Shortly after adopting a new rules package for the 118th Congress Monday night, Republican lawmakers swiftly moved to fulfill a top campaign promise and main tenet of Speaker Kevin McCarthy's Commitment to America.
🚨 House Republicans just voted unanimously to repeal the Democrats' army of 87,000 IRS agents 🚨
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 10, 2023
This was our very first act of the new Congress, because government should work for you, not against you.
Promises made. Promises kept.
🚨 Promises made, promises KEPT. @HouseGOP is voting tonight to REPEAL funding for 87,000 IRS agents included in Biden’s Inflation “Reduction” Act. pic.twitter.com/LwEHpNgTe2
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) January 10, 2023
Americans for Tax Reform sounded the alarm about the new agents and who they would target last year.
"The dishonestly named Inflation Reduction Act added $80 billion in new funding for the IRS. This additional spending will go towards hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to go after American families and small businesses to help finance Democrats trillion-dollar spending spree," ATR finds. "Of the $80 billion in new funding, $45.6 billion will go towards tax enforcement while a mere $3.18 billion goes towards taxpayer services – meaning Democrats spent 14 times more on increasing enforcement than improving taxpayer services. Taxpayer services include things like pre-filing assistance and education along with filing and account services."
"Democrats have claimed this funding won’t go towards any new IRS audits on Americans making less than $400,000, but a preliminary assessment from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows otherwise. The CBO estimates that at least $20 billion of new revenue from increased IRS audits will come from individuals earning less than $400,000 per year," ATR continues.
Not surprisingly, every House Democrat voted to keep the funding and harassment of average Americans intact.
Democrats voted en masse to protect the vast expansion of the IRS, which is already disproportionately targeting lower-income Americans — which Dems swore wouldn’t be the case. They lied. https://t.co/DDkhUd1L54 https://t.co/AXSbiPc9IM
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 10, 2023
Democrats continue to cite former IRS commissioners who have called for more IRS funding. But even former Democrat IRS commissioner John Koskinen said $80 billion was too much. https://t.co/S5ltFZtElJ
— Ways and Means Committee (@WaysandMeansGOP) January 10, 2023