Claiming a supposed “tax gap” between what Americans owe and what they pay, a new proposal by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats would spend $80 billion to create as many as 87,000 new federal “enforcement and compliance” agents to investigate any financial transaction involving more than $600 and create a federal database to record and monitor Americans’ financial activities.
“Democrats want to give the IRS $80 billion and hire 87,000 new agents so they can harass and audit taxpayers and create a new reporting regime that targets any bank account, Venmo account, or financial account exceeding $600 in gross inflows and outflows,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. “This should be alarming given the IRS has a long history of failing to do its job and targeting taxpayers based on their political beliefs.”
“Congressional Democrats’ answer to Americans’ frustrations with the IRS is to hire more tax bureaucrats to audit them,” said Ryan Ellis, President of the Center for a Free Economy.
“People are fed up with being told they are tax cheats by academics and bureaucrats who have never signed the front of a paycheck, and that they must become the subject of fishing expedition audits in service to a fabricated ‘tax gap,’” said Ellis. “Congress should focus on getting the IRS to answer phone calls and correspondence in a timely manner, not on new audits.”
Congressional Republicans are responding by proposing the “TaxGap Reform and IRS Enforcement Act.”
“Before American taxpayers are subjected to 80,000 new IRS agents and surveillance of their private bank accounts, let’s begin with an accurate, independent estimate of Treasury’s so-called ‘tax gap,’” said House Ways and Means Republican Leader Kevin Brady (R-Texas.) “This bill also protects taxpayers from IRS targeting based on their political or religious beliefs and closes loopholes that risk leaking private taxpayer returns.”
“The IRS financial institution reporting requirement forces financial institutions to turn over detailed bank account information to the IRS based on vague and ‘flexible’ criteria, such as a $600 threshold and account inflows and outflows, which are determined by the IRS,” said U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho.)
“This time-draining burden disregards banking privacy in order to squeeze more resources out of responsible Americans and entrepreneurs. It subjects law-abiding Americans to more intense targeting from the IRS and additional data collection, a concern that was recently amplified by a leak of private taxpayer information out of the IRS. I have long been critical of big data collection activities, and oppose turning banks and brokers into government tax collectors,” said Crapo.
“My amendment prevents the undue monitoring and reporting of sensitive American taxpayer information to the IRS by financial institutions about deposits and withdrawals made by any individual or business,” said Crapo.
Key provisions of the TaxGap Reform and IRS Enforcement Act:
Tax Gap Reform: Requires timely, annually-updated information on tax gap estimates in coordination with the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Taxpayer Protection: Prevents the IRS from targeting Americans for their political and ideological beliefs, codifies President Biden’s pledge to not increase audits of taxpayers making less than $400,000 per year, and prohibits the establishment of new bank reporting requirements.
Smarter Enforcement: Requires the IRS to use existing data and tools to improve its corporate audit selection process and increase enforcement against high-income non-filers.
Closes the Expertise Gap: Creates an IRS enforcement fellowship pilot program to assist with the agency’s most complex audits and case selection decisions. Before hiring thousands of new agents, Congress should test the effectiveness of increasing expertise in a targeted way.
Original Senate co-sponsors include John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mike Rounds (R-Nebraska), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and Todd Young (R-Indiana).
To date there is no serious effort by congressional Republicans to abolish the federal income tax and IRS.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AmericanActionNews.com
Michael Brigham
Michael Brigham has written for American Action News since the summer of 2019. His areas of expertise include foreign affairs, government, and politics, but regardless of the subject matter, he has a nose and an insatiable appetite for news. In his free time, he enjoys reading nonfiction, watching a mix of comedies and true crime documentaries, and spending time away from the swamp hiking in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
The democracts need to be abolished along with the IRS since both are not for America and the people here, they are for themselves. The democracts every single one needs to lose every cent they got. Knew that the democracts are the ones who created the IRS for their own pleasure, nothing more, democracts are useless idiots need to go
Americans need to start by abolishing globalists and their voter fraud to appoint their puppets; demonrat criminal party and rino criminal party .
Actually it is necessary to RICO the democrat party, arrest its leadership and seize their assets. It’s long past due
Who would do the accounting for the U.S. Raymond? Where would the money come from to protect the U. S. Or are you living in China ?
Simplify all this bullshlt and whatever’s left of the irs would be about 5% of the behemoth that is shaking down the working class right now.
I am kewl with that but.. China Joe is an argument against what you just said and I think you should donate all your possessions to the effort of that protection against China. That is what you have left after you have given to blm/antifa… just sayin
The Democrat Party is becoming FULLY Exposed, THAT’S fer’ damned sure, and if ENOUGH of This country doesn’t catch on and vote these DEMENTED CROOKS Out of office, it WILL BE PROOF that the Majority are IGNORANT FOOLS that actually WANT Socialism, which can Reeeeeal easily turn into out and out Communism.
Tipping Point time, America. Just HOW SICK have you become?
globalists and their demonrats know that they can’t win a legal election, there are more American voters than there are libby snow flake sheep voters and illegal criminal invader voters and taliban terrorist voters and dead libby snow flake voters !
