GOP appropriators urge IRS bumps be left out of budget resolution
Increases for enforcement programs would be tantamount to earmarks since they would be set aside for specific purposes, Republicans argue.
House Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis Monday wrote to House Budget Chairman John Spratt and ranking member Paul Ryan urging them not to include White House-proposed funding increases for Internal Revenue Service enforcement programs in the House fiscal 2011 budget resolution.
In his fiscal 2011 budget proposal, President Obama recommends $8.2 billion for IRS enforcement activities, including nearly $250 million in program increases. The White House also recommended a $242 million increase in fiscal 2012, a $367 million boost in fiscal 2013 and a $381 million increase in fiscal 2014, according to Lewis and Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who also signed the letter.
Obama's proposed increases would come in the form of "program integrity cap adjustments" that would allow spending above a base level of funding within discretionary levels for certain programs.
Lewis and Emerson oppose inclusion of the cap adjustment in the resolution because funds would be set aside for a specific purpose, which they believe is tantamount to earmarking the funds and limits appropriators' spending decisions.
"If included in the budget resolution, the program integrity cap adjustment would earmark IRS enforcement funding, taking discretion and transparency out of the process of determining funding for IRS enforcement activities," the letter said.
They also are concerned that the funding is related to recently enacted healthcare reform legislation, which requires virtually all Americans to have health insurance by 2014 or face penalties collected by the IRS.
"The requested IRS enforcement integrity cap adjustment would allow the IRS to begin hiring the enforcement staff necessary to implement these new taxes and penalties," the letter said.
Supporters of the increased IRS enforcement dollars note that it is an effort to collect more of the more than $300 billion in taxes that are owed each year, but not paid.
The Senate Budget Committee's spending plan, approved by the panel last month, includes Obama's proposal on IRS enforcement cap adjustments "to address the tax gap," according to an outline of the Senate resolution.
But it is still uncertain if House Democratic leaders will pursue a fiscal 2011 budget resolution. Senate Democratic leaders are also waiting to see what the House will do before deciding when to bring a resolution to the floor.
At issue is a disagreement within the Democratic Caucus over how much discretionary spending to provide in the budget blueprint.
House Democratic leaders are trying to broker a compromise and said last week they hope to pass a budget resolution by the Memorial Day recess.
If no agreement can be reached on a full resolution, one option would be to pass a deeming resolution, which would set the fiscal 2011 discretionary funding level.
In the letter, Lewis and Emerson call on Democratic leaders to pass a budget resolution and reject the deeming option.
"We urge you to avoid deeming a funding total for the Appropriations Committee to allocate and instead complete a responsible budget resolution that reduces our skyrocketing deficits and debt," the letter said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a release Monday that foregoing a resolution would mark "yet another missed opportunity by Washington Democrats to rein in out-of-control spending and provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to put people back to work."