WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa), former chairman of the Finance Committee and a current member of the
Subcommittee on Taxation and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight, and John
Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS
Oversight, today led their Republican colleagues on the Senate Finance
Committee in introducing the
IRS
Funding Accountability Act.
The legislation responds to the Democrats’ use of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that will
infuse the IRS with $80 billion of new funding without any oversight measures
to prevent waste, protect taxpayer rights or measure improvements of service.
The IRS Funding Accountability Act
would give Congress a direct say in how this new funding could be spent, hold
the IRS accountable and provide more transparency for the American people.
“Government, especially when it comes to
the treatment of taxpayers, needs to be accountable and transparent to the
American people,” Grassley said.
“When Democrats’ partisan spending bill gave the IRS an extra 80 billion
dollars, their legislation included no oversight mechanisms whatsoever. Our
bill will ensure that the IRS is answerable to the American people in how it
uses this money, and will force it to forfeit funds every day it’s not in
compliance.”
“The Democrats’ attempt to supersize the
IRS without holding the agency accountable to Congress and American taxpayers
is dangerous and irresponsible,” Thune
said. “This legislation would provide much-needed oversight of the
unprecedented $80 billion in new funding to the agency, more than half of which
Democrats have directed toward enforcement-related measures, including audits.
If our bill becomes law, the Biden administration’s IRS would have to answer to
the American people, not Washington bureaucrats.”
“The $80 billion in IRS funding included
the so-called Inflation Reduction Act
came with almost no guardrails for an agency that has fallen chronically short
on core elements of their mission in recent years,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union.
“National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is proud to support the IRS Funding Accountability Act, which would require the IRS to provide
Congress with a genuine and realistic plan for spending the most significant
influx of funds the agency has ever received. The bill would also require the
IRS to regularly update Congress on their spending, ensuring ongoing
accountability of the agency over the next 10 years. On behalf of the nation’s
taxpayers, NTU gratefully applauds Senators Thune and Grassley for their
leadership on IRS oversight.”
"Joe Biden promised taxpayers that
no one earning less than $400,000 would see a penny more in taxes. Biden lied
his way into office. Democrats raised taxes on American families and unleashed
87,000 new IRS agents to shakedown small business owners and ramp up audits on
taxpayers. Congressional oversight of Biden's IRS is essential. This
legislation will help rein in Biden's IRS and address the agency's broken
culture of unaccountability," said
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.
“The Inflation
Reduction Act directed 80 billion taxpayer dollars to the IRS, with the
majority earmarked to increase the agency’s enforcement activities,” said Brent Gardner, chief government
affairs officer for Americans For Prosperity. “With little to no
information about how the agency plans to use those taxpayer dollars or hold
itself accountable, the IRS Funding
Accountability Act would implement commonsense measures to increase
oversight and transparency on behalf of the American taxpayer. Americans for
Prosperity thanks Senators Thune and Grassley for introducing this
legislation.”
The senators’ legislation would require
the IRS to provide Congress with an annual plan for how the agency intends to
use the new IRA funds, which would be subject to a new joint resolution of
disapproval. The bill would also require quarterly updates from the IRS and
U.S. Department of the Treasury to enable consistent and transparent evaluation
of the plans, provide accountability for any misuse of funds and guard against
violations of taxpayer rights. Failure to submit timely and thorough plans or
reports would result in financial penalties, including IRA funds being
rescinded on a daily basis until the IRS complies with the reporting
requirements.
The legislation is cosponsored by Sens.
John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mike Crapo
(R-Idaho), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Lankford
(R-Okla.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
Additional background information on the
bill is available
HERE.
Full text of the bill is available HERE.
-30-