Context for IRS staffing shows there's no attack, just more spin

Michael Wray, Bremerton
·1 min read
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I saw a Tiffany Smiley campaign ad and she claims that the Biden Administration is hiring 87,000 IRS agents to attack and audit the middle-class taxpayer.

Sorry, but the only truth in that statement is the the hiring of 87,000 people. It is over the next ten years for the IRS, largely to replace retiring existing positions. The current estimate is that 50,000 of the current workforce of 80,000 will be leaving the next five years. The IRS employee totals have dropped by 17% since 2010. Eight million 2021 returns are unprocessed currently, and only 11% of calls were returned due to low staffing. The goal is to increase audits on those returns on $200,000 and above.

Political ads with half truths are not new, but how about basing some of the voiceover on the actual truth. No thanks, Tiffany.

Michael Wray, Bremerton

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Context for IRS staffing shows there's no attack, just more spin