The attack overstates the number of regulators the administration is looking to hire and ignores Democrat promises to focus on high-income earners.
According to Public Opinion Strategies Republican pollster Robert Blizzard, the ads are designed for two purposes.
First, it’s meant to inspire Republican voters who tend to be skeptical of the IRS.
Blizzard said it’s also a way to appeal to independents by claiming the Democrats’ priorities were wrong.
“Democrats have ruled D.C. for two years, but things are getting worse for Americans, and the government’s answer is, ‘We are hiring more IRS agents,'” he said.
The campaign highlights that Republicans have been denouncing IRS funding for months, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t benefited from it. and thought it would provide ample fodder for the campaign trail.
The attacks also underline that the battle over the IRS budget won’t be over anytime soon, especially if Republicans retake the House or Senate.
The $80 billion slated to be spent over the next decade was aimed at strengthening the IRS after years of tight budgets and removing some of the uncertainty around funding. For example, it may exceed the budgets of government agencies, especially those that must be approved annually by Congress.
Democrats have given little attention to IRS money in the campaign, but have scoffed at Republican advertising, saying the money is aimed at improving customer service and cracking down on wealthy tax fraud. increase.
And Democrats seeking reelection this year shouldn’t worry too much about advertising, said Serinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who studies the attacks.
She said they were primarily a way for Republicans to motivate their base.
Lake agrees that Democrats are vulnerable to accusations that they don’t focus enough on things like inflation, but says the way the IRS points it out to most people is wrong. increase.
“Some voters are skeptical, but this is not the best example of that,” she said.
Lake Research Partners president Lake Research Partners said, “When the IRS says they’re chasing wealthy individuals and big corporations with all these accountants and lobbyists to avoid taxes, they take it. happy.
Advertisements sponsored by official Republican campaign bodies and outside groups such as the Senate Leadership Fund and the Growth Action Club distort the Democrats’ plans in several ways.
They point to a Treasury Department report published early last year that claims the administration intends to hire an additional 87,000 agents. It will replace tens of thousands of IRS employees who are eligible for retirement in the next few years, he said.
Many of those people won’t be executed — the administration has announced it will use the money to hire 5,000 customer service representatives.
The administration has also promised not to increase audit rates for anyone making less than $400,000 a year.
At the same time, however, there are many open questions about the plan.
The IRS already gets about $13 billion from Congress to pay the salaries of its 80,000 employees, so it shouldn’t need an additional $80 billion to fill retirees. The government envisions the agency to be larger, with personnel one-third less than he had 30 years ago.
It is also unclear how the authorities will ensure that average people’s audit rates do not go up, and this may be difficult.
The Treasury Department, to which the IRS belongs, is working on a detailed spending plan for the funds due in February.
$80 billion was the least popular component. climate, health care, tax It was approved in August, according to Democrats. Politico/Morning Consult Poll.
A healthy majority said they supported many of its provisions.
In contrast, only 40% said they thought additional IRS funding was a good idea, while 46% opposed it.
Yet most people said yes Don’t worry about being audited, just 24% say they are at least somewhat concerned about increased IRS scrutiny. (The chances of being audited are slim — this agency audited his 0.25% of taxpayers in 2019).
After campaigning against IRS funding, Republicans are under pressure to do something about it if they regain power.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (Republican California) said last month that withdrawing $80 billion would be the first Republican to do it, but President Joe Biden will certainly reject it.
The IRS will still rely on annual appropriations from Congress for part of its budget, and Republicans can instead try to counter the Democrats’ funding injections.
And they’re already making a laundry list of other suggestions for pursuing agencies.
Sen. John Tune Second-ranked Republican in the House of Representatives, Senator from South Dakota. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wants to withhold the agency’s enforcement money until it meets some strict criteria to improve its customer service.
Thune and fellow tax writer Sen. Chuck Grassley (Republican-Iowa) is also preparing a bill requiring the administration’s forthcoming blueprint so that this money can be put to a vote in Congress. Others want to enact a law that says the audit rate for people with less than $400,000 won’t go up.
In the meantime, Democrats are pushing for $80 billion plus another round of funding for the agency to cover the budget shortfalls of the past decade. They want her 8% rate hike in 2023 as part of a sweeping “omnibus” spending plan that lawmakers hope to pass before Christmas.
This comes on top of the 6% increase approved for 2022.
