In a brutal line of questioning, Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy managed to get outmatched White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to state that there will be no new IRS audits on anyone making less than $400,000.
With the Democrats’ so-called Inflation Reduction Act setting aside nearly $80 billion in IRS funding, with $45.6 billion for “enforcement,” and the Treasury Department saying the agency plans to hire 87, 000 new agents, there have been plenty of concerns about who may be targeted in future audits — especially so after a weaponized FBI raided the Mar-a-Lago home of former President Donald Trump.
“Who around here decided that Americans were crying out for more interaction with the IRS’?” Doocy asked the White House diversity hire on Tuesday.
“I don’t understand your question,” Jean-Pierre responded.
“Do you think it’s going to be popular when the 87,000 new employees hired by the IRS go around and start auditing people to pay for the Inflation Reduction Act?
Doocy: Who…decided that Americans were crying out for more interaction from the IRS?
KJP: I don’t understand…You have to say more.
Doocy: Do you think it is going to be popular when the 87,000 new employees…start auditing people to pay for the Inflation Reduction Act? pic.twitter.com/uyhNfPPkOJ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 9, 2022
“So it’s very clear — the IRS commissioner was very clear on this. He said that on the record that this only will — it would only apply to those earning over four hundred thousand dollars,” Jean-Pierre said. “The commissioner said, and I quote, ‘These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle income Americans. As we have been planning, our investment of these enforcement resources is designed around Department of Treasury directive that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.'”
Biden’s spokesperson would then use the issue to make a political attack on Republicans.
“So this is focused on those who are corporate wealthy tax cheats that Republicans, congressional Republicans wanted to defend,” she said. “That’s who they wanted to defend. They wanted to defend those corporate tax cheats. This is not about that.”
Doocy would quickly move to get Jean-Pierre on the record. “So, no new audits on those making under $400,000?”
“No,” she replied.
Americans making less than $400,000 may want to record that answer for prosperity.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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