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A proposal approved by the majority of the legislators of the Republican Party of the House of Representatives to wipe out billions of dollars in funds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will accumulate more than $100 billion in federal deficits over the next 10 years, according to a new estimate from the official congressional budget scorer.
House Republicans made good on a campaign promise by passing a bill that would reduce Biden-signed IRA funds to the IRS to zero. drastically increase the enforcement capabilities of the IRSand Democrats and the government say they will target the rich who cheat on their taxes.
On Monday, the House of Representatives approved the proposal in a party-line vote, 221-210.
“Our first bill will repeal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, because the government should be here to help them, not persecute them.” declared the new speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthyby taking the deck and giving way to a new session under Republican rule.
Nearly $46 billion of that spending would go to IRS tax enforcement efforts designed to prevent certain taxpayers, mostly corporations and wealthy individuals, from paying less than they owe.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which reviews bills for lawmakers, reported in an analysis that the GOP move to cut funding to the IRS would cut federal spending by $71 billion, but also would reduce tax revenue to the tune of nearly $186 billion. The net effect would be a $114 billion increase in deficits over the next decade.
The numbers were not lost on Democrats, who wasted no time criticizing Republicans for promise to rein in deficit spending and then challenge that promise in his first piece of legislation.
“This is a giant tax cut for the tax evading rich,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted on Monday. “New House GOP Bill #1. add to the deficit.
Republicans had made cutting IRS funding one of the top promises in the midterm election campaign, warning that the money would lead to the hiring of 87,000 new tax collectors to target middle-income Americans. Some Republicans even said those officers would be armed.
The claims made by Republican representatives were highly misleading, since a large part of the funds will go towards hiring thousands of customer service agents and other employees without audit responsibilities.
Y the 87,000 figure is a reference to the total number of employeesnot just auditors, who the IRS hopes to hire over the next decade, when 52,000 workers from that agency are expected to retire.
Additionally, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that while the new funds are crucial to speeding up processing and eliminating the backlog of tax returns, the agency will not increase audit fees for taxpayers making less than $400,000. annual dollars.
Still, few government agencies are less popular than the IRS, and the Republican message seemed to resonate with the Republican base.
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