WASHINGTON, DC – Biden and his administration added hiring an additional 87,000 additional IRS agents in their Build Back Better Plan in some way to make wealthy citizens pay their ‘fair share.’
Even though that idea may sound great to some, a recent poll shows that the majority of likely voters do not believe it is a good idea, while others warn it is a path towards attacking the middle class and small business owners.
As the Biden administration seeks a dramatic increase in the size and power of the IRS, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she still does not know who stole the private taxpayer files of thousands of Americans https://t.co/6D4wTS5X4N
— ATR (@taxreformer) December 12, 2021
Biden and his administration have stuffed a lot of different things into their Build Back Better reconciliation bill. – from amnesty to now the substantial increase of tax professionals working for the IRS.
The Biden administration thinks that the additional IRS personnel is a way to collect money from those who are leaking through the cracks and the system and shorting the economy Uncle Sam’s money.
While that sounds like a glorious goal, making sure that the richest in the country pay what they should and lessen the taxpayers on lower and middle-income families, 58 percent of likely voters polled believe that the additional IRS agents would negatively impact the lower and middle class while only 23 percent believe that it will only impact the wealthy according to a HarrisX poll.
The $80 billion the new agents would cost could be geared toward the middle class as a House version of the bill notes that 1.2 million new audits would go towards those earning less than $75,000 a year.
While some of the money is going towards facilitating hiring, training, and equipping new personnel, there is also $44.9 billion of those funds that would be geared strictly to enforcement of the tax laws.
Build Back Better will increase the cost of living.
Build Back Better will raise taxes.
Build Back Better will increase IRS audits.
Build Back Better is bad for working families.
—
⚡ NEW doc from the SenateGOP Policy Shop has the details ↓
— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) December 13, 2021
According to Paul Axberg, a certified financial planner and CPA at Axberg Wealth Management in Arizona, any person or corporation who profits over $400,000 a year are the ones that will be targeted and should be worried the most. Axberg noted this to CNBC:
“If you’re an individual making over $400,000 a year, you should feel like you have a target on your back.”
While Axberg believes those making $400,000 a year should be worried, others, like Luis Strohmeier, a Miami-based CFP and partner at Octavia Wealth Advisors believe that small and cash-only businesses will be the ones with targets on their backs. Strohmeier said:
“I think the industries that should be concerned are those in cash. I think going after mom and pops, where the agent goes to see them, and they have all their receipts in a shoebox, just might yield something.”
Small businesses, as Strohmeier notes, may have the biggest concern because the majority of them cannot hire a team of lawyers like corporations to have to navigate the complex tax laws.
It does not mean that they are doing anything wrong in any way, it just means they do not have the ability and knowledge base to find all of the legal loopholes that larger corporations can do.
In addition to the concerns for the small business owners, average Americans should be concerned about the numerous reports, according to the Tennessee Star, of alleged mismanagement of taxpayer funds.
According to them, an audit conducted by the Treasury Inspector General in 2021 showed that the IRS had only been able to hire roughly 37 percent of their hiring goals. One of the reasons listed for the lack of hiring had to do with employees not replacing ink cartridges so the staff could not find working copiers to create training material.
Additionally, in 2017, another Treasury Inspector General report found that previously terminated employees were rehired, not just one or two, but 200. The reason why they were allegedly terminated in the first place was for employee misconduct or performance concerns. The report read in part:
“Four of the more than 200 employees has been terminated or resigned for willful failure to properly file their Federal tax returns; four separated while under investigation for unauthorized accesses to taxpayer information; and 86 separated while under investigation for absences and leave, workplace disruption, or failure to follow instructions.
This includes positions with access to sensitive taxpayer information”
While some might note that this report was several years ago, there are still apparent issues in terms of employee management and efficiency. The Tennessee Star quoted the 2021 Treasury audit:
“As of March 5, 2021, the IRS had 4,434 Submission Processing function positions that remain unfilled or for which employees are not working for various reasons.
