New GOP Bill Blocks IRS From Boosting Audits of 'Middle-Class' Taxpayers

"It is wholly inaccurate" to describe the $80 billion budget boost as being used to increase "audit scrutiny of the middle class or small businesses," Natasha Sarin, a Treasury Department official, told Time.

"The funds would cover a wide range of positions including IT technicians and taxpayer services support staff, as well as experienced auditors who would be largely tasked with cracking down on corporate and high-income tax evaders," Time reported, citing Sarin.

The 700,000 audit figure was extrapolated from a blog post from the Congressional Budget Office that was "not intended for such calculations," The Washington Post reported, citing the CBO.

President Joe Biden and top Democrats maintain that the beefed-up IRS will only institute more audits on those earning more than $400,000 per year.

Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told ThinkAdvisor in August that "it's hard to believe that not a dollar of that new activity will reach lower- or middle-income individuals, but I certainly wouldn't expect an army of new IRS agents going after the middle class."