Inflation Reduction Act Will Pump $80 Billion to IRS

In a party-line vote yesterday, the Senate passed the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. The IRS is about to go beast mode.

First, the bill. The legislation by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), dubbed the “Inflation Reduction Act,” is actually a climate bill that subsidizes the renewable energy sector and makes it easier to buy electric vehicles. It also raises taxes, aims to decrease the deficit, and gives the IRS serious funding.

The bill will give $80 billion to the IRS to increase enforcement. The current IRS budget is only $12.6 billion, meaning the bill will multiply the IRS’ budget six times over. The money is designed to make the agency larger, faster, and more effective at collecting taxes. It’s about to add 87,000 new agents, doubling the IRS workforce.

How will this affect average Americans? Though proponents of the bill say that the IRS will use these resources to be tough on the country’s ultra-wealthy, many critics say that the IRS doesn’t need this many resources to go after that demographic. Instead, it’s likely that middle-class families, farmers, small businesses, and others who don’t have the resources to fight the IRS will bear the burden.