Congress Passes Bill Unleashing Army of New IRS Agents to Audit Americans: 'They're Coming for Small Businesses'

Deborah Bunting
08-12-2022

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ANALYSIS

It's summertime, but the music from "Jaws" isn't being heard at the beaches, it's playing on Capitol Hill. Soon there will be a lot more "sharks" around, only this time they're on land, coming to audit the tax returns of roughly a million more middle-class taxpayers and small businesses.

That's the concern that's being expressed as a major expansion of the IRS tax force is on the way. Congressional Democrats passed their major economic bill Friday evening, the so-called "Inflation Reduction Act." The bill includes not only more than $300 billion in new taxes on businesses but average Americans will also be heavily targeted as the IRS is expected to more than double the number of its agents. 

Many Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, are sounding the alarm about the impact of 80,000+ extra IRS agents scrounging for taxpayer mistakes that will add up to enough booty to justify their jobs.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard shared her concerns about the IRS escalation, tweeting, "Biden's big spending bill takes $80B of OUR money to hire more IRS agents ... to take more of OUR money and snoop on what we share on Venmo/Cash apps. They're not going after the wealthy. They're coming for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and hardworking Americans." 

Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy quipped on Fox News the newly expanded IRS will have "more agents, or soldiers, than the entire Israeli army." 

Saying he gets audited every year, the supposed richest man in the world, Elon Musk, tweeted, along with a picture of a British Redcoat, the irony of it all:  "When the country that revolted over taxes hires 87,000 new agents."

According to Nation and State, the IRS currently has 78,661 employees. Therefore, by adding 87,000 new ones, the IRS will more than double in size.

For perspective, according to Sandboxx.us, the U.S. currently has 184,427 active-duty Marines. With the IRS taking on 87,000 new employees and doubling their number, they will end up having almost as many employees as the entire U.S. Marine Corps.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Joe Biden himself claim these agents will target only the wealthy. And congressional Democrats say the money will just be used to restore the IRS to its previous size.

But economist Stephen Moore wonders, "Democrats say 87,000 new IRS agents will improve 'customer service.' Then why does the bill itself note that only 4% of the IRS funding is for more customer service?"

And John Cooper of The Heritage Foundation offers a chart that seems to back up the concerns for average Americans, saying, "From 2010-2021, those making less than $200K accounted for the most in additional paid taxes. Those making less $25K were audited at a higher rate than those making $200-$500K."

As CBN News reported earlier, it's ordinary Americans and small business owners who are expected to bear the brunt of this army of tax agents.

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis predicts that the hiring of all those agents would result in more than $200 billion in tax dollars taken from Americans over the next decade. And further analysis indicates that money would come from IRS audits against families making less than $200,000 a year. 

The Wall Street Journal makes it clear that's a legitimate concern for the middle class, writing, "The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official tax scorekeeper, says that from 78% to 90% of the money raised from under-reported income would likely come from those making less than $200,000 a year. Only 4% to 9% would come from those making more than $500,000."

And Joel Griffith with the Heritage Foundation confirms, "If you look at the past, the audits disproportionately impact those that are middle class, upper-middle-class income earners. Those are the ones who get targeted by this."

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Even CBS News reported earlier this year, that analysis of IRS behavior proves it's already targeting average taxpayers on a disproportionate scale. That even includes taxpayers making less than $25,000 a year. 

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee put out an estimate that this bill will lead to 1.2 million new audits per year with over 700,000 of those new audits falling on taxpayers making $75,000 or less.

Distrust of the Federal Government

After the unprecedented FBI raid on President Trump's home this week, many people aren't feeling very reassured about the motives of some people who work for the federal government. 

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), expressed to Fox Digital an ominous concern. "The IRS targeted conservatives during the Obama Administration, so it's fair to wonder whether Joe Biden will use his new IRS Army to attack conservatives," he said.   

Even more concerns about an enormous, no-holds-barred IRS cropped up this week when, according to National Review, documentarian Ford Fischer tweeted an IRS posting for job applicants for the law enforcement division whose "Major Duties" and requirements included: "a level of fitness necessary to effectively respond to life-threatening situations on the job," and being "willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments."

It also included a requirement of carrying "a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary."  

The IRS may have already had these types of agents, but this ad did nothing to quell and calm the worries about an armed army of IRS agents targeting average Americans. The IRS, of course, quickly deleted the job ad.

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About The Author

Deborah
Bunting

Deborah Bunting is a contributing writer for CBNNews.com who has spent decades in the field of journalism, covering everything from politics to the role of the church in our world.
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