Van Duyne Questions IRS Over Funding

Texas Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R) is going after the IRS. During a hearing with Commissioner Daniel Werfel, Van Duyne questioned what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is doing with newly acquired funds.

Republicans have long argued that the IRS is unnecessarily being bolstered.

With the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, the legislation increases the IRS’s budget by an estimated $80 billion over 10 years. This money would be distributed across four main categories, which are operational support, enforcement, business system modernization, and taxpayer services.

However, in reviewing how the money is being appropriated, Van Duyne has pointed out that the IRS is utilizing 14 times more funds for enforcement than taxpayer services. Taking to social media to share an excerpt from the hearing, Van Duyne shared an exchange between her and Commissioner Werfel.

Captioning the video, Van Duyne shared that she remains “concerned about how the IRS plans to spend its supercharged budget of $80 billion, which was handed to the agency by Democrats and President Biden.”

“Don’t believe their lies: of the $80 billion, only $3.2 billion is dedicated to taxpayer services,” she warned.

One point of contention has been the fact that the IRS would be increasing its armed agents, which Werfel once again confirmed.

Werfel shared that less than 3 percent of the IRS workforce would be armed, and when asked if the IRS would be hiring new special agents, Werfel responded, “our CI division, our Criminal Investigation Division, they do not conduct audits. What they do is they are investigating acute issues of fraud and… tax evasion. And typically, they’re armed when they’re putting themselves in danger.”

IRA funding for customer service is expected to run out in four years while enforcement is on the rise, which Republicans argue is indicative of taxpayer services not being prioritized.