It’s ‘Guaranteed’ Americans Earning Less Than $400,000 Will Be Hounded by IRS: Rep. Scalise

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said that the Democrat spending bill that boosts IRS funding is “guaranteed” to squeeze more tax revenue from middle- and lower-income Americans despite Biden administration insistence that households making less than $400,000 won’t face higher taxes or audit rates.

Scalise, who is the House Republican whip, made the remarks on the House floor and in an interview on Fox News on Aug. 12, the day the Democrat-controlled House passed the Inflation Reduction Act.

“The smoking gun came out this morning,” Scalise said on the House floor, referring to a statement from the non-partisan scorekeeper at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that reportedly confirmed that $20 billion in additional tax revenue would come from middle- and lower-income households owing to the IRS enforcement funding boost.

“It was a confirmation that the IRS agents will be getting about $20 billion in new taxes from people making less than $400,000,” Scalise said, while characterizing the CBO statement as confirmation that the bill “breaks President [Joe] Biden’s promise” that Americans making less than that amount shouldn’t worry as their taxes won’t go up.

“It’s confirmed by the CBO, and there was an amendment to stop it from happening, and every Democrat voted against it,” Scalise continued, referring to amendment 5404 (pdf) proposed by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would have prevented any of the funds appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act being used to audit taxpayers making less than $400,000 a year.

The $20 billion in additional taxes from American households earning less than $400,000 was arrived at by calculating how much less tax revenue would flow into government coffers if legislators had accepted Crapo’s amendment, according to Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, who disclosed part of the CBO statement.

“CBO has not completed a point estimate of