The Internal Revenue Service spent approximately $10,000 to create a video parody of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice featuring agency employees. The video, which was created for a 2011 conference of the IRS’s small business and self-employed division conference, was never used because the conference was canceled.
The spoof, released by the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday, shows various IRS agents, whose names have been redacted, describing how they conducted continuing-professional-education programs. They are trying to impress “Donald Trump,” a gentleman clad in a brown toupee and flanked by two associates. “Another day, another example of abuse and waste at the IRS,” Oversight Subcommittee chairman Charles Boustany said in a statement. “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’s idea of entertainment.”
The IRS came under scrutiny earlier this year for spending millions of taxpayer dollars on employee conferences. A Star Trek parody video, which was featured at the small business and self-employed division’s conference in 2010, drew particular outrage.