Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" plan, which is currently stalled in the U.S. Senate, has drawn even more questions about controversial items in the proposed $2 trillion bill.
One of those items is $80 million for hiring 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents, according to multiple sources, including Americans for Tax Reform and Headline USA.
In a statement released on the Build Back Better framework in late October, the White House said "the IRS does not have the resources it needs to pursue wealthy tax cheats." But new evidence indicates tens of thousands of those new IRS agents would be tasked with targeting middle-income Americans.
The White House insists, "The framework will create a fairer tax system through transformation investments in the IRS: hiring enforcement agents who are trained to pursue wealthy evaders, modernizing outdated IRS technology, and investing in taxpayer service..."
Biden and members of his administration have said Americans with income less than $400,000 would not be affected, but House Republicans warn that the House version of the bill noted that half (nearly 600,000) of the expected 1.2 million new audits would target average American households earning less than $75,000, Politico reported.
In a tweet on Monday, Senate Republicans also warned about the increase in IRS audits as the administration focuses on collecting unpaid taxes to help pay for the president's multi-trillion-dollar domestic agenda.
"Build Back Better will increase the cost of living. Build Back Better will raise taxes. Build Back Better will increase IRS audits. Build Back Better is bad for working families," the tweet said.
The tweet also included a link to a document explaining how the President's plan would hurt working families.
The administration has also toyed with the idea of giving the IRS new powers to...