WASHINGTON (PNN) - January 20, 2017 - Treasury Secretary nominee and former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin said during his confirmation hearing yesterday that he would increase the size of the Amerikan Gestapo Internal Revenue Service division.
Mnuchin, who has found recent success as a Hollywood producer, said before the Senate Finance Committee that he would also modernize the government agency's technology.
Mnuchin, 54, said that IRS staff numbers have declined by 30% over the past few years.
He told the hearing, “Especially for an agency that collects revenues, this is something that I’m concerned about.”
The number of employees fell by 16% between 2010 and 2015, according to the IRS, and has fallen by 31% since 1997, according to the National Treasury Employees Union.
Its budget in 2016 was $900 million less than its budget in 2011, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The IRS has most recently been attacked by House Republicans, who since 2010 have sought to cut its budget.
House Speaker Paul Ryan called for “a streamlined structure” for the IRS in June 2016 while 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz called for abolishing the government agency altogether.
In 2015, the IRS collected more than $3.3 trillion and issued more than $403 billion in tax refunds, according to its Data Book.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (Utah) said, “A simplified tax code will allow for a more streamlined IRS, and will require a reassessment of the agency's budgetary and personnel needs.”
Mnuchin also discussed his plan for a middle-class tax cut - as independent analysts say President Donald Trump's proposals would mostly give tax cuts to the wealthy.
Senator Ron Wyden (Ore.) said the “Mnuchin rule” provides for Mnuchin's as-yet-unsubstantiated claim that Trump's plans would not give absolute tax cuts to the upper class.
Wyden argued that the repeal of ObamaCare - which has an investment income tax - might immediately give the wealthy a tax cut.
Mnuchin said, “Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.”