Everyone’s favorite tax collection agency is in hot water once again, this time for parodying a television show.
On Friday, The Washington Times reported that the agency had spent $10,000 in 2011 to develop a parody video of Donald Trump’s popular reality show “The Apprentice,” to be shown to employees at a conference.
The video shows IRS employees competing as contestants on an episode of show. The individual impersonating Mr. Trump is wearing a bad wig, of course.
IRS officials were quick to condemn the video and cast blame on previous officials.
“The video made in 2011 is from a prior era and does not reflect the stringent policies IRS now has in place to ensure that all training videos are made at the lowest possible cost and with appropriate content,” the IRS said in a statement. “Simply put, this video would not be made at the IRS today.”
What’s perhaps most surprising is that the video apparently wasn’t even shown to employees after it was produced. According to The National Review, the conference ended up being cancelled, and the video wasn’t used.
This isn’t the first time that the agency has developed instructional videos at significant costs to the taxpayers. Earlier this year, it was discovered that that IRS officials had spent $60,000 to make and distribute parody Star Trek training videos for their employees at a conference in 2010.
Since acknowledging the high cost of the videos, IRS officials have drastically reduced the amount spent on training videos.
“It’s important to note that video costs by IRS business units are down by 90 percent this year compared to a year ago,” said the IRS, in a statement.
Watch the parody video below:
