Smith, Steel lead 48 Republicans in proposing bill to rescind IRS funding under IRA

U.S. Reps. Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) on Sept. 30 introduced legislation that would repeal all enforcement funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made available under the enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Instead, the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, H.R. 9092, would retain funding to improve the IRS’s customer service and information technology systems, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers’ offices.  

“It’s clear the IRS has long lost touch with its mission: to serve taxpayers,” said Rep. Smith, who sponsored H.R. 9092. “Democrats’ Inflation Act would result in more audits for those who can least afford it, plain and simple. American families don’t need more audits and red tape, and this bill will help ensure hardworking taxpayers receive satisfactory customer service without having to fear a supercharged IRS,” added Rep. Smith, who serves as the top Republican on the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.

H.R. 9092 currently has 49 Republican cosponsors, including Rep. Steel, who signed on as the lead original cosponsor of the bill, which would rescind certain balances made available to the IRS, according to the text of the measure.

“The so-called Inflation Reduction Act certainly hasn’t reduced inflation, but it has cost taxpayers more than $700 billion and doubled the size of the IRS to target middle- and low-income families and small businesses with a flood of audits and draconian enforcement activities,” Rep. Steel said. “The IRS has lost tens of billions of dollars to fraud and mismanagement, and I’m proud to introduce this legislation with Rep. Smith to protect the taxpayers, rein in an unaccountable federal agency, and reverse course from this dangerous path of growing bureaucracy and heavy-handed federal government.”

According to the lawmakers’ bill summary, rescinding certain balances for the IRS under H.R. 9092 also would defund the Biden administration’s plan under the IRA to hire 87,000 new IRS agents.