The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government recently advanced an appropriations bill that would cut the IRS’s budget by more than $341 million.
The measure would reduce IRS funding to its lowest level since 2008. It would also prevent the agency from using funds to support the Affordable Care Act or to target conservative 501c4 non-profit groups.
Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, said the funding cut was designed to hold the IRS accountable to American taxpayers.
“The committee remains troubled by (IRS) activities, including the inappropriate singling out of certain tax-exempt groups based on their political beliefs, wasteful spending on conferences and videos and providing bonuses to staff without evaluating their conduct or tax compliance,” Crenshaw said. “While last year’s bill includes some important spending and targeting reforms, we think more needs to be done to rebuild the confidence of the American people and cannot agree to the requested increase in funding.”
The measure would reduce IRS funding in fiscal year 2015 to $10.95 billion, which would be $1.5 billion below the agency’s funding request. The measure would also require reports on how much official time IRS employees spend on union activities, as well as reports on agency spending.
“Language is also included prohibiting funds for treasury to implement the proposed or a revised regulation regarding the standards and definitions used to determine the tax exempt status under section 501c4 of the Internal Revenue Code,” Crenshaw said. “I believe that the administration should wait until the investigations into the inappropriate singling out of certain tax-exempt groups based on their political beliefs are completed before proposing to make any regulatory changes regarding section 501c4. The resources used to promulgate this proposed rule could be better spent responding to taxpayers’ correspondence and phone calls.”
Crenshaw also said the IRS displayed little ability to “self-police or self-correct,” and should not be granted additional authority under the Affordable Care Act.
“I find this expansion of IRS authority to be unacceptable and, therefore, the bill prohibits funding to implement the individual mandate and prohibits transfers from the Department of Health and Human Services to fund the IRS’ implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” Crenshaw said.
The measure will next advance to the full House Appropriations Committee for consideration.