As of March 1, 2021, IRS management stated that they have more than 31,000 boxes (approximately 4.7 million documents) that need to be refiled or retired to a Federal Records Center location. As of March 1, 2021, the IRS estimated there were approximately 70,000 tax return requests that needed to be fulfilled.”
‘Build Back Better’: Democrats just gave the rich a massive tax cut – that heavily benefits blue states
To secure the support of moderate Democrats, party leaders included a provision that restores a lucrative tax break that former President Donald Trump slashed in his signature 2017 tax law.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) oversaw the passage of the filibuster-proof $1.75 billion budget reconciliation package. Breitbart News explained how the state and local tax provision in the bill would represent a windfall for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class:
“As part of the package, the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap would be increased from its current $10,000 to $80,000 which would effectively amount to a $625 billion tax cut for the wealthiest Americans living in blue states like New York, Connecticut, and California.”
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) said that the wealthy would save significantly more from the SALT change than middle class Americans are receiving from the child tax credit expansion approved under the American Rescue Plan:
“A household making $1 million per year will receive ten times as much from SALT cap relief as a middle-class family will receive from the child tax credit expansion.”
The child tax credit under the American Rescue Plan providing a child tax credit was expanded for the 2021 tax year to a total of $3,600 for children five and younger, and $3,000 for those ages 6 through 17.
Jason Furman, a Harvard economist who served as the chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, called the proposed SALT tax cut “obscene.” He tweeted on November 2:
“My guess is the majority of Americans with a net worth of $50 to $300 million would get a tax cut under the Build Back Better plan with a full repeal of SALT.
“The bill would do more for the super-rich than it does for climate change, childcare or preschool.
“That’s obscene.”
Chuck Marr, Senior Director of Federal Tax Policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote that the bill could provide a $25,900 tax cut to families making several million dollars per year. He wrote:
“The SALT cap in the 2017 tax law targeted households with higher incomes who pay substantial state and local taxes; these households disproportionately live in states that impose higher taxes to support more robust public services, where political power tends to be held by Democrats. In these states, the cap typically affects about 9 in 10 households with incomes in the top 95th to 99th percentiles.
“The House provision… would expand the amount of state and local taxes that any household could deduct, no matter how high its income. Households making several million dollars a year could get a $25,900 tax cut.”
He went on to say that Democrats’ claims that the “Build Back Better” bill aims to provide relief to middle class Americans is “egregious”:
“There’s no way to justify these tax cuts as ‘middle-class’ tax relief. They are particularly egregious given that BBB aims to provide the most help for low- and middle-income households while reducing tax advantages for wealthy households.”
The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wants to accomplish by Christmas. Passage, however, is in no way guaranteed. He said he wants to get the bill to President Biden to sign quickly, calling the bill “help for middle class families.
To do so, Democratic leaders will have to get all 50 members of his caucus, from Republican Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, to back the same sweeping plan.
There are likely to be multiple tax and provisional changes to the bill, including paid leave, in the Senate. If there are amendments to the bill, the House would have to hold another vote on the new version of the bill.
Support in the House is fragile, and Democrats can only afford three defections. One Democrat, Jared Golden of voted against the bill on Friday.
Golden cited the SALT provision as his reason for voting no:
“Many of my colleagues argue this major line item is worth accepting to pass the rest of the bill. I disagree.”
Editor note: In 2020, we saw a nationwide push to “defund the police”. While we all stood here shaking our heads wondering if these people were serious… they cut billions of dollars in funding for police officers. And as a result, crime has skyrocketed – all while the same politicians who said “you don’t need guns, the government will protect you” continued their attacks on both our police officers and our Second Amendment rights.
And that’s exactly why we’re launching this national crowdfunding campaign as part of our efforts to help “re-fund the police”.
For those looking for a quick link to get in the fight and support the cause, click here.
—
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
