Brunswick Beacon, 02.02.23
Congressman David Rouzer’s latest email shows Republicans would rather scare Americans than help them. Rouzer voted against IRS funding he falsely claims would be used to hire an “army of auditors.” It’s a boogeyman Republicans use to attack Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which every Republican opposed. Its most lurid and ludicrous example was Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) hyping a phantom “strike force that goes in with AK-15s (sic) already loaded ready to shoot some small business person.”
Rouzer falsely accuses the IRS of “targeting hardworking Americans” with “87,000 new IRS agents” that exist only in his fevered imagination. He says the IRS should focus on “taxpayer services and upgrading their dilapidated computer systems...to get through the massive tax return backlog.”
In fact, the funding he opposed does that, replacing 52,000 employees expected to retire in the next five years and improving customer services – from upgrading IT to answering phone calls. And, President Biden directed that it cannot be used to increase audits on those earning under $400,000/year. Instead, it will improve collections from high-income earners and corporations, netting taxpayers an additional $124 billion.
Rouzer misrepresented what the funding does, voted against improvements he agrees we need, and voted to give away billions to America’s wealthiest 1.8%!
Every fact-checker debunked Rouzer’s false claims months ago, including PolitiFact, Factctcheck.org, and USA Today, but Republicans keep resurrecting them to scare you. The Washington Post’s fact-checker wrote: “We call these “zombie claims” because they keep rising from the dead no matter how often they have been fact-checked. But we haven’t before witnessed such a roundly criticized claim set the agenda for a new Congress.”
Fortunately, the Democratic Senate and Biden’s veto will save us from Republican recklessness. But Republicans’ scare tactics and zombie lies won them a microscopically small house majority. So, buckle up and stay tuned for two more years of the Republican zombie jamboree.
Arthur Hill
Southport