House Republicans are renewing efforts to reduce the Internal Revenue Service’s budget, with a committee suggesting a bill that would cut $2.2 billion, nearly 18%.
Most of this reduction — $2 billion — would come from the tax agency’s enforcement budget.
The bill “reduces wasteful spending and aims to stop agencies like the IRS from unfairly targeting hardworking Americans,” said Rep. Dave Joyce, an Ohio Republican and chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee for financial services and general government, in a statement on Tuesday.
Democrats disagree.
Their primary concerns involve enforcement. The Inflation Reduction Act, a Democratic law passed in 2022, allocated $80 billion to the IRS, mainly to boost its enforcement capabilities.
“This proposal favors wealthy tax evaders over the American public,” stated the Treasury Department.
The Republicans’ proposal comes shortly after the IRS revealed plans to significantly increase audits for corporations and wealthy households. The IRS clarified that IRA funds are not used to increase audit rates for households earning less than $400,000 annually. Recent audits have recovered $500 million in back taxes from about 1,000 delinquent millionaires and billionaires, according to the Treasury Department.
