Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
U.S. House Republicans are considering a 7.7% cut to the IRS budget, which completely goes against President Barack Obama’s desire for an increase in finances for the beleaguered agency. Currently, the IRS has a budget of about $10.9 billion. Republicans rejected Obama’s call for an 18% increase that would let the IRS end a hiring freeze and answer more phone calls from taxpayers.
Both Democrats and Republicans are now $2.8 billion apart on funding, which seems to be a pretty big error for the federal budget, and an enormous stain on a politically sensitive issue.
“Every day, Americans are making tough decisions about their own budgets and rightfully expect federal agencies to do the same,” said Representative Ander Crenshaw, a Florida conservative who oversees the IRS budget.
Republicans have been pointing to Obama’s IRS funding as a major source of conflict, since both parties are in the process of working out a federal budget by Sept. 30, for the first time ever since conservatives sadly won control of the Senate back in January.
“There is the threat to veto funding for the troops and their equipment without similar increases at the IRS and EPA, which would diminish our military’s ability to respond to the myriad of threats facing us today,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said last week, while also referring to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“This will hold the agency’s budget below the sequester level and below the fiscal year 2004 level,” one random House Appropriations Committee news release boasts. “This funding level is sufficient for the IRS to perform its core duties, but will require the agency to streamline and better prioritize its budget.”
But what about tax enforcement? Those on the left make the claim that starving the IRS only costs the government revenue from tax enforcement, with about a $6 return on every dollar that is spent.
“These additional proposed cuts simply cannot be absorbed without further impairing IRS’s ability to provide critical taxpayer services and enforce the nation’s tax laws,” Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. (who represents IRS workers), wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday.
Again, the IRS budget for the year that ends Sept. 30 is $10.9 billion. That is about the amount that the agency received in inflation-adjusted terms in 1998.
“While making good use of limited tax dollars, this legislation also makes great strides in reining in wasteful spending, and stopping harmful and unnecessary bureaucratic over-reach,” House Appropriations Republican Chairman Hal Rogers said in a statement. At the end of the day, the bill is nearly $1.3 billion below last year’s amount, and $4.8 billion below what Obama wanted.
The bill also features conservative policy provisions, such as one that demands the administration to “report to Congress on the cost and regulatory burdens of the Dodd-Frank Act,” in addition to mandating political-donation disclosures in filings.
Clik here to view.
Stephen Jordan
Stephen is a young aspiring screenwriter and freelance writer, spending all of his time behind a computer doing what he loves. Make money. Make friends. Create. Enlighten. www.smj12.com Freelance Writer | Screenwriter | Storyteller | For Hire
Follow Me:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The post Defying President Obama, Conservatives Have Yet Again Cut The IRS Budget appeared first on Political Moll.