On the recordAugust 6, 2022
my amendment will guard against squeezing middle-class taxpayers. Supersized IRS funding will squeeze billions from the middle-class workers and small businesses through ramped-up audits. My colleagues on the other side and the President all say that that is not intended by the bill, and, in fact, the bill itself says that is not intended. But this is not enforceable language, and everyone knows that the targeted money in the bill cannot be achieved unless the middle class--people with incomes under $400,000--are hit with a wave of new audits. We also know that the Congressional Budget Office will score that, showing that there is no way to accomplish the objectives of this bill unless you audit the middle class. My bill simply puts in some teeth behind what is admitted by everyone to be the intention of the legislation, to say that none of the new IRS funding may be used to audit those earning below $400,000. If my amendment is not adopted, billions in taxes will be squeezed out of taxpayers earning below $400,000, according to the CBO, including middle-income workers and small businesses. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The senior Senator from Oregon.
