The IRS claimed to have no records for a massive budget increase that would have funded 87,000 new agents and new taxpayer reporting requirements, but through litigation, the Functional Government Initiative (FGI) has found that it had thousands of pages of documents.
In February 2022, FGI launched an investigation into the Biden Administration’s plan for an $80 billion increase to the IRS budget to hire 87,000 new agents and a proposal to require taxpayers to report transactions as little as $600, according to an FGI news release.
“What do you know? The IRS budget proposal for 87,000 new agents at a cost of $80 billion did not just appear out of thin air. Based on the 8,000 documents and 150,000 potentially responsive pages exposed in litigation, this type of record-keeping would land most Americans in hot water or worse,” Peter McGinnis, Functional Government Initiative spokesman, said in the release.
The IRS told FGI they had no records on these programs. FGI appealed through the administrative process, which was denied. FGI filed a lawsuit against the IRS to find the records, which the agency disclosed after repeatedly denying having possession of them.
“Yet, FGI’s success is hardly worth cheering for as the battle for transparency is just beginning in what appears to be a long legal fight ahead,” he said. “Sadly, the American public – oftentimes lower-income citizens – won’t have the resources or expertise to challenge the IRS when their new army of auditors comes knocking. FGI will continue to press in court for the release of the information that will shine a light on the plans posing a real threat to many law-abiding Americans.”
The FGI is dedicated to improving the American public’s awareness of the officials, decisions and priorities of the U.S. government, according to its website.
According to the IRS website, its mission is to provide America’s taxpayers with top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.
