Ross: IRS has new no-pursuit policy with debt ceiling deal

House Republicans held a news conference Tuesday to call the debt deal a huge success! And one of the reasons they were calling it a huge success?

“We also have a downpayment in this package of a … $1.4 billion rescission of the IRS,” Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) said.

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And what does that mean?

“That takes away the full enforcement budget for this fiscal year,” McHenry continued.

The full enforcement budget!

And that’s not all.

“And then we have a pledge from the administration, they’ll be willing to take $10 billion of cuts this coming fiscal year from IRS, and 10 the following year,” McHenry said.

So under this deal, the IRS will have a no-pursuit policy! Plus, the tax cheats get a two-year head start!

This is the Republican dream fulfilled – and an incredible gift from the Democrats, who apparently also agreed to this.

And yet, after the official Republican news conference inside the capitol, there was an unofficial Republican news conference outside the capitol where Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said that this was not what he wanted.

“If you’re out there watching this, every one of my colleagues would be very clear, not one Republican should vote for this deal,” Roy said. “It is a bad deal.”

Rep. Roy of Texas is one of the members who stoked this crisis – and now thinks it has backfired.

“No one sent us here to borrow an additional $4 trillion to get absolutely nothing in return,” Roy said.

Then why did you pull this stunt?

Could it be that both sides got played here?

I’m not a big believer in conspiracies, but it looks to me like the big winners here just happen to be the tax cheats.

I realize “tax cheat” is an indelicate term; I’m sure these people– who tend to be in the top 5%– have good and noble reasons for not paying what they legally owe; they probably just forgot.

When you don’t pay withholdings the way salaried people do, it’s easy to forget. But these also happen to be the class of people candidates hit up for big donations come campaign time.

And this deal means the IRS will have to adopt a no-pursuit policy. It means the highway is clear, there are no cops waiting in the bushes, and all the lights are green. Very, very green.

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