U.S. House passes Kelly-backed bill protecting American taxpayers

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Monday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 23, The Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA). The bill rescinds all new IRS funding included in the 'Inflation Reduction Act' for the agency's 87,000 new agents.

Further, the bill follows the 2019 "Taxpayer First Act," a bipartisan bill led by Rep. Kelly and the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) that reformed the IRS by making it more accountable to both Congress and the American people; and it created a more service-focused agency.

"The Democrats passed $80 billion in new IRS funding without a shred of oversight, but this bill will change that," Kelly said. "We're going to make the IRS accountable to the American people. That starts with once again making the IRS a service agency, not a shakedown agency that audits lower-and-middle class Americans for every cent they have. During our first full week in session, House Republicans are making good on a campaign promise: to hold government accountable and make Washington work for them."

BACKGROUND

• Democrats voted to supercharge the IRS with a massive infusion of taxpayer dollars focused on IRS enforcement and the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents to squeeze American taxpayers.
• Republicans fought for guardrails to protect middle and lower-income taxpayers from increased audit scrutiny – Democrats rejected these protections.
• According to CBO, Democrats’ supercharged IRS will cause audit rates to “rise for all taxpayers” and a conservative analysis shows that returning audit rates to 2010 levels would mean 1.2 million more audits with over 700,000 of those falling on taxpayers making $75,000 or less.
• Democrats have long used the IRS and the tax code as a political weapon and will lead to more IRS abuses like those we’ve seen in the past:
      -  Targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups during the Obama Administration
      -  Seeking a bank surveillance scheme on all American bank accounts.
      -  Massive leak of information to ProPublica used to support Democrat causes.
      -  Unleashing a dangerous new political weapon through the public release of the former President’s private tax returns.
• Americans deserve a government that’s accountable and one that works FOR them, not AGAINST them. Rescinding funding for 87,000 new IRS agents is a great first step in the right direction.