National Taxpayers Union (NTU) applauds Speaker Johnson for his fiscally responsible leadership in introducing a fully-offset $14.3 billion House emergency appropriation for Israel.
While NTU does not weigh in on foreign policy matters as a rule, we are pleased that this legislation signals to taxpayers that Congress can respond swiftly to critical emergencies while also remaining fiscally responsible.
Unlike the Biden administration, which requested a bloated and debt-financed $162 billion package comprising two funding bills – one for foreign policy and one for a domestic wishlist – Speaker Johnson wisely found real offsets to pay for Israel aid. The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) massive Inflation Reduction Act budget boost has yet to be properly managed, overseen, and directed to the agency’s most urgent service and modernization priorities, and Speaker Johnson recognizes this problem. The burden of proof is now on the spenders in Congress to either acknowledge this problem as well, or come up with a serious plan of their own.
Recent IRS controversies demonstrate the perils of providing so much funding, so soon, without adequate planning. These issues include: allowing the theft and exposure of thousands of tax returns, exceeding Congressional authority to introduce Direct File, using Congressionally-unauthorized artificial intelligence to target firms, and exposing 120,000 taxpayers’ information to the public. These headlines have eroded public trust and confidence in the IRS, and have exposed its serious deficiencies and need for reforms. Until the IRS can demonstrate careful stewardship of taxpayer resources and a prioritization of its core functions, the bulk of its Biden-era windfall should be directed to improving data security, strengthening taxpayer services, and modernizing its outdated systems.
Congress should also ensure that the IRS refrains from engaging in any egregious enforcement actions that violate the rights and privacy of taxpayers. Although the IRS’s AI enforcement forays and crypto dragnet summons strategy demonstrate the agency may believe otherwise, the average taxpayer is not a criminal and deserves a fair and efficient tax system that puts their well-being first.
NTU thanks Speaker Johnson for his attention to the federal deficit, and we hope that this focus demonstrates a renewed commitment to the nation’s financial security when addressing emergencies of any kind. NTU also calls on Speaker Johnson and all of Congress to reject the Biden administration’s outsized budget requests which, without being fully offset, would further send America’s debt burden into a tailspin.