Bachmann took IRS job to 'understand the enemy' and 'defeat the tax code'

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Wednesday explained that she had worked as an "insurgent" with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after graduating from law school to "understand the enemy from the inside" and "defeat the tax code."

"Well, it's been a hundred years now that we've had the current United States tax code," the Minnesota Republican told a crowd of tea party members in Washington, D.C. "Don't you think a century of oppression is enough?"

"I also want you to know that in my former life, I was an insurgent!" she exclaimed. "I was an insurgent because because I absolutely wanted to defeat the tax code and bring more liberty about in the United States. And so after I went to law school, I got a post-doctorate degree in tax law and after that I got a job with the IRS as a tax lawyer! Because I believe if you understand the enemy from the inside out, that's the best way to defeat them!"

Bachmann added that lawmakers were "more frightened of real people than anything else."

"So I think that there are shivers right now going up of a lot of politicians in that building," she said, pointing to the U.S. Capitol. "Now it's time for the politicians to listen to all of you!"

"You're here and you're clear.... with your message. And your message is, it's time to abolish the IRS!"

According to The Atlantic, Bachmann worked as a tax lawyer from 1988 to 1992 prosecuting Americans who didn't pay or underpaid their taxes.

Watch this video from Tea Party Patriots, broadcast June 19, 2013.

[Photo credit: Gage Skidmore]