J. Smith: Republicans Will Defund Biden’s Supercharged IRS
“We will return power to the American people and hold the IRS accountable…”
“A supercharged IRS that does not answer to Congress is dangerous,” writes Ways and Means member and Republican Leader of the House Committee on the Budget Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) in a new op-ed for The Hill. Highlighting how Democrats have ignored the agency’s history of abuse, Rep. Smith outlines how Republicans will hold the IRS accountable to the American people by defunding the “87,000 IRS agents that Democrats hired to go after working families.”
Key Excerpts:
The IRS Has a Long History of Abuses, and Taxpayers Have Had to Pay the Legal Expenses of Perpetrators.
- “Nine years ago, it was revealed that the IRS division that grants non-profit status to political organizations, overseen by a Lois Lerner, had been targeting for additional scrutiny conservative groups in the lead up to the 2012 Presidential election.”
- “At the House Budget Committee, we have traced that over the years, taxpayers have footed the bill for Lerner’s legal defense to the tune of at least $3.6 million — forcing the same taxpayers whose First Amendment rights were violated by the IRS to defend the bureaucrat who violated them. Another $3.5 million has been paid to victims of the Lerner targeting scheme, totaling at least $7.1 million to deal with the fallout from the IRS’ illicit activity.”
READ: New Schumer-Manchin Bill Will Supercharge Long History of IRS Abuses
Democrats Have Supercharged the IRS.
- “Democrats voted this year in their Inflation Reduction Act to create an army of potential Lois Lerners by handing over $80 billion to the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents to audit working families.”
- “Estimates show this would lead to 710,000 more audits on middle-and low-income families.”
- “Democrats have prioritized the IRS to such an extent that it can continue implementing President Biden’s agenda no matter what. By allowing the IRS to potentially function absent regular congressional funding, Democrats have forfeited congressional oversight that could address the agency’s repeated abuse of power.”
Republicans Will Hold the IRS Accountable to the American People.
- “A supercharged IRS that does not answer to Congress is dangerous. Over the past two years we’ve seen the agency become increasingly unaccountable under President Biden’s rein.”
- “When Republicans earn back majorities in Congress, business as usual for the IRS will be over. We will return power to the American people and hold the IRS accountable, starting with undoing 87,000 IRS agents that Democrats hired to go after working families.”