(Headline USA) IRS requests for even more funding from Congress — made over the years by one leader after another — were granted by Democrats this summer.
Indeed, Democrats stuffed $80 billion of pork for the tax collectors into their flagship climate and health care law.
Fortified with a new funding stream, the IRS is making plans to clear a massive backlog of unprocessed tax returns, upgrade technology that is decades out of date and, yes, hire more auditors.
Republican candidates for Congress are not supporting the pork given to the IRS.
Indeed, as GOP candidates across the country are making clear, the battle over IRS funding has only just begun.
They are making attacks on a larger IRS a central part of their midterm election pitch to voters.
Republicans warn that the Democratic legislation will bankroll an army of auditors that will harass middle-class taxpayers rather than help them.
“If you pass it, they will come — after you,” says an ad running in an Iowa House race that spoofs a scene in the “Field of Dreams” movie.
Instead of baseball players emerging from a field of corn, it’s black-suited IRS agents.
As President Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
