Budget

House Under McCarthy To Cut IRS Funding, Target 87,000 New Agents

Published on 9 months ago

The newly sworn-in 118th US House of Representatives is not wasting any time in getting to work for the hard-working Americans who voted for them to take on the swamp, reducing the power and spending of the federal government.

On Monday night the house will vote on a bill that would cut more than $70 billion in Internal Revenue Service funding in an effort to prevent the agency from conducting new audits on Americans.

This will fulfill one of the newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s promises; “On the very first day, we’ll repeal the 87,000 new IRS agents because we think the government should be there to help you, not to go after you.”

The Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act from Reps. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Michelle Steel, R-Calif., would roll back the billions of dollars of funding for the IRS that was approved in the Inflation Reduction Act last year.

Smith’s bill leaves in place funding for customer service and improvements to IT services at the IRS but rescinds several categories of unobligated funding, including money that could be used to conduct any new audits on Americans.

In total, it would cut $72 billion of the funding Congress approved for the IRS last year.

In 2021, the Treasury Department estimated that $80 billion would be used to hire 87,000 auditors and other new staff.

Republicans have said they would fight this aggressive expansion that would more than double the agency’s current size.

“The last thing the American people need right now is more audits from an out-of-control, bloated IRS,” Smith told Fox News Digital on Monday.

“The Inflation Act funding for IRS would lead to the hiring of 87,000 new IRS employees tasked with raising enough revenue to pay for Democrats’ Green New Deal priorities,” Smith added.

Smith called it “unacceptable.”

“Our bill leaves in place funding for customer service and IT improvements because IRS is in desperate need of reform, but it protects middle-class families from audits they cannot afford,” Smith said.

The vote is scheduled for Monday evening just days after McCarthy, R-Calif., secured the House speakership.

Also Monday the House is set to vote on the new rules package.

It includes:

Several measures aimed at making it harder for Congress to spend money.
It also requires 72 hours’ notice prior to voting on new legislation
A three-fifths supermajority in order to pass federal income tax rate increases
The formation of a task force to address House ethics reform.

The rules package also calls for the creation of a House Oversight subcommittee to investigate the origins of COVID-19, specifically mentioning the U.S. government’s involvement in any funding of gain-of-function research.