House Republicans Kick Off Congress By Protecting Billionaires, Corporate Tax Dodgers

Factcheck: The Tax Enforcement Funding In The Inflation Reduction Act Will Not Target Those Making Less Than $400k Per Year
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Republicans passed their first bill under Speaker McCarthy’s leadership to shield the wealthiest Americans and corporations from tax audits. In other words, they are helping them cheat and pay less than their fair share. The bill repealed a key part of the Inflation Reduction Act that made the wealthy and big corporations pay what they owe.

It took four days and fifteen votes for Republicans to choose their Speaker, but only one to help wealthy Americans avoid paying their taxes,” said Zac Petkanas, senior advisor to the House Accountability War Room. “Rather than reducing costs for families, cracking down on companies that ship American jobs to China, or making health care more affordable, the first vote of the new Republican controlled House of Representatives is to shield billionaires and the largest corporations from tax audits ensuring they are paying their fair share. Unfortunately, this is what we can expect from the extremists running the new House: more policies putting their rich donors ahead of the American people.”

Below is a list of resources proving that this bill would only help wealthy elites at the cost of everyday Americans and the economy overall.

The House GOP’s First Bill Will Let The Wealthy Get Away With Tax Evasion 

  • The former IRS chief claimed that “wealthy taxpayers and large corporations are often able to manipulate the tax code by employing large and sophisticated legal teams that are beyond the reach of average taxpayers.” He also said the resources from the Inflation Reduction Act are “absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans.”
  • According to the Joint Economic Committee, in 2019 “tax avoidance and evasion cost the U.S. government $554 billion, with the top 1% alone accounting for 28% of the unpaid taxes that year.”

  • According to The Hill, “that $80 billion funding boost for the IRS is projected to raise around $204 billion in revenue, for a net savings of $124 billion over the next decade.”

Republicans Are Lying About Inflation Reduction Act’s Impact

  • New York Times: “Fact-Checking the Misleading Claim About 87,000 Tax Agents.”

    • The assertion began to circulate when President Biden first outlined a wide-ranging social spending plan last fall. A whittled-down version of that plan, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, was enacted this summer, fueling a new wave of attacks that have gained momentum as the elections neared. That law provides the Internal Revenue Service with nearly $80 billion in funding […] But the suggestion that this would amount to 87,000 additional tax collectors scrutinizing the financial filings of middle-class Americans is wrong.”

  • Time: “Trump Allies Are Attacking Biden For a Plan to Hire 87,000 New IRS Agents That Doesn’t Exist.”

  • PolitiFact: “McCarthy said an ‘army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you — with 710,000 new audits for Americans who earn less than $75k.’ […] We rate this claim Mostly False.”

  • AP: “AP FACT CHECK: GOP skews budget bill’s impact on IRS, taxes.”

    • Republican politicians and candidates are distorting how a major economic bill passed over the weekend by the Senate would reform the IRS and affect taxes for the middle class.”

  • USA Today: “Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that the IRS is hiring 87,000 ‘soldiers’ to prosecute citizens and raising taxes on those who make $30,000 or more.”

  • Reuters: “Fact Check-The IRS is not hiring thousands of armed agents.”

  • CNBC: “Don’t worry, the IRS isn’t hiring an ‘army’ of auditors.”

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