Democrat candidate Matt Castelli, the opponent of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), has applauded the creation of 87,000 new IRS agents, a measure Stefanik has pledged a Republican-controlled House would repeal.
“It’s my understanding that funding has been provided to make sure that [the IRS is] whole [and] that they can do their job,” Castelli said recently on NewsTalk WVMT.
Castelli, a Democrat who failed to fully pay his 2022 Washington, DC, property taxes, is in favor of those earning less than $400,000 paying $20 billion more in taxes over the next decade through increased IRS auditing — an amount a CBO analysis estimated. The additional 87,000 IRS agents could cost taxpayers as much as $80 billion.
When questioned about his position on the increased IRS funding, Castelli claimed the IRS has been underfunded for years.
“There’s been a talking point out there about hiring 87,000 IRS agents, and it’s my understanding that some recent legislation does provide additional resources for both the Treasury Department and the IRS because they’ve been woefully underfunded for many years,” he said at a town hall in Fulton County last week. “It’s my understanding that funding has been provided to make sure that they’re whole [and] that they can do their job.”
Stefanik, the third most senior ranking Republican in the House, has spoken out against employing and funding new IRS agents at a time when the southern border is being overrun with migrants.
“When Republicans earn back the House, the first thing we will do is scrap the 87,000 IRS agents Democrats want to hire to target hardworking families and small businesses,” she tweeted Monday.
Stefanik is defending New York Congressional District 21. The district is rated a R+8 by the Cook Political Report, and in 2018 when Cuomo/Hochul were on the ballot in the governor’s race, they lost to the Republicans by 26 percent.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.