Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clapped back at Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen Wednesday after being accused of allowing wealthy people to dodge their taxes.
During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Van Hollen accused Bessent of mishandling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by cutting the number of staffers at the agency, which he argued has negatively impacted its delivery service. Bessent fired back at Van Hollen after he accused the secretary of deliberately permitting wealthy people to dodge their taxes.
“Mr. Secretary, what you’ve done is provided a windfall to very wealthy people who don’t pay their taxes,” Van Hollen said.
“Senator, why would I do that?” Bessent replied. “Why would I do that? What is your theory of the case, Senator? What is your theory of the case?”
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The back-and-forth became even more testy as Van Hollen’s time ran out. “Because this administration has time after time tilted the tax code in favor of very wealthy people,” he insisted at the last second as Bessent rolled his eyes.
Budget documents show that the IRS plans to reduce its workforce by an additional 4,000 net staff in the next phase, aiming for a total reduction to as low as 50,000 people. The staffing cuts followed former President Joe Biden’s plans to dramatically increase funding for the IRS with the goal of increasing the number of employees at the agency.
Van Hollen claimed the IRS service delivery system declined due to staffing shortages, which Bessent disputed.
“What I’ve seen, senator, is that the Democrats said that the filing system was going to be a disaster, it was a home run,” Bessent said. “And what you are nitpicking me on now is the difference between answering a call in six minutes and nine minutes. And sir, let me tell you the way the calls used to work. That the IRS under the Biden administration would answer the call in six minutes and the taxpayer would be on hold for 20 or 30 minutes. Now, when a taxpayer’s call get answered, they get serviced right away.”
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