When it comes right down to it , both parties are being exposed.
Follow the decisions that Joe has made, this is the Obama 3rd term. Joe is too damn stupid to think. Joe is burned out, and has a 50 year record of political failure.
That’s obvious, obama already told us what he was going to do and he’s doing it. “If I had a third term.”
If that’s case then they need to investigate Oprah Obama.Clintons,AOC.The Squads Nancy Chuckie Bidens Harris Soros and the people in Hollywood,the Congress and Senate.Governors the IRS and Etc that work inside the government oh and Hunter Boden
But they won’t because they are the animals in the farm that are more equal then the rest. I bet that they are going to have a hard time finding help because who would want the job?
I’d take that job, then I could go after all my libtard neighbors , who voted for Biden.
But don’t you see? That is what they already did going after Conservative donors in previous years. It wasn’t right to weaponize the agency then and it is wrong to do it now no matter which side is the target.
The guy that is doing his 3rd Term did that!! Weaponized the IRS, what a Nazi, besides a Marxist.
They need to start inside IRS.
In the incident with Lois Lerner, the democrats have no credibility as to running the IRS. Democrats are trying to use any means possible to get money from the taxpayers. The one they need to hit up, is biden who owes back taxes that he was running away from.
It’s called martial law people.
That’s fine. I’ll ignore them, as I have for decades. If one comes on my land, I shoot trespassers, and I don’t aim for body armor.
That’s the problem. We have ignored them for decades and now we have a Communist Totalitarion Dictatorship. I feel the same way you and other Americans feel. This is not about taxes. This is about establishing a brown shirt like enforcement branch of this Communist Government.
You say if they come on my land, “I shoot trespassers”. It’s 2021. They don’t need to come on your land to take your God Given rights away. They do it under executive order just like the King of England did when we fought our War for Independence .
Then they send 87,000 IRS Agents( Brown Shirts) to come on your land and arrest you. What are you going to do? They are able to do that because we are divided. We are not United. The Good people who live by God’s Law and not the dictates of any man are waiting for someone else or politician to save them.
Haven’t we seen what waiting for the Political System to save us has gotten us. Joe Biden. A fraudelant, illegitament, unelected, imposter put on the throne by the Globalist elite who want to see the Republic of The United States of America destroyed forever.
C-19 was a test. Americans were more than willing to give up their liberty and Freedom for security and safety.
Since we failed that test now they are emboldened to do whatever they want.
This proposal is proof of that. They know that Americans will complain and moan and just role over and accept this. Americans haven’t experience loss. Loss of their earning power, their dignity and freedom. Well we are about to experience that.
The Great Reset according to Klaus Schwabe is about slavery of the people by the Global Elite. He states in his book ” In 9 years you will own nothing and like it”
So go ahead and blast away at the trespassers on your land. See what good that will do.
I’m 68 and live on Social Security. If what they are proposing becomes man’s law then what’s to prevent them from cutting off my or anyone’s SS payment because of our Political affiliation or not being vaccinated. You see where this is going. If they control the Banks and Citizens Accounts then we are TOTAL slaves and there will be no chance to regain our Freedom back. You control a man’s money and you control his life. He will do whatever you say to put food on the table for his family.
THAT’S THEIR GOAL! TOTAL SLAVERY!
OH! YOU SAY! We just have to wait for 2022 and elect the bums out. That won’t happen unless by the Grace of God this fraudelent election is over turned and the man elected by the people is sworn into office. But’s that’s a pipe dream.
Waiting for elections is a PIPE DREAM. The people we elect (GOP) are worse than the people we despise. The immorals. They are back stabbers and can’t be trusted.
Waiting until 2024 for Trump to run and having another rigged election is false hope. Really. What do you think will change from now until then that the American People can trust that our elections are fair and the results can be trusted.
The fraud is so obvious and still the corruption in the 3 branches of Government is so rampant that nothing is done about it.
Do you have to look any further then to Joe and Hunter Biden. Both have sold America out to the Communist Chinese AND STILL they are allowed to go on with their nefarious activities. The fact that Biden is still in office tells We The People all we need to know about elections being the savior of our Republic.
So go ahead and blast away at the trespassers on your land. It’s a noble gesture but ineffective.
Regards,
Quint
AMEN!!
THAT’S THEIR GOAL! A un/who/cdc/china/tech/ marxist run NWO police state!
Sure sounds like Hitler is in charge 😵
Doesn’t it though. TERRIBLY FRIGHTENING, ALL.
“To date there is no serious effort by congressional Republicans to abolish the federal income tax and IRS.”
The FAIR TAX WOULD DO THAT! But it would also take money away from the Politicians so there’s no chance of that happening.
The GOP are in it with the Communist Party. They are all the same. George Washington was against a 2 Party System and his concerns are well proven.
