Dear Friend,

As the holiday season begins, most of us would rather focus on gift-giving and time with family. However, this has been a year of financial stress on families across the country, and many of us have been struggling to keep up. Tax time is the last thing we want to think about, especially if it brings an audit or unexpected tax bill.

Earlier this year, Democrats exploded the size and scope of the IRS with the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.” This bill hired 87,000 new IRS enforcement agents—more than double the number employed by the FBI. These new agents were hired with a directive to investigate more Americans.

In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, audit rates will “rise for all taxpayers.” Democrats claim that increased scrutiny will only impact the wealthiest taxpayers, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. A Joint Committee on Taxation report says that 90% of the money raised from under-reported income would likely come from Americans making less than $200,000 per year.

How are IRS agents tracking these taxpayers? Through the aggressive surveillance of law-abiding Americans. Last year, Democrats announced a plan to collect data from every bank account with an annual total inflow and outflow of just $600. We sounded the alarm and led a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sharing our concern about this blatant invasion of Americans’ financial privacy.

In response, Democrats raised the requirement to $10,000 per year (just $27 per day). This requirement still targeted working Americans’ bank accounts. This time, 201 colleagues joined us in an effort to cancel this proposal. We were successful, and the plan was stopped in its tracks.

However, Democrats continue their work to spy on law-abiding taxpayers. This tax season, the IRS will begin sending 1099-K tax forms to third-party payment platforms, like Paypal and Venmo, for users with transactions amounting to more than $600 per year. If you are a hairdresser or handyman who accepts payment on these platforms, or if you resold some old furniture, this surveillance is directed at you. This is not about catching millionaire tax cheats. It’s about nickel-and-diming working Americans.

We’re hard at work to get the IRS off your back. We cosponsored the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, which will halt future infringement on Americans’ financial privacy. We will also use our new majority in the 118^th Congress to prevent future efforts from becoming law. Law-abiding Americans should never have to worry about the IRS being weaponized against them. 

Sincerely,