Florida Gov. DeSantis says IRS should audit all lawmakers who voted for Inflation Reduction Act

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week ramped up his criticism of the IRS, telling a crowd he believes every lawmaker who voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act earlier this month should be annually audited by the IRS.

“I think every member of Congress that voted for that bill should be required to be audited every year by the IRS,” the governor said at an event on Tuesday in Fort Pierce. DeSantis has spoken out against the IRS and the $80 million in funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act meant to hire thousands of new agents for the department. DeSantis has claimed that the new IRS agents would be used to target middle class taxpayers.

“They are going to go after independent contractors, they’re going to go after small business people, they’re going to go after someone that may be driving an Uber or a handyman or all these things,” DeSantis said at an event in early August. “Why would they do that? Because you’re not going to be able to contend with the audit, so they’re going to crush a lot of people by doing that.”

IRS officials, have rebutted such claims, saying that the new hires would largely be brought on to replace agents who are nearing retirement and for administrative duties like answering phones and IT work.

DeSantis’ call for lawmakers to be audited for voting for the Inflation Reduction Act is in line with the misinformation other Republican leaders have been putting out about the IRS funding in recent weeks.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently echoed DeSantis’ sentiments, saying “You are going to spend $80 billion of hard-earned American taxpayer money to hire an army of 87,000 new IRS agents.” Florida politician and former governor Rick Scott warned Floridians not to apply to any new IRS positions in the coming months, vowing Republicans would eliminate the new positions if they retake control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the new IRS hires will typically target those making over $400,000 a year, and would have little to no effect on households making less.