President Biden has no plan to address the painful IRS backlog, which has created another frustrating tax filing season crisis for American taxpayers, but has proposed an $80 billion expansion to increase audits on working Americans, farmers, and small businesses, top Republican for the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) writes in an op-ed.

CLICK HERE to read the full op-ed.

KEY EXCERPTS:

• On President Biden’s dangerous surveillance scheme:
  “President Biden has also proposed using the IRS to monitor Americans’ spending by requiring financial institutions to share certain banking transactions – a massive overreach and abuse of government authority which would create more work for local banks and credit unions. This is especially outrageous considering the agency has a long track record of targeting taxpayers for their political views, not to mention their history of data being leaked to the press. I adamantly oppose this change and have cosponsored legislation to prohibit this violation of taxpayer privacy.”

• Not a dime spent to address current and ongoing backlog:

“Unfortunately, President Biden has no plan to reform the IRS to make sure it is serving taxpayers. The IRS should be working overtime to ensure tax filers are receiving the kind of customer service they deserve, but instead they’re more concerned with squeezing every penny out of hardworking Americans. This is why I am a strong proponent for reforms that will bring the IRS into the 21st century and protect American taxpayers.”

KEY BACKGROUND:

• The Biden Administration has failed to help American taxpayers this tax filing season by not addressing the IRS’s backlog, and instead, by adding more to the agency’s plate and prioritizing a weaponized IRS.
• In January, top Republicans at the Ways and Means Committee and Appropriations Committee sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig requesting a plan on how the IRS would address the more than 16 million outstanding tax returns.
• In December, 99 House Republicans, including House Republican Leadership and all Ways and Means Republicans, urged the agency to resolve its processes and prepare for the tax filing season.
• President Biden’s plan to supercharge the IRS with $80 billion in mandatory funding and 87,000 new IRS agents will lead to drastically higher audit rates for all Americans at every income level according to the Congressional Budget Office.

READ: Correcting the Record: IRS Has Failed American Taxpayers