After the bill was adopted by a divided House of Representatives on Friday, President Biden has vowed to sign the Inflation Reduction Act this week.
The bill’s supporters are hopeful that it will assist the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in rebuilding its outdated technological infrastructure.
The expansive lawn, which has gotten wide exposure because of its climate and energy provisions, was approved by the House of Representatives with a vote of 220 to 207, and it was then sent to the president for his approval.
The legislation would inject nearly $370 billion into such programs to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 40 per cent by the year 2030, in addition to allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. This is a scaled-down version of Vice President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.
However, the plan, which was approved by the Senate on August 7th, also includes an infusion of funds for the IRS totalling $80 billion over 10 years.
Nearly $5 billion of that is earmarked for “business systems modernization,” which is intended to boost the agency’s three-year-old IT modernization plan.
Before this, the agency’s IT modernization plan had already received $275 million from the budget for the fiscal year 2022 and a one-time shot of $1 billion under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021.
Legislators are concerned about the use of obsolete programming languages, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that taxpayers could be vulnerable to data breaches due to the IRS’s lax cybersecurity practices.
Because the IRS’s systems date back to as far as the 1960s, this has drawn criticism from both lawmakers and the GAO.
The Inflation Reduction Act was defeated by the entire Republican caucus in the House of Representatives by a vote of 100 to 0.
A significant portion of their opposition was directed toward the provisions of the bill about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which the Republicans believe would endow that department with an excessive amount House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, tweeted, “Remember this day.”
“Democrats rammed through a 700-page bill that will raise your taxes and double the size of the IRS,” the Washington Post said.
Read more:-
- After the Internal Revenue Service Targeted Him in 2013, a Conservative Leader Has Become Concerned About the 87,000 New Irs Agents.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposes extending the Inflation Reduction Act’s authority to the Internal Revenue Service so that it can also prepare tax returns.
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) just received $80 billion in additional funding. A major goal? Pursuing wealthy individuals who evade taxes
Biden praised the act’s approval in a series of tweets and a videotaped message. Democrats and other proponents argue that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) urgently needs the increased funds.
“Today, the American people emerged victorious. “There was a loss of special interests,” the president stated. The Inflation Reduction Act has been passed in the House, which will result in reduced prices for prescription drugs, lower expenses for health care, and lower costs for energy for families.
Biden stated that he plans to sign the bill into law this week, and then on September 6, there will be a ceremony “in honour of this historic legislation” held at the White House.
