House Republicans fulfilled a key campaign promise on Monday, passing legislation to rescind the bulk of an IRS funding boost signed into law last year.
This marks the first bill passed by the GOP-controlled House this Congress.
The bill, which is unlikely to see action in the Democratic-controlled Senate, passed in a party-line 221-210 vote on Monday evening.
A boost of about $80 billion in IRS funding over a decade generally aimed at upping high-income enforcement was included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ sweeping tax, health and climate bill.
The Republican bill, formally titled the “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act,” directs any “unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available” to the IRS from the Inflation Reduction Act to be rescinded.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated Monday that the legislation would eliminate about $71 billion of the total $80 billion that was allocated for the IRS but would reduce tax revenue by about $186 billion, translating to a $114 billion increase in deficits over the next decade.
Republicans have repeatedly falsely claimed the 87,000 new IRS employees, who would be added over the course of a decade, would be “agents.”
The 87,000 figure comes from a May 2021 Treasury Department compliance report estimating new hires over a decade with the $80 billion funding boost. But only a small portion of the department’s current employees are agents, and the department has said the figure accounts for other workers such as customer service representatives and computer scientists as well as replacements for the 52,000 employees expected to retire or resign within the next six years.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an August letter to members of the Senate that the funds from the legislation would be used to up examination of large corporations and high-net-worth individuals and were not designed to raise enforcement for households making less than $400,000.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also said that the agency would not increase audit rates for those taxpayers making less than $400,000.
Republicans, however, argued that the directives did not prohibit increased enforcement activities directed at middle- and low-income taxpayers, and pointed to a CBO analysis that said the funding boost would mean audit rates “rise for all taxpayers.” They also criticized the legislation for not allocating a larger portion to taxpayer services.
Representative Nick Langworthy voted for the bill, saying in a statement, “The problems facing the people of Western New York and the Southern Tier require a sense of urgency and that’s what they deserve from their representatives. I made a promise to protect taxpayers from an overzealous, politicized IRS and I delivered. The American people entrusted us with the Majority and it’s time we produce results. We are just getting started.”
The bill stand little chance in the Senate, and the White House said in a statement on Monday that President Biden would veto it if it came to his desk.
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