.'
Democrats on the committee were not convinced that Long didn't ask for the money.
'You expect us to believe that the money just fell out of the sky and it showed up in your campaign treasury?' said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon.
In December, Trump nominated Long to lead the IRS. At the time, Long's campaign committee had $130,000 in debt — money that Long had loaned the campaign himself.
By early January, his Senate campaign committee raised $137,000, with much of the money coming from executives at companies that have been accused of selling fraudulent tax credits.
Billy Long's bid to lead IRS under scrutiny over donations that paid off personal debt
In addition to the campaign donations, Wyden hammered Long for allegedly raking in 'referral fees, steering clients to firms that sold fake tax shelters and pushing small businesses to unknowingly commit tax fraud.'
A financial disclosure Long submitted as part of his confirmation process shows him receiving at least $5,000 in compensation from White River, an Arkansas-based oil and gas company that sold a tax credit that the IRS says doesn't actually exist.
White River said in a statement that Long made an 'insignificant amount of referrals of these credits to third parties' for the company, and that no federal agency has ever told it the credits are invalid.
Long on Tuesday denied he'd ever met or interacted with anyone at White River and claimed he had only referred the credits to a few friends.
The Missouri Republican also faced tough questions from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, over whether President Donald Trump is allowed to use the IRS to strip organizations of their nonprofit status.
Warren pointed to a portion of federal law that prohibits any member of the executive branch to request the IRS to conduct or terminate an audit on a taxpayer.
'In the first place, he wouldn't do that,' Long said.
'That's not my question, Mr. Long,' Warren responded.
A few seconds of back and forth later, Long said he was 'going to follow the law,' but that 'I'd have to go to the lawyers at the IRS to tell me.'
Warren wasn't impressed.
'If you think follow the law is you get to make it up on the spot,' she said, 'then you don't get to be the IRS commissioner.'
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, continued the line of questioning later, pressing Long over whether he had previously said he would ignore an order from Trump to audit a taxpayer.
'I think I told you that he wouldn't do that in the first place,' Long responded, 'but if he did, I'd do exactly what you said. So, yes.'
In his opening statement, Long vowed to make long-needed changes at the agency if confirmed to be the next IRS commissioner. And if he isn't ultimately confirmed, he'll gladly head back to Missouri.
'I have the opportunity to make real transformational change to an agency that needs it more than any other federal agency,' he said. 'Or I can go back home to southwest Missouri where the fish are biting and as they say, they ain't going to catch themselves.'
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