Tuesday 13 September 2022 09:17 PM Senate GOP offers bill to stop audits of Americans making under $400K using ... trends now
A group of Senate Republicans introduced a bill this week that will ensure that the Internal Revenue Service can't audit Americans making under $400,000 a year using the boost of funds included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The two-page bill puts into writing what IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig pledged to senators in August, when he said the decade-long, $80 billion cash infusion to the IRS was 'absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans.'
'The bill has teeth, in contrast to unenforceable, nonbinding statements of intention or unenforceable, vague Treasury Department edicts to not squeeze more revenue out of the middle class,' said Senate Finance Committee Republicans on Monday.
The effort was led by Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, the committee's ranking member, who had offered a similar amendment when the bill was going through Senate debate.
'Democrats cannot achieve their desired tax revenue goals without targeting the middle class, small businesses and taxpayers earning under $400,000 per year -taxpayers who cannot afford teams of lawyers and legal fees - which is why they rejected my original amendment,' Crapo said in a statement.
A group of Senate Republicans introduced a bill this week that will ensure that the Internal Revenue Service can't audit Americans making under $400,000 a year using the boost of funds included in the Inflation Reduction Act
The effort was led by Sen. Mike Crapo (pictured) of Idaho, the committee's ranking member, who had offered a similar amendment when the bill was going through Senate debate
'While advocates promise they do not intend to increase audits on people making less than $400,000, the best way to protect those taxpayers is to turn that promise into law,' the Idaho Republican added.
The Republican bill won't get anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The $400,000 salary cap was likely used because, as a candidate, Democratic President Joe Biden pledged to never raise taxes on Americans making less than that.
In the run-up to the Inflation Reduction Act becoming law, Republicans drummed up a hysteria surrounding the IRS' proposed influx of funds.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted calls to 'Abolish the IRS.'
He also claimed that 'Schumer-Manchin would fund 87,000 IRS agents.'
'Just imagine THOUSANDS of IRS agents descending upon America like a swarm of locusts!' he tweeted.
In the run-up to the Inflation Reduction Act becoming law, Republicans drummed up a hysteria surrounding the IRS' proposed influx of funds, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who tweeted: 'Abolish the IRS'
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley asked on Fox: 'Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded ready to shoot some small business person in Iowa?'
