Indiana lawmaker introduces plan to defund IRS

Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks on Monday introduced a plan to repeal funding for 87,000 IRS agents and instead grant Americans a tax break.

Democrats allocated $80 billion to the IRS for it to hire 87,000 new agents as part of the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, a move which has prompted fears that the agency will target middle income taxpayers. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has vowed that the GOP would repeal that funding should the party secure a majority in the November midterms.

In announcing his plan, Banks pointed to McCarthy's prior statement, saying "I'd like to thank Leader McCarthy for his commitment and leadership on this issue and for pledging to immediately defund Biden's IRS army."

The Indiana Republican highlighted estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation, that more than half of the revenue the hypothetical IRS agents would collect would come from those earning less than $50,000 annually. Banks, on Monday, introduced a legislative plan to address that issue. Dubbed the Defunding the IRS Army Act, Banks said the plan would ease the burden on taxpayers instead of imposing additional strain on them in difficult economic times.

"The Inflation Reduction Act would hit Americans with billions in new taxes and subject them to pointless and invasive IRS audits," he said in a press release. "My bill would use the $80 billion that Joe Biden is sending to the IRS to partially offset a tax break for working Americans. Democrats are treating hardworking taxpayers as suspected cheats and squeezing them dry to pay for their radical agenda, while House Republicans are trying to lower inflation by easing Americans' tax burden. "

Moreover, the plan would make permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's doubling of the standard tax deduction and expand it further for the 2023 fiscal year.