[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4592-S4593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Internal Revenue Service

  Ms. ERNST. Madam President, ``Help Wanted.'' I see the signs in 
nearly every county I visit in Iowa on my 99-county tour. Small 
businesses and public services are struggling to maintain the workforce 
that is vital to our communities. The Des Moines Public School 
District, for example, has over 100 vacancies and is providing $50,000 
incentives for retiring teachers, nurses, and administrators to stay in 
school.
  Faced with a declining number of soldiers, the Iowa National Guard is 
offering signing bonuses to new recruits,

[[Page S4593]]

along with other incentives to encourage current members to reenlist.
  Police departments across the State are also facing recruitment 
challenges so the Iowa State Patrol is raising salaries and starting 
outreach efforts with kids as young as the sixth grade to get them to 
start thinking about careers in law enforcement.
  And this need for essential workers, well, it isn't limited to just 
Iowa. America is facing a shortage of teachers, doctors, nurses, 
childcare providers, construction workers, truckdrivers, pilots, and 
even accountants.
  And with the Democrats' latest tax-and-spend spree, a shortage of 
accountants is something taxpayers everywhere now need to be concerned 
about. The Democrats' response to the nationwide need for essential 
workers is to hire 87,000 new IRS agents. The reckless tax-and-spending 
bill passed by DC Democrats last month more than doubles the size of 
the IRS, which already has nearly 80,000 full-time employees.
  So what are the new IRS agents being hired to do? Well, audit 
America, of course--and very aggressively, if a recent job announcement 
on the Agency's website is any indication. The IRS says it is seeking 
armed accountants willing to participate in ``life-threatening 
situations on the job.''
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says, with the supersized 
staff, the IRS audit rate ``would rise for all taxpayers,'' regardless 
of income. CBO warns it will also result in audits of innocent 
Americans who have paid all of their taxes and don't owe the IRS a 
cent. That is right. Even if you have paid your taxes, you still could 
be subjected to an unfair and costly audit by the Biden 
administration's army of IRS agents.
  Folks, Washington doesn't need any more tax collectors; it needs to 
simplify the Tax Code. If it wasn't so complicated to calculate your 
tax bill, it would be a lot easier to complete your return and avoid 
making mistakes.
  Ironically, hundreds of employees at the IRS itself may have 
willfully failed to pay their own tax bills, including tax collectors 
and even a criminal investigator. In total, 1,250 IRS employees were 
identified who had not paid their tax bills in full or on time by the 
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. More than 300 of 
these employees were repeat offenders. Yet the tax-collecting Agency 
did little to discipline the tax evaders on its very own payroll.
  The IRS staffers gave a variety of excuses for not paying their 
taxes, including forgetting to report all of their income or being 
unable to use TurboTax. Yep, folks, you heard that right. We have a 
real problem if the IRS staff who enforce the tax law aren't paying 
their own taxes and can't even understand how to properly fill out 
their own tax forms.
  I have heard enough of the excuses and these Washington double 
standards. That is why I have asked the inspector general to audit the 
IRS to ensure that the tax collectors themselves are paying the taxes 
they owe, and, on behalf of taxpayers in Iowa and the rest of the 
country, I am grateful that the IG has agreed.
  Before Biden's army of auditors starts harassing innocent taxpayers, 
let's first make sure that tax collectors have paid their own taxes.
  And if the threat of being audited wasn't bad enough, the reckless 
tax-and-spend bill also increases taxes, which will further add to the 
burden of small businesses already struggling with the higher costs 
resulting from Bidenomics. And that is the real issue. Washington's 
misplaced priorities are creating problems for the rest of America.
  No one in Iowa whom I talk to is begging for more IRS auditors, but I 
do hear about the urgent need for more teachers and daycare providers 
because these folks are absolutely essential to communities across 
Iowa. The childcare staffing crisis has an even bigger ripple effect on 
families because it can determine where, when, and even if a parent can 
work. Yet four in five childcare centers across the country are 
understaffed. This is particularly pressing for my home State because 
we lead the Nation in the percentage of families where both parents 
work away from home.
  Gov. Kim Reynolds is working hard to increase the availability and 
affordability of childcare, and part of her plan is to pay recruitment 
and retention bonuses to childcare providers to recognize them for 
their hard work.

  In addition, most of Iowa's restaurants and bars are also 
shortstaffed, which is resulting in reduced hours of service for 
customers and also longer shifts for current employees. To retain and 
attract employees, restaurants are increasing benefits like free meals, 
more flexible schedules, paid time off, and retirement contributions. 
And, folks, that is great news for these hard-working Iowans, but it 
also increases the cost of doing business.
  So instead of increasing taxes on Iowa's small businesses to pay for 
the IRS's new army of auditors, Washington should allow job creators to 
keep more of their own earnings which can be put toward hiring more of 
those essential workers--whether that be childcare providers, 
construction workers, or food service employees--whom we all rely upon. 
That is the help that America really wants. And while my Democratic 
friends are working overtime to audit Americans, you can rest assured 
that Republicans--we are auditing the IRS.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask to speak as if in morning 
business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.