(RepublicanNews.org) – On Monday, Jan. 9, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, rolling back billions in Internal Revenue Service funding approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act last year. It leaves in place funding for improvements to customer service and IT services but removes the money that would have been used to double the agency’s size by recruiting 87,000 new IRS agents.
The action makes good on a promise from Rep. Kevin McCarthy before the mid-terms that “on the very first day,” the directive to hire the extra 87,000 IRS agents would be reversed, because “the government should be there to help you, not go after you.” According to the Republicans, 90% of the new audits would have targeted middle-class families and small businesses, which they described as plundering working-class Americans.
This vote is part of a wider package of proposals, including securing the border, working toward energy independence, passing a Parents’ Bill of Rights, and eliminating wasteful spending. The House has more ideas for the IRS in the pipeline.
Congress has also been promised a vote on the Fair Tax Act proposed by Rep. Buddy Carter. The act aims to simplify the tax code, by abolishing national personal and corporate income taxes, death, gift, and payroll taxes and replacing them with a national consumption tax. It would also abolish the IRS. Rep. Kat Cammack, a co-sponsor, said it was time to fight back against the weaponization of the IRS, and stop “punishing those who work hard to succeed.”
A vote on the Fair Tax Act was part of a deal made between Rep. Kevin McCarthy and members of the House Freedom Caucus to secure the gavel and become Speaker. Both votes are indicative of the hard-line stance the Republican house intends to take with the Biden administration and its policies.
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