Senator Grassley. (photo from Grassley Twitter feed)
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he was being rhetorical when he told Fox News last week he feared a looming IRS strike force that goes in with loaded rifles ready to shoot some small business person in Iowa.
The Republican was commenting on part of the bill President Biden will sign into law today which will see the IRS hire 87,000 IRS agents over the next decade — at a cost of $80 billion.
“This is an example of overreach by the IRS,” Grassley says. “I think it’s a way of going after the middle class and small business people because the very wealthiest in this country are already being targeted, and the corporations are being targeted.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin says audit rates will not be increased for taxpayers with a yearly income under $400,000, but Grassley says he’s not buying it. Grassley says he’s been dealing with leaders of the IRS since the mid-1990s who want to restructure the agency.
“I’m mostly concerned about $80 billion in spending for the 87,000 new agents,” Grassley says, “and I wish the Democrats wanted to spend these resources on our southern border because that’s an enforcement issue just as much as the tax issues are.” Treasury officials say the funding would also be used to upgrade a computer system that’s still using the COBOL language, which dates to the late 1950s.
Grassley says the IRS and the FBI have repeatedly asked for billions of dollars for new technology. “Somehow government can’t do it, but the private sector can do it. They probably ought to call in Intel to do it for them and get it done right the first time,” Grassley says. “So, if they’re talking about upgrading, when are they ever going to get an upgrade? How many billions of dollars do they have to spend to get the job done?”
One report says the IRS workforce has been shrinking for decades as the U.S. population has grown, and that around 50,000 of the current 78,000 agency employees were expected to retire or quit within the next five years. That would mean a large portion of the projected 87,000 new hires under the bill would be replacing current workers.