Republican lawmakers are pushing the “IRS Funding Accountability Act” as a response to the “Inflation Reduction Act,” which vastly inflates the IRS with enough money to hire tens of thousands of new IRS agents.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which does little to nothing to reduce inflation, as it largely focused on green initiatives and Obamacare programs, boosts funding for the IRS by $80 billion, making the agency “larger than the Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and Border Patrol combined,” as Breitbart News detailed.
The funding, according to lawmakers, also comes without any oversight measures. This is where the IRS Funding Accountability Act comes into play.
“Democrats and the Biden administration have weaponized the IRS over the last two years to pay for their tax-and-spend agenda. The time for oversight is now,” Rep. Mike Kelly, Chairman of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Tax, said in a statement, explaining that the $80 million would result in the IRS “unfairly” targeting “low-and-middle income Americans.”
“The goal of my legislation is to provide much-needed oversight and accountability that the Inflation Reduction Act lacks. This will hold government accountable to the American people and ensure the IRS is properly using taxpayer dollars,” he added.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight said it is “dangerous and irresponsible” that the Inflation Reduction Act bloats the IRS without true accountability.
“This legislation would provide much-needed oversight of the unprecedented $80 billion in funding to the agency, more than half of which Democrats have directed toward enforcement-related measures, including audits. If our bill becomes law, the Biden administration’s IRS would have to answer to the American people, not Washington bureaucrats,” he added.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-SC), member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, also said transparency is needed.
“When Democrats’ partisan spending bill gave the IRS an extra 80 billion dollars last year, their legislation included no oversight and accountability mechanisms whatsoever,” he said.
“Our bill will ensure that the IRS is answerable to the American people in how it uses this money, and will force it to forfeit funds every day it’s not in compliance,” Grassley added.
Read the measure here.
As promised by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the Republican-led House voted to repeal the Democrats’ “army of 87,000 IRS agents” as the very first act of the new Congress last month:
🚨 House Republicans just voted unanimously to repeal the Democrats' army of 87,000 IRS agents 🚨
This was our very first act of the new Congress, because government should work for you, not against you.
Promises made. Promises kept.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 10, 2023
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