Do you want some newly hired IRS agent staying at your place for dinner!

Picture some dude going through your checkbook, pockets, and dental records! It's un-American!

Putting the IRS on Tax Notice

The first House GOP vote is to repeal most of the $80 billion that Democrats passed to audit millions of Americans.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

Jan. 9, 2023 6:11 pm ET

What a difference a new majority makes. As their first legislative act as soon as Monday evening, House Republicans were set to rescind most of the $80 billion that Democrats passed last year to add 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service employees. The bill won’t get through the Democratic Senate, but it’s an important statement that the GOP is on the side of taxpayers.

The Congressional Budget Office said last year that super-sizing the IRS would mean countless new audits across the income spectrum, including those making less than $400,000 a year. There aren’t enough rich people to squeeze with audits, and they hire lawyers and accountants. (See Donald J. Trump, tax returns of.) Bills of this sort forecast an agenda for 2025 if Republicans win Congress and the White House in 2024.

Meanwhile, the House GOP Steering Committee chose Missouri Rep. Jason Smith to lead the Ways and Means Committee, the main House economic policy shop. Mr. Smith replaces the estimable Kevin Brady, who retired having navigated the 2017 tax reform through Congress. Mr. Brady understood the importance of economic growth to job creation and higher wages, and Mr. Smith is more of a blank slate.

Most House Republicans these days care more about cultural issues than they do the economy. But if there’s a recession this year or next, voters will want to know if Republicans have a recovery agenda. We’ll see if Mr. Smith has one.