[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 143 (Monday, September 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6045-S6046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               IRS Audits

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, as I am out and about across 
Tennessee, one thing I continue to hear from many Tennesseans and our 
small business owners is that one of the things they find very 
frightening is an IRS audit.
  Now, for a lot of our small business owners, when they talk about 
this, they mention how time-consuming it is and how it means sleepless 
nights and financial uncertainty and needless harassment because they 
are all working hard, and they are trying to comply with the law.
  As of last year--and I find this so very interesting. As of last 
year, nearly two-thirds of the IRS audits targeted Americans who were 
making less than $200,000, but in a misguided effort to fund the Biden-
Harris administration's trillions in inflationary spending, the IRS 
recently doubled down on its pledge to ramp up audits on American 
taxpayers. We all know the administration had said no audits on 
taxpayers who are earning under $400,000, but bear in mind, two-
thirds--two-thirds--of those audits were on taxpayers earning less than 
$200,000.
  Regularly, when I am doing meetings in our 95 counties, I will hear 
from small business owners, farmers, and independent contractors all 
across the State who are worried about being targeted by the IRS. This 
is the same Agency that received $80 billion from the Inflation 
Reduction Act, which was brought to us by this Biden-Harris 
administration--$80 billion to go out and hire 87,000 new agents.
  While IRS Commissioner Werfel recently promised that there would be 
``no new wave of audits coming from middle- and low-income'' 
Americans--and that is a direct quote from him--a new report from the 
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration confirms that 
Tennesseans do have a reason to be concerned. Although the Treasury 
Department directed the IRS to exclude Americans making less than 
$400,000 each year from increased audit rates, the report found that 
the IRS has no plan to make this happen. You heard me right. Treasury 
directed the IRS to exclude those Americans making less than $400,000, 
but the Agency has absolutely no plan for how they are going to do 
that.
  For example, they are using a novel definition of ``taxpayers' 
earnings''--it is ``total positive income.'' This phrasing has no 
statutory definition. According to the IRS, the term refers to ``the 
sum of all positive amounts shown for the various sources of income 
reported on an individual income tax return and, thus, excludes 
losses.''
  To be sure, the confusing definition raises more questions than it 
answers:

[[Page S6046]]

Will a small business owner or farmer be subject to more audits if his 
revenue exceeds $400,000 even if his profit is much less than that? 
Will a married couple with a household income of $400,000 face the same 
audit rate as a single person with the same income?
  For months on the Senate Finance Committee, I pressed Commissioner 
Werfel and other Biden-Harris officials for answers, but time and 
again, they have failed to provide satisfactory explanations.
  While disturbing, this lack of clarity should come as no surprise. 
The IG report found that the IRS has failed to define ``small 
business'' under the directive and develop a methodology for enforcing 
the $400,000 threshold, all while lacking basic documentation and 
transparency about its audit plan--there again, no plan.
  In short, the Biden-Harris IRS is preparing to shake down Main 
Street, all while claiming to focus on tax cheats and millionaires and 
billionaires.
  No doubt, the IRS audit plan is just the latest example of this 
administration's disastrous tax-and-spend agenda, which has seen our 
national debt increase by more than $7 trillion while pushing up prices 
across the board by 20 percent in less than 4 years. That is right. The 
current inflation rate from the time Joe Biden took office until today 
is actually 20.3 percent.
  Unfortunately, this administration has forgotten a simple fact: Hard-
working Tennesseans and Americans do best when they have more money in 
their pocketbooks, not less. With its reckless audit plan, the Biden-
Harris IRS is doing its best to ensure that they take more money out of 
your pocket.
  I yield the floor.