Hidden away in the $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by the GOP-controlled House this week, and now being considered by the Senate, is a $350 million cut in the IRS budget that a GOP congressman admitted was payback for what many Republicans claim was partisan targeting of conservative groups but more likely was routine auditing of conservative and liberal groups alike to ensure compliance with rules forbidding tax exemptions for political activities.
By comparison, the House Republicans used their leverage to cut EPA’s funding by only $60 million, only about one-sixth as much.
Using its budget to punish the IRS for alleged (and still unproven) wrongs against rightwing political groups is typical Republican stupidity. Even if we make the very large assumption that top-level IRS bureaucrats, perhaps in collusion with Democratic politicians up to and including President Obama, which seems like a very long stretch to me, decided to use the IRS’s audit powers to harass their political opponents (as GOP President “Tricky Dick” Nixon did to anti-war protest leaders and other political opponents in the 1970s), the 13,000 IRS employees who are going to lose their jobs had nothing to do with it. This is like waging war against Iraqi villagers to retaliate for Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda’s attacks on the U.S. — another mind-boggling example of Republican mean spirits. (Warning: When someone else does something to piss of Republicans, you may be the next scapegoat in their gunsights!)
But the ultimate loser will be the U.S. Treasury, and the big winners will be high-income taxpayers who will find it much easier to get away with tax dodging. It’s hard for me to see they can credibly continuing complaining about deficits after cutting the IRS’s budget by $350 million, which will result in a lot less taxes being collected.
As for those 13,000 soon-to-be-unemployed IRS workers, their pink slips should come with “Made In GOP” stamped on them. And what do you wanna bet that Republicans will try to deny those folks unemployment benefits, too?
Update: The Senate passed a stopgap measure Saturday afternoon that funds the government through Wednesday to avert a government shutdown while the Senate debates the House-passed spending bill, which contains provisions both Republicans and Democrats find objectionable.