{"id":1607698,"date":"2022-08-16T06:31:46","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T10:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1607698"},"modified":"2022-08-16T06:31:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T10:31:52","slug":"rep-scalise-its-guaranteed-americans-earning-less-than-400000-will-be-hounded-by-irs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-scalise-its-guaranteed-americans-earning-less-than-400000-will-be-hounded-by-irs\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Scalise: It\u2019s Guaranteed Americans Earning Less Than $400,000 Will Be Hounded by IRS"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frep-scalise-its-guaranteed-americans-earning-less-than-400000-will-be-hounded-by-irs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1607698&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said that the Democrat spending bill that boosts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-irs\">IRS<\/a> funding is \u201cguaranteed\u201d to squeeze more tax revenue from middle- and lower-income Americans despite Biden administration insistence that households making less than $400,000 won\u2019t face higher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-taxes\">taxes<\/a> or audit rates.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe smoking gun came out this morning,\u201d Scalise said on the House floor, referring to a statement from the non-partisan scorekeeper at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that <a href=\"https:\/\/gop-waysandmeans.house.gov\/cbo-new-irs-audits-will-grab-at-least-20b-from-lower-middle-income-families\/\">reportedly confirmed<\/a> that $20 billion in additional tax revenue would come from middle- and lower-income households owing to the IRS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-enforcement\">enforcement<\/a> funding boost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a confirmation that the IRS agents will be getting about $20 billion in new taxes from people making less than $400,000,\u201d Scalise said, while characterizing the CBO statement as confirmation that the bill \u201cbreaks President [Joe] Biden\u2019s promise\u201d that Americans making less than that amount shouldn\u2019t worry as their taxes won\u2019t go up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s confirmed by the CBO, and there was an amendment to stop it from happening, and every Democrat voted against it,\u201d Scalise continued, referring to amendment 5404 (<a href=\"https:\/\/gop-waysandmeans.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5404.Crapo11.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s amendment, according to Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, <a href=\"https:\/\/gop-waysandmeans.house.gov\/cbo-new-irs-audits-will-grab-at-least-20b-from-lower-middle-income-families\/\">who disclosed<\/a> part of the CBO statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCBO has not completed a point estimate of this amendment but the preliminary assessment indicates that amendment 5404 would reduce the \u2018non-scorable\u2019 revenues resulting from the provisions of section 10301 by at least $20 billion over the FY2022-FY2031 period,\u201d the CBO said, according to Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times has reached out to the CBO with a request for confirmation of the scorekeeper\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4031698\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/10\/04\/Rep.-Bob-Good-R-Va.--1200x765.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4031698\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/10\/04\/Rep.-Bob-Good-R-Va.--1200x765.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"408\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) in an interview with NTD in Washington on Sept. 30, 2021. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<h2>\u2018Army of 87,000 New IRS Agents\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?t=447&#038;v=6taKE2ZPbCQ&#038;feature=emb_imp_woyt\">interview on Fox News<\/a>, Scalise said that the reason Democrats rejected Crapo\u2019s amendment is because they plan to squeeze more tax revenue from middle- and lower-income Americans, despite multiple statements by Biden administration officials to the contrary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis army of 87,000 new IRS agents \u2026 will be going after people making less than $400,000. That would break President Biden\u2019s pledge,\u201d Scalise told Fox News.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been guaranteed. We know that it will happen. CBO confirmed it today,\u201d Scalise added.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a view shared by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who told NTD in a recent interview that middle-income Americans are going to be harmed as the \u201conerous and burdensome\u201d provisions of the bill enable a legion of \u201chyper-motivated\u201d IRS agents to go after Americans making less than $400,000 a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never had one constituent yet tell me they wish we had more IRS agents. Most of this money will be spent on enforcement to go after Americans to harass and intimidate Americans to collect more revenue to try to pay for these terrible Democrat environmental extremist policies,\u201d Good said.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican lawmaker estimated that the tens of thousands of potential new IRS hires would result in around a million additional audits per year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ll go after the middle-income Americans who they know when they get that threatening tax letter saying you owe the money you must pay or else we\u2019ve presumed you\u2019re guilty,\u201d Good said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey know middle-income Americans can\u2019t hire the tax lawyers, the tax accountants to fight it. So they\u2019ll just comply. They\u2019ll just give in and they\u2019ll pay. That\u2019s what it\u2019s intended to do, to harass and threaten, intimidate Americans,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4606893\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI6I01E-FILEDIMAGE-1200x800-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4606893\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI6I01E-FILEDIMAGE-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4606893\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI6I01E-FILEDIMAGE-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, on July 14, 2022. (Made Nagi\/Pool via Reuters)<\/figure>\n<h2>More Tax Audits?<\/h2>\n<p>Treasury Secretary\u00a0Janet Yellen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/yellen-tells-irs-not-to-target-middle-income-americans-with-audits-as-crackdown-fears-swirl_4658201.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has insisted<\/a>\u00a0Republican claims that tax auditors will target lower- and middle-income Americans at higher rates are politically motivated falsehoods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited,\u201d Yellen said in\u00a0an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/news\/press-releases\/jy0918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aug. 10 letter<\/a>\u00a0to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.<\/p>\n<p>Yellen also said in the letter that she was ordering the IRS not to use any of the additional revenue from the legislation to increase audit rates among middle- and lower-income Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI direct that any additional resources\u2014including any new personnel or auditors that are hired\u2014shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS chief, too, has insisted that the tax agency would \u201cabsolutely not\u201d be increasing audit scrutiny\u00a0on small businesses or middle-income Americans relative to \u201crecent years,\u201d according to a letter to members of the Senate on Aug. 4 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/pub\/irs-utl\/commissioners-letter-to-the-senate.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>A CBO analysis indicated that, under basically the same funding plan as is featured in the Inflation Reduction Act, audit rates would be restored to levels around 10 years ago and that audit rates would rise \u201cfor all taxpayers,\u201d though ones with higher incomes would face the biggest increase.<\/p>\n<p>IRS audit rates have fallen sharply over the past decade, with the Government Accountability Office\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-22-104960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">saying in a report<\/a>\u00a0that rates in 2019 were about one-third of those in 2010 for all income groups, dropping from 0.9 percent down to 0.25 percent.<\/p>\n<p>A CBO estimate (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2022-08\/hr5376_IR_Act_8-3-22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) shows that that the additional $80 billion in funding will bring in around $204 billion in new revenue, including from enforcement.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-tom-ozimek\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tom-Ozimek.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Ozimek\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tom Ozimek has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education. The best writing advice he&#8217;s ever heard is from Roy Peter Clark: &#8216;Hit your target&#8217; and &#8216;leave the best for last.&#8217;\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said that the Democrat spending bill that boosts IRS funding is \u201cguaranteed\u201d to squeeze more tax revenue from middle- and lower-income Americans despite Biden administration insistence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}