Fact Check: Mark Kelly Misleadingly Says 87,000 IRS Agents Would Not Increase Audits of Middle-Class Americans

CLAIM: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said that funding an additional 87,000 IRS agents would not target middle-class Americans.

Verdict: False. A study found that the increased funding would go after middle-class Americans.

“We need folks in government to go after businesses and the wealthiest Americans that cheat on their taxes. They have armies of accountants and lawyers,” Kelly claimed during a debate on Thursday night.

Kelly’s Republican opponent, Blake Masters, slammed the Arizona Democrat for voting for the $700 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which funds an additional 87,00 IRS agents.

“They’re not just going after billionaires, they’re not just going after big business, they’re going to be auditing you, auditing your small businesses this time next year. Sen. Kelly voted for 87,000 new IRS agents in the Inflation Reduction Act,” Masters said during the debate.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan agency, found that Masters was right. The CBO found that the Inflation Reduction Act would take at least $20 billion from working-class Americans earning less than $400,000 per year.

The study follows as congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden have falsely claimed that the Inflation Reduction Act does not go after Americans making less than $400,000 per year.

As Breitbart News’s John Binder reported, “In fact, no such language exists in the bill prohibiting the IRS from going after working and middle-class Americans with the new funding. This has resulted in Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen begging the IRS not to use the $80 billion to target Americans earning less than $400,000.”

In fact, Senate Democrats, including Kelly, rejected an amendment proposed by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) that would have banned the IRS from going after middle-class Americans and only targeting high-income Americans.