Law professor Leslie Book admonished Republicans for using what she insists are false "scare tactics" to radicalize followers against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in an NBC op-ed on Monday.
The IRS faced renewed backlash after it was revealed that part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will be used to fund 87,000 new IRS agents over the next decade as well as an $80 billion boost to the agency. In addition, the agency was further denounced on Aug. 10 after social media users discovered a special agent job posting for the IRS that requires the use of "deadly force" if necessary.
Book, who teaches law at Villanova University, attacked Republicans for continuing to criticize the IRS in a way that she claims could get people killed.
"This isn’t just misinformation — this is information that is designed to radicalize. And the consequences, as we’ve already seen, could indeed be disastrous," Book wrote.
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She referenced attacks against FBI offices following the Republican criticism of the Mar-a-Lago raid against Donald Trump as proof that right-wing politicians are determined to inspire radical strikes against federal institutions.
"More broadly speaking, these scare tactics are part of a century-long tradition of attempting to turn governmental agencies and agents into bogeymen. As usual, this mythologizing hinges on claims that Democratic-supported policies are existentially dangerous threats to basic American freedoms," Book explained.
Several media pundits have similarly attacked Republicans for hyping up the IRS as a "boogeyman" against regular Americans while undermining concerns about its expansion. The New York Times wrote on Friday that Republicans relied on 'unfounded conspiracy theories' to scare voters, despite acknowledging the agency plans to double in the next ten years.
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While Book noted that the IRS expansion is the most unpopular measure of the Inflation Reduction Act, she continued to call out Republicans for being "more than happy to exploit them to rile up the base and scare Americans into thinking that the IRS is coming for them."
Further, she insisted that extra funding for the IRS could be used to help enforce a "fair" system.
"Yet we would all be better served if politicians focused on legitimate concerns — and opportunities. Americans deserve a faster taxpayer service, and they deserve a system that investigates tax enforcement inequality, so that Americans who pay their fair share are not unfairly burdened by those who do not," Book wrote.
She concluded, "It is time for politicians to tamp down the rhetoric and focus on improving the IRS. Can our elected officials wean themselves from the polarizing and dangerous demonizing of the IRS? Let’s hope so, before someone else gets killed."
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Although the White House insisted the IRS would not target citizens making under $400,000 per year, FOX Business reported the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed that taxpayers under that pay level will have to be audited to secure $20 billion in funding.
