Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in The Hill.
Though the Inflation Reduction Act is enormously popular, some politicians and pundits are trying to generate hysteria about one feature: Funding for the IRS. All the false claims are distracting us from two important things: how necessary the funding increase is to reverse the longstanding underfunding of this critical government agency, and how this funding will directly help average Americans get money owed to them while cracking down on billionaire tax cheats. Bonus: It will generate about $200 billion that we can re-invest in green energy, health care, and a cleaner climate.
Over the last decade, budget cuts have shrunk IRS staff by 20 percent, leaving the agency with fewer auditors than at any time since World War II. That means they’ve been fundamentally unable to do even the basics of their job, which involves the important task of collecting funding for the whole of government. Unable to process tax returns efficiently, unable to answer calls from confused taxpayers and unable, especially, to get money owed by the extremely wealthy, who have ways of circumventing the IRS.
Despite what Republican lawmakers would have you believe, most middle-class and poor people pay their taxes, and when there are errors, they are tiny in comparison to the aggressive tax-dodging of the elite. Most Americans have income withheld from every paycheck and they have W2s that their employer fills out and submits to the...
"I will note that in 2024, troops were -- that was Joe Biden by the way, Joe Biden -- were deployed to polling locations in 15 states," Hegseth said April 29, 2026 before the House of Representati...