The clock is ticking. Congress has until late December to fund the federal government. While that is expected to happen, perhaps with stop-gap legislation, the Internal Revenue Service is running out of enforcement money.
Due to language in the current law when it comes to federal spending, about $20 billion of the IRS’s remaining enforcement budget is now frozen.
The Treasury Department is sounding the alarm. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said this week that without the money, there would be 6,000 fewer audits of high-income people and 2,000 fewer audits of large corporations. In addition, a hiring freeze is possible.
When Democrats controlled the House, Senate and White House, they passed the Inflation Reduction Act. The massive spending bill included close to $80 billion for the IRS, on top of the agency’s annual budget.
Many Republicans cried foul and called the beefed-up enforcement government intrusion. When the GOP took control of the House last year, by a narrow margin, it was able to repeal billions of dollars in money for the IRS in budget cutting, as well as a debt ceiling deal with the Biden administration.
With Republicans taking charge of the White House, Senate and House this upcoming January – and talk of major policy changes – negotiations between now and when the current funding bill ends on Dec. 20 could have a big impact on the IRS and its manpower going forward.
