Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Nebraska for yielding.

The idea, Mr. Speaker, of hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to close the tax gap is misguided. I served as revenue secretary for the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We did, in fact, close a tax gap through what proved to be very effective measures. These measures included improving IT systems and processes, which truly determined tax evasion from tax avoidance.

Largely taking the easy approach of hiring 87,000 new agents, doubling the size of the IRS--I don't know who thinks that is a good idea--does not improve the quality of information used to accomplish the goal of collecting all tax revenues that are due. It will only increase the number of audits, most often on innocent small businesses and individuals.

As well, the CBO projection of $186 billion of increased revenue was established before the administration said that only those above $400,000 in income would be audited. Currently, nearly 90 percent of the audits are conducted on small businesses and those making less than $400,000.

How can you make a projection when your targeted audience is reduced by 90 percent?

This is an absolutely flawed plan that will do nothing but increase the size of government, increase audits on law-abiding businesses, and fail to achieve its intended results. It is Big Government at its worse.

According to the CBO, the hiring of these new IRS agents will also cause audit rates to rise on all taxpayers. A bipartisan analysis found that this increase in funding would result in 1.2 million more audits; 700,000 of them will target taxpayers making $75,000 or less. These new IRS agents will not be targeting wealthy tax cheats as they claim. They will be targeting everyday Americans.

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