Congressional Democrats are on the cusp of doubling the size of the Internal Revenue Service, allocating $80 billion for new IRS agents. The funding in their so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” is all but certain to become a reality after the Senate passed the measure over the weekend.
Democrats are set to more than double the IRS’ current workforce, making it one of the largest federal agencies and increasing its budget by roughly 600 percent. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised the bill saying, “I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century.”
Among many other things, the huge spending bill creates a whopping 87,000 additional IRS auditors who will target Americans by launching over a million more tax audits per year. And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) says middle-class taxpayers and even lower-income earners are going to end up bearing the brunt of the expected audit-storm.
“Democrats want to make the IRS larger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and the Border Patrol combined,” Cruz wrote. “That’s a terrible idea. We should abolish the IRS!”
Democrats want to make the IRS larger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and the Border Patrol combined.
That’s a terrible idea. We should abolish the IRS! pic.twitter.com/DtI8SSIHmO
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 7, 2022
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) agreed with Cruz’s concerns. His office issuing a statement that accuses Democrats of “hiring thousands of new agents to shake down hardworking Americans.”
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis shows the hiring would result in more than $200 billion in tax dollars taken from Americans over the next decade. Republicans maintain that money would come from IRS audits against families making less than $200,000 a year.
Sen. Scott said in a Senate speech, “And oh, by the way, when you think about the size of the IRS — when you think about the enforcement — realize that according to the CBO, 90% of the targeting would be on household incomes under $200,000.”
Democrats want to make the IRS bigger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, & the Border Patrol… combined.
My motion would have put our priorities straight by redirecting IRS funding to parents to help their kids recover from learning loss. https://t.co/PwQHJZTI8n
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) August 7, 2022
In his speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Cruz said, “I guarantee you, citizens in every one of our states, if you ask them, ‘what do they want?’ they don’t want 87,000 new IRS agents. And they’re not being created to audit billionaires or giant corporations. They’re being created to audit you.”
He warned, “The House Ways and Means Committee, the minority has put out an estimate that under this bill there will be 1.2 million new audits per year with over 700,000 of those new audits falling on taxpayers making $75,000 or less.”
Dems’ bill contains no protections for the middle-class from new barrage of IRS audits.
“Every retailer in the US who cares about their hard-hit customers should be fighting to block this unnecessary harassment of hard-working Americans.” –@RepKevinBradyhttps://t.co/qgxklR9G3T
— Ways and Means GOP (@WaysandMeansGOP) August 6, 2022
Cruz had tried to offer a Senate amendment to the bill to keep it from hitting ordinary Americans so hard, but he tweeted that “Democrats voted down every amendment” to stop audits of middle-class Americans.
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