Saturday, during an appearance on MSNBC, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) defended the so-called Inflation Reduction Act’s provision to bolster the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with an additional 80,000 agents.
According to Quigley, paying taxes was part of it if one “loved” the country.
“It’s tough because some of its complicated. I am the chairman of the subcommittee that funds the IRS. The Republicans cut funding to the IRS from 2010 to 2018. We lost about 22% of our staff. A lot of that is just answering questions that lower middle class and American classes have about taxes. More important, about 40% reduction took place in those IRS people who did the more serious, complicated audits. So that meant a 75% reduction in that time on the wealthiest Americans, on 50% reductions and audits on the wealthiest corporations.”
“The facts are just the opposite of what they’re saying,” Quigley continued. “This will allow the IRS to audit the wealthiest corporations in America. And these aren’t patriots, but they are dishonest people who often tax cheats, who create about two-thirds of a trillion dollars a year in a tax gap. My attitude is if you love this country, one of the things you do is pay your fair share. You’re certainly not a criminal who cheats on your taxes, and if you want to increase military spending, reduce the tax gap. If you want to reduce the deficit, you reduce the tax gap. If you want to help people with prescription drugs or fight climate change, this is all in the same boat. We have a tax system put in place. At the very least, we should fairly and equitably enforce the law.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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