Gov. Ron DeSantis says that Democrat lawmakers who pushed through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act on a straight party-line vote that vastly expands the Internal Revenue Service bureaucracy should have a sit-down with the tax man on an annual basis.
“I think every Member of Congress that voted for that bill should be required to be audited every year by the IRS,” the Florida GOP governor declared, which implies, perhaps, that Democrats should put their own money where their mouths are.
During a presser in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Tuesday morning, the governor cast doubt on the fairness of the “reprehensible” provisions in the legislation, a law that other critics have deemed the Inflation Corruption Act, especially in these politically polarized times.
“They also authorized 87,000 new IRS agents, and those IRS agents are gonna be mobilized to go after people that the government doesn’t like. This is not something where they’re only gonna go after billionaires. In fact, billionaires all have accountants and lawyers. They’ll be going after people who are not gonna be able to defend themselves against these audits,” the governor explained in the context of common sense.
DeSantis went on to highlight that Senate Democrats defeated an amendment that would have enshrined into law a prohibition against audits for anyone whose income is below $400,000. “Why would they not have wanted to do that?,” he asked rhetorically.
“Because they want this to be something that is going after sole proprietors and handymen and people that owned restaurants, or people that drive an Uber. So it’s gonna be those folks who will be least able to withstand an audit that they’re gonna go after because that’s really the low-hanging fruit. You go after that, you’re gonna be able to probably scrounge a lot of stuff.”
Watch (the IRS discussion begins at about the seven-minute mark):
(Video: WPBF 25 News)
The thousands of new IRS staff will reportedly be added over a 10-year period, and many are to be slotted in to replace retirees and those who quit the agency, however, according to the Associated Press.
As an aside, many self-employed individuals tend to vote Republican, while a lot of the virtue-signaling fat-cats are often Democrat donors who also write checks to various social justice organizations for reasons that may be less-than altruistic.
For what it’s worth, in an August 10 letter that is posted on the U.S. Treasury website, Secretary Janet Yellen wrote the following to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig :
“Specifically, I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels. This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.”
People still remember how the IRS under Obama subjected conservative groups who applied for nonprofit status to disproportionate scrutiny.
No IRS official was ever held accountable, although the government under former president Trump reached financial settlements with groups that sued.
IRS hiring ad raises eyebrows: Willing to carry a firearm, use deadly force if necessary https://t.co/eGy1yzJv38 pic.twitter.com/jf5l6rRG2z
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) August 11, 2022
DeSantis continued; “That’s not a good thing for an economy to be unleashing the IRS…the tax code is incomprehensible, so if they go after you, a lot of times they’re gonna be able to find something, especially if you don’t have an accountant or you don’t have lawyers. So I thought it was really, really reprehensible that they’d be mobilizing 87,000 agents. I think every Member of Congress that voted for that bill should be required to be audited every year by the IRS.”
DeSantis, a potential 2024 or 2028 presidential candidate, has separately said that “of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top. And I think it was basically just a middle finger to the American public…they’re not putting very much might down at the border, I can tell you that right now, but they want to be able to unleash them on the American taxpayers…”
The governor added that one of the reasons there is no state income tax in Florida is because that avoids empowering revenue agents.
Gov. DeSantis says hiring 87,000 IRS agents is a "middle finger" to Americans. pic.twitter.com/qe65Do18fX
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) August 17, 2022
Later in the Fort Pierce presser, DeSantis asserted that President Biden lacks the constitutional authority to unilaterally implement student loan debt relief.
He also suggested that once the federal government got into the student loan business, it was open season for college administrators to jack up their tuition and expand their already-bloated bureaucracy.
With a price tag of perhaps as much as $1 trillion that taxpayers are on the hook for, the governor also said that debt forgiveness will likely exacerbate inflation that is already soaring. With reference to universities sitting on huge endowments, DeSantis wondered “why aren’t they paying for the loans? They should be responsible for the loans because it was their recklessness. It wasn’t the American taxpayer that was reckless about it.”
Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
- ‘Petty heffa’: The View’s Ana Navarro skewered for cracking on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s appearance - December 4, 2022
- Women’s college volleyball game features incredible rally complete with diving, table-crashing safe - December 4, 2022
- Wild brawl breaks out at Fitness Connection gym, takes deciding turn when woman enters picture - December 4, 2022
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
