Todd Dorman
Aug. 25, 2022 7:00 am
In yet another sign of how deep we’ve fallen into a political abyss of reckless fabrications, an effort to help the federal agency that collects our taxes simply do its job has been labeled as tyranny.
There’s a nearly $80 billion funding increase for the Internal Revenue Service in the Inflation Reduction Act approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden. In 2021 it was estimated the increase could allow the IRS to hire 87,000 personnel. We don’t really know how many employees would be hired, but the numbers are likely to include customer service workers, IT professionals and agents.
Reuters reports that the IRS has 16,000 fewer employees than it had in 2010 and 50,000 employees are expected to retire in the next five years. The IRS has seen long delays in sending out tax refunds and runs on antiquated technology. Oh, and there’s the $600 billion gap between taxes owed and taxes paid. The new effort hopes to collect $200 billion.
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But if you listen to many Republicans, the IRS is building an army of agents to attack middle-income Americans and small businesses.
"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?" Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said recently on Fox News. "With 87,000 additional employees, you can imagine what that harassment's going to be to middle-class Americans and our small business people.”
I know Grassley is a shadow of his once more moderate self. But it’s still jarring to watch him go full-Ted Cruz. This is “pull the plug on grandma” Grassley. Very few IRS employees are authorized to carry firearms, by the way.
The new IRS funding will give the agency more resources after years of budget cuts to go after high-income tax cheats, focusing on taxpayers with earnings of more than $400,000 annually. Wealthy tax dodgers are, apparently, a core Republican constituency. Crippling government functions only to criticize them for being inept is classic GOP tactic.
But it’s strange to see fiscal conservatives who often gripe about government “waste, fraud and abuse,” shrugging at $600 billion in unpaid taxes. This is money that could be used to fund the defense budget they love, and the salary and perks they receive as members of Congress.
Rather than showing up at my house with an “AK-15,” an IRS staffer just might answer the phone if I have a question. As of June, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS had a backlog of 21.3 million unprocessed paper returns. Average phone wait times increased to 29 minutes. Refunds have been delayed by months.
These are real problems. But real problems are no match for manufactured ones in today’s GOP.
So the IRS is unleashing armed thugs. A lawfully executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago is tyranny. Our public schools are leftist indoctrination gulags. School libraries are full of “X-rated” books. Transgender girls are destroying women’s sports, and supporting transgender kids in schools is a massive problem.
The 2020 election was stolen through rampant fraud, so voting must be restricted. Threats to democracy? What threats to democracy? An insurrection? Legitimate political discourse.
These are the folks who may be running two branches of government when the dust settles in November. The abyss is bottomless.
Aug. 25, 2022 7:00 am
In yet another sign of how deep we’ve fallen into a political abyss of reckless fabrications, an effort to help the federal agency that collects our taxes simply do its job has been labeled as tyranny.
There’s a nearly $80 billion funding increase for the Internal Revenue Service in the Inflation Reduction Act approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden. In 2021 it was estimated the increase could allow the IRS to hire 87,000 personnel. We don’t really know how many employees would be hired, but the numbers are likely to include customer service workers, IT professionals and agents.
Reuters reports that the IRS has 16,000 fewer employees than it had in 2010 and 50,000 employees are expected to retire in the next five years. The IRS has seen long delays in sending out tax refunds and runs on antiquated technology. Oh, and there’s the $600 billion gap between taxes owed and taxes paid. The new effort hopes to collect $200 billion.
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But if you listen to many Republicans, the IRS is building an army of agents to attack middle-income Americans and small businesses.
"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?" Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said recently on Fox News. "With 87,000 additional employees, you can imagine what that harassment's going to be to middle-class Americans and our small business people.”
I know Grassley is a shadow of his once more moderate self. But it’s still jarring to watch him go full-Ted Cruz. This is “pull the plug on grandma” Grassley. Very few IRS employees are authorized to carry firearms, by the way.
The new IRS funding will give the agency more resources after years of budget cuts to go after high-income tax cheats, focusing on taxpayers with earnings of more than $400,000 annually. Wealthy tax dodgers are, apparently, a core Republican constituency. Crippling government functions only to criticize them for being inept is classic GOP tactic.
But it’s strange to see fiscal conservatives who often gripe about government “waste, fraud and abuse,” shrugging at $600 billion in unpaid taxes. This is money that could be used to fund the defense budget they love, and the salary and perks they receive as members of Congress.
Rather than showing up at my house with an “AK-15,” an IRS staffer just might answer the phone if I have a question. As of June, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS had a backlog of 21.3 million unprocessed paper returns. Average phone wait times increased to 29 minutes. Refunds have been delayed by months.
These are real problems. But real problems are no match for manufactured ones in today’s GOP.
So the IRS is unleashing armed thugs. A lawfully executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago is tyranny. Our public schools are leftist indoctrination gulags. School libraries are full of “X-rated” books. Transgender girls are destroying women’s sports, and supporting transgender kids in schools is a massive problem.
The 2020 election was stolen through rampant fraud, so voting must be restricted. Threats to democracy? What threats to democracy? An insurrection? Legitimate political discourse.
These are the folks who may be running two branches of government when the dust settles in November. The abyss is bottomless.
IRS strike forces, the latest manufactured crisis
Real problems are no match for manufactured ones in today’s GOP.
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