They can try, but once the QFS (Blockchain Quantum ) system kicks in , these corrupt and useless people wil be out of Office
Before they spend the money on these new communist KGB agents, the IRS should investigate all of the politicians in Congress and the Executive branch of government especially Biden and determine if these politicians are delinquent on their taxes.
LOL! Thank a Democrat, They VOTED for it!
If yoou rent living quarters anywhere, you will be investigated every time you pay your rent. Mortgage payments, car insurance paid by the year, a new set of tires for your truck, having woek done on yyour house, yard or car, all are open to investigation
another MARK OF THE BEAST.
This is what we should expect from the tax and spend Donkadonkeydonk party who lie when they claim to tax the rich. Money in a bank for the average citizen was deposited from paychecks from which were deducted FICA and estimated taxes. If you were thrifty enough to save some of your money they see that as an opportunity to tax you again on money they have already taxed. Oh yes and with Federal, State, and Local taxes up to ten percent on everything you buy (added to your bill with your transaction) and import, excise, inventory, and manufacturing taxes on producers of hard goods and even taxes on food from grocery stores in most states they already tax about sixty percent of the economy. Now the Government does all this taxing and the Donks want to spend upwards of six trillion (five trillion for the socialist new green deal and one trillion for actual infrastructure) in a congressional bill that will fuel ruinous inflation (Likely stagnation inflation ) and bankrupt the industries that are left, driving down the job market for all of us. Where is the money tree they want to harvest this wealth from? Does the money fall from the sky? Lord help us from the policies of these Polyanna Dreamers. They aren’t the ones who have to wear the yoke of all this debt they incur nor are the rich. GEE and HAW mule to you and me!
half of that 80 billion will go in their own pockets
This should be fun. Imagine all of the tax cheats among DemonRats who suddenly realize that when they voted for this idiot, they painted a target on themselves. Irony strikes hard on their ranks. 🙂
The Illegal” FEDERAL INCOME TAX”, and the CORRUPT IRS, SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABOLISHED LONG AGO. THEY ARE AGAINST EVERYTHING GOOD IN REGARDS TO THE LIFE OF EVERY AMERICAN.
Stupid Rabbits!
Tricks R 4 Kids!!
I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE SO MANY “KOOL-AID” DRINKERS IN AMERICA? WHAT A SHAME THAT SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY ARE SO LAX THAT THEY WANT TO BE CARED FOR BY THE GOVERNMENT FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE. HOW CAN A TRUE PATRIOT WORKING THE BORDER, FOLLOW ILLEGAL ORDERS FROM A FRAUDULENT PRESIDENT? MEANWHILE AMERICA IS GOING DOWN THE TUBES FAST, WITH ALL THE ILLEGALS BEING LET IN TO OUR COUNTRY, AND WITH MANY DESEASES.
The Dims answer to everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, is to throw MORE government at whatever perceived or imagined problem they can convince the low information public of…
Who will audit them, and will they audit all elected officals including the IRS people. I think they should be investigated and audited. At least we would know who their friends are .
Are the Dems also going to be subject to this or will they exclude themselves as they do with other law they pass?
Remember to thank a democrat once again for this hate and twisted agenda put upon the true American people. God help us from them and u.
All 87,000 new irs agents should show up at deadbeat biden’s tax audit.
HEY DEMS>> Time to change your party name – DEMOCRATIC COMMUNIST PARTY USA.
So this communist democrat cult member party is going to investigate everyone’s payment of over 600.00, that would be everyone’s credit card payment, all the while no investigation of the millions the biden crime family illegally receives from foreign countries!
Remove and exile all communist democrat cult party members to Afghanistan!
Biden really needs a lot of Supervision
They would cost at least 10 billion a year in salaries and benefits. Imagine the feeding frenzies generated by ” management ” to justify and cover this scam ?
Practically every biweekly paycheck you receive, and monthly rent or mortgage payment you make will be investigated!
Thus, proving once again, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Leftism is a Transmissible Mental Disease!
Please, SPAY and NEUTER your LEFTISTS!
However, the “Transgender” movement is doing a marvelous job of that already!
All of my bank deposits are government paychecks. Why on earth should that require an investigation? I would love to punch Nancy Pelosi’s lights out for this! I hope she gets this post!
Eliminate the wicked Income Tax. The purpose of the Income Tax is only to steal money from the people by the government criminals. It gives the mafia govt. UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF MONEY, which is far beyond the COST to do their job to protect our PROPERTY (possessions, assets) and our Life and Liberty.
Eliminate the wicked Income Tax. The purpose of the Income Tax is only to steal money from the people by the government criminals. It gives the mafia govt. UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF MONEY, which is far beyond the COST to do their job to protect our PROPERTY (possessions, assets) and our Life and Liberty. It can run on other taxes that do not destroy our freedoms like indirect taxes like sales taxes, not some spy operation on every money transaction that every happens. Florida has NO Income Tax and the Florida govt runs fine. It does not STEAL money from it citizens.
Are the 3 branches, including staff, going to be audited, because these are where the biggest tax cheats reside.
Maybe the proposed Republican bill should start there.