Gary Palmer votes to defund the 87,000 new IRS Agents
On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act. Congressman Gary Palmer voted in favor of the legislation, that repeals the funding for the 87,000 additional IRS agents passed by Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act in the last Congress – without any Republican votes in the House. Not funding the IRS agents was promised by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans. “House Republicans made a commitment to repeal President [Joe] Biden’s army of 87,000 IRS agents as soon as we took the majority, and today we made a huge step towards making that a reality,” Rep. Palmer said in a statement. “The biggest problem with our tax collections is the complexity of the tax code. More auditors will not help that. In fact, John Koskinen, the Obama-appointed Commissioner of the IRS, as well as John Dalrymple, the Deputy Commissioner, in two separate Oversight hearings, advised against enforcement by a major increase in audits as planned by the Biden administration. They called increased audits an ‘unduly burdensome’ process that would put a major strain on individuals and businesses, thus causing more harm than good. To put it another way, the IRS can’t ‘audit its way out’ of the tax gap, as Obama IRS Commissioner Koskinen said during his hearing.” “Instead of funding agents for the purpose of harassing hard-working Americans who are having to deal with President Biden’s disastrous economic policies, Congress should get to work on simplifying the tax code,” Palmer said. “This would not only benefit taxpayers, but it would also increase economic growth and create jobs.” “House Republicans just voted unanimously to repeal the Democrats’ army of 87,000 IRS agents,” Speaker McCarthy said on Facebook. “This was our very first act of the new Congress, because government should work for you, not against you. Promises made. Promises kept.” The 117th Congress had raised IRS funding by $80 billion. This bill would cut $71 billion of that. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated Monday that the bill would cost the federal government $186 billion in additional tax revenue that the IRS would collect from increased audits. The net effect CBO estimates would be a $114 billion increase in deficits over the next decade. Democrats criticized the bill. The White House said that the legislation up was a “reckless” bill that would benefit “tax cheats.” “With their first economic legislation of the new Congress, House Republicans are making clear that their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multi-billion dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. “That’s their agenda; not lowering costs or cutting taxes for hard-working Americans – as President Biden has consistently advocated.” The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, where Democrats still have a majority. The White House said that President Biden will veto the bill if it reaches his desk. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
