Weekly Capitol Report

Washington Democrats want to add trillions of dollars in new spending, and they are getting creative to fund portions of their proposal. They claim they don’t want to raise taxes on working-class families – but their policies would do the exact opposite. One of their worst proposals would weaponize the IRS with the tools needed to scrutinize working families’ finances. President Biden’s initial proposal called for providing the agency $80 billion in new funding to hire 87,000 new agents, while requiring banks and credit unions to report any transactions over $600 to the IRS. This would have allowed the federal government to spy on anyone’s finances.

Beside the obvious concern about giving Washington bureaucrats this much power to target hardworking families, there’s another darker, more dangerous side to this kind of power for the IRS. Back in 2012, the IRS targeted and discriminated against conservative groups in the Obama-Biden administration. Their only crime was using words like “Tea Party” and “Patriots” in their applications for nonprofit status and whose mission was to educate on government spending, taxes, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. After being called out for this flagrantly abusive behavior, the agency conveniently lost both the original and backup copies of records showing the discussions that led them to take these actions and avoided more serious consequences.

Still, you would think that exposing such an egregious abuse of trust would have reined the IRS in, but earlier this year the agency showed it was back to its old tricks by exposing taxpayer information in pursuit of Joe Biden’s political agenda. Again, no one was held accountable, and no one from the administration has even acknowledged the IRS’ serious breach.

Facing mounting opposition to their initial proposal, some Democrats proposed altering their reporting scheme. Don’t be fooled. Their new proposal instead targets Americans who have more than $10,000 in activity in their bank accounts in a calendar year. Bernie Sanders says Democrats want to go after billionaires, but he knows this proposal won’t touch them. Instead, this proposal is designed to go after sole proprietors like contractors, electricians, or plumbers, or farmers who sell goods at a local farmers market. This proposal is so typical of Washington Democrats: talk tough about the rich, get tough with working families. It sickens me and it has to stop.

The IRS has a long history of targeting lower income Americans. In fact, the agency is 50 percent more likely to audit taxpayers making less than $25,000 annually than Americans with incomes of more than $500,000 a year, because in their own words, it is easier and can be accomplished by less-skilled employees.

I’m fighting back. As a Member of the House Ways & Means Committee and the Republican Leader of the House Budget Committee, I proudly co-authored The Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, which would prevent any new bank or credit union reporting requirements that discloses information on individuals’ private accounts. I also helped draft an amendment that would strike any funding for the IRS hiring new agents. I’ve also written 3 letters to the Treasury Department in an effort to expose the agency’s bait-and-switch on working families.

Preventing powerful agencies from targeting political opponents should be a bipartisan issue. But Democrats are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to finding ways to pay for their massive socialist spending agenda. You can count on me to fight tooth and nail to ensure that Missourians will not be subjected to a supercharged partisan IRS. No one should be subjected to unlawful targeting from this President. 

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