When asked on Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did not deny that as many as 90 percent of new IRS audits using Inflation Reduction Act resources would come from individuals making less than $400,000 annually.
Yellen testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, where she faced numerous questions about President Biden’s budget priorities and how the IRS will use funding that Congress appropriated in Biden’s landmark spending and tax law to hire 87,000 new agents. During an exchange with Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., Yellen appeared to admit that the vast majority of new IRS audits conducted with Inflation Reduction Act resources would affect lower- and middle-income individuals, contrary to promises from the Biden administration.
“There’s been confusion about the meaning of the directive that you cited in the letter last August and then repeated here today,” Smith told Yellen, referencing her August 2022 letter in which she directed that the IRS shall not use new personnel or auditors “to increase the share of small businesses or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.”
