{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E277E1BE-7E4C-4723-B394-191EDDDA3C09", "Thune: Democrats Move to Double the Size of the IRS, Jeopardize Taxpayers\u2019 Privacy", "2021-12-09", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the Democrats\u2019 desire to double the size of the Internal Revenue Servicein order to pay for their reckless tax-and-spending spree. Thune noted that the agency\u2019s poor reputation and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars would further jeopardize the privacy of South Dakotans\u2019 personal information.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, the one thing you can say for Democrats\u2019 so-called Build Back Better plan is that it provides a never-ending supply of bad proposals to talk about.\n\n\u201cAnd the bad Build Back Better measure I want to discuss today is Democrats\u2019 plan to double the size of the IRS.\n\n\u201cYes.\n\n\u201cDouble the size of the IRS.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the IRS is not exactly the most popular government agency.\n\n\u201cAnd with good reason.\n\n\u201cThe agency has gained for itself a reputation for poor taxpayer service and, most seriously, for mishandling the confidential taxpayer information it has access to.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the IRS was subject to a massive leak or hack of private taxpayer information mere months ago \u2013 information that somehow ended up in the hands of advocates at ProPublica.\n\n\u201cAnd neither Treasury nor the IRS has provided meaningful follow-up about the data breach, much less any accountability.\n\n\u201cFor months, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee have pressed the administration for details about the breach of private taxpayer information.\n\n\u201cI would have hoped that my friends on the other side of the aisle would have shown similar concern for taxpayers\u2019 privacy.\n\n\u201cAnd who could forget the IRS scandal during the Obama administration, when the IRS targeted a number of organizations based on their political beliefs.\n\n\u201cMr. President, those are two notorious examples of IRS misconduct.\n\n\u201cBut there are plenty of others.\n\n\u201cThe Treasury inspector general for tax administration has repeatedly found instances of IRS agents violating taxpayer rights.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the agency\u2019s record of irresponsibility or incompetence \u2013 or both.\n\n\u201cLosing track of laptops that may have contained sensitive taxpayer information.\n\n\u201cRehiring employees who had been fired for bad behavior.\n\n\u201cWork delays due to a lack of simple printer maintenance.\n\n\u201cHanging up on taxpayers who call the IRS for information.\n\n\u201cCustomer service departments in general can be frustrating, but at least at many companies you can reach an actual person in a fairly reasonable amount of time.\n\n\u201cIf you call the IRS you have a one in 50 chance of reaching a human being.\n\n\u201cOne in 50.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I could go on.\n\n\u201cSuffice it to say, there are good reasons why Americans tend not to be big fans of the IRS.\n\n\u201cAnd why they think this agency already has too much power.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats would like to double the size of this agency.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 bill would add 87,000 new IRS employees.\n\n\u201c87,000.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s enough employees to fill an entire football stadium \u2013 with some left over.\n\n\u201c87,000 is more than the population of Rapid City, South Dakota \u2013 the second-largest city in my state.\n\n\u201cThe Congressional Budget Office estimates that increasing the size of the agency in this way would result in significantly higher audit rates of American taxpayers.\n\n\u201cMany of those audits would hit middle-income Americans and small businesses \u2013 in other words, individuals without easy access to an army of accountants to help them navigate the process and ensure that their rights are protected.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats\u2019 primary reason for this IRS expansion is to raise revenue to help pay for their partisan tax-and-spending spree.\n\n\u201cThey claim that hiring all these new IRS agents and employees will allow them to close or reduce the tax gap \u2013 the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid.\n\n\u201cBut there are a couple of problems with that.\n\n\u201cIn the first place, it\u2019s extremely doubtful that they will be able to raise the money they claim they\u2019ll be able to raise.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the Congressional Budget Office doesn\u2019t even score hoped-for revenue from enforcement since it considers the acquisition of that revenue to be so uncertain.\n\n\u201cAnd even if Democrats are able to raise a meaningful sum from increased enforcement, what exactly is it going to cost Americans for Democrats to recapture this money?\n\n\u201cIncreased scrutiny \u2013 and costly audits \u2013 of law-abiding taxpayers?\n\n\u201cIRS intimidation and harassment?\n\n\u201cAnd just in case anyone thinks I\u2019m exaggerating about that intimidation, I would note that a provision in the House version of Democrats\u2019 reckless tax-and-spending spree would repeal a measure requiring written approval of a supervisor before an IRS agent can assess any penalties.\n\n\u201cThe provision was intended to prevent overreaching IRS agents from threatening Americans with unjustified penalties.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to imagine why Democrats are trying to repeal this measure if they\u2019re not trying to pave the way for much more aggressive IRS pressure and enforcement.\n\n\u201cAnd I haven\u2019t even mentioned the provision that was in Democrats\u2019 proposal for a long time and which some Democrats \u2013 including the president\u2019s treasury secretary and other administration officials \u2013 would still like to see included: a provision that would empower the IRS to snoop on the details of Americans\u2019 bank accounts.\n\n\u201cUnder one version of this provision, the IRS would be able to sift through the bank records of any American with just $600 in annual transactions.\n\n\u201c$600.\n\n\u201cIn other words, the IRS would be able to look through the bank records of just about every American and find out just how much you spent on Starbucks or your last doctor\u2019s bill or that new winter coat.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s staggering that Democrats could even contemplate giving that much power to an agency that has a track record of mishandling sensitive taxpayer information.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s the kind of power the president\u2019s treasury secretary, for one, would like this agency to have.\n\n\u201cMr. President, with their so-called Build Back Better plan, Democrats are proposing a massive expansion of government.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re apparently just supposed to take it on faith that the government will be able to handle all these new responsibilities.\n\n\u201cWell, I \u2013 and many other Americans \u2013 have my doubts.\n\n\u201cAnd the IRS provides a perfect example of why.\n\n\u201cThe IRS can\u2019t even properly handle the staff and responsibilities it already has.\n\n\u201cAnd yet Democrats think it\u2019s a good idea to double the size of this agency and give it new enforcement powers \u2013 and, if some have their way, expanded access to Americans\u2019 personal information.\n\n\u201cMr. President, doubling the size of the IRS is a terrible idea.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s one more reason why \u2018Build Back Better\u2019 is a bad deal for the American people.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E277E1BE-7E4C-4723-B394-191EDDDA3C09"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5048389323055744, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}