In the weeks since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, one provision has generated more heat in certain corners of the internet than any other: an $80 billion infusion coming to the IRS.
The money is set to help the tax-collecting agency chase down cheats and refresh its shockingly outdated technology over the coming decade. But many critics on the right who say the agency is politically motivated contend the money will also make tax collectors a more pernicious presence in Americans' lives.
One claim in particular has gained traction in right-wing circles: that the money would not only lead to a flood of 87,000 new IRS agents — but also that those agents will be largely armed.
Fact checkers have debunked the claim. But now the agency itself is pushing back directly in a new op-ed from IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig published on Yahoo Finance Thursday.
The viral claims are “absolutely false,” Rettig writes. He said his agency “is often perceived as an easy target for mischaracterizations of what IRS employees do — and that’s exactly what’s happened in recent weeks.”
Terry Lemons, a senior spokesperson for the IRS, added in a statement to Yahoo Finance that the money will instead “help provide badly needed improvements in taxpayer service and technology as well as help ensure fairness in our tax system.”
The op-ed comes the same week the IRS announced a security review of its facilities around the country in the face of what Rettig says are concerns among his...
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