Whenever my family gets together for a meal, the discussion inevitably turns to politics.
Last Fathers’ Day is a good example. Believe it or not, however, I just listened rather than boldly stating my opinion. I like to know what others are thinking. The debate at this meal was over who would be taxed under the Inflation Reduction Act and who will be the targets of the $80 billion increase in IRS funding, hiring 87,000 new employees.
Taxation under the IRA: My conservative family members stated that it was the middle class that bore the burden of a tax increase.
In an earlier conversation with a conservative relative, Republican Jason Smith, from Missouri, used House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee letterhead [In 2022 Democrats controlled all committees in the House] to state:
■ “A Senate Finance Committee analysis shows the $45.6 billion for ’enforcement’ would “predominantly hit taxpayers who have low (or very low) Adjusted Gross Income. Nothing in the proposal would change that fact.’
■ Nearly half of the audits would hit Americans making $75,000 per year or less.
■ Low-income taxpayers making up to $25,000 per year would see more audits too.”
Here’s what Joe Biden’s Democratic White House stated on its website:
“The Inflation Reduction Act lowers prescription drug costs, health care costs, and energy costs. It’s the most aggressive action on tackling the climate crisis in American history, which will lift up American workers and create good-paying, union jobs across the country. It’ll lower the deficit and ask the ultra-wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. And no one making under $400,000 per year will pay a penny more in taxes”.
Here’s What the Secretary of the Treasury stated about the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022:
On Aug. 2, 2022, “Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen today sent a letter to congressional leaders on the tax provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act, and noted the bill would either reduce or have no effect on the taxes due or paid by any family with income less than $400,000 per year.”
Someone is being less than truthful here. Either it’s Smith or it’s Biden and Yellen.
An April 28, 2023 Newsweek article did some fact checking on this dispute: “To be clear, the Inflation Reduction Act did not raise taxes for those earning $20,000 (or anyone under $400,000 a year, as a previous Newsweek investigation found)…. The analysis [used by Rep. Smith], however, is speculative and others suggest that there might be other positive indirect impacts of the bill that could benefit families on lower incomes” .
Based upon Newsweek’s fact-checking, it seems Biden and Yellen are telling the truth and Smith is using data to infer that by taxing $1 billion-plus incomes/year corporations, some of those increased costs to businesses could trickle down to lower income wage earners.
I did not mention to my conservative family members that large corporations and the super wealthy still reap the benefits of the Republican tax cut of 2017, not the poor and the middle class. That fact seems to have been forgotten in the discussion. It’s a human tendency to seek out people and sources that provide confirmation for our own biases.
Spending $80 billion on IRS funding: It is true that the Biden White House wants to take the $80 billion it will receive over the next ten years to hire 87,000 new workers. Who will that affect? Here’s what a CNBC article concluded:
“The Treasury Department hiring estimate of about 87,000 workers includes both new and replacement hires and encompasses a range of positions, including auditors… The W-2 employee is much less likely to get audited than a self-employed person by far…. Of course, one of the best ways to avoid future headaches is by keeping accurate records with detailed bookkeeping and saving all receipts…”
What can we all learn from this Fathers’ Day political discussion? Sometimes it’s better to listen than to talk. It’s also better to do some research and fact checking rather than get heated, damaging relationships as a result. James the Just had these words of advice that apply to us all: “… Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” Ancient words, sound advice.
