The Inflation Reduction Act won’t bring 87,000 new IRS agents with guns to your front door despite the memes you saw on Facebook and what right-wing radio pundits told you.

By Laura Saunders, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19, 2022 - ...Some of the funding’s opponents have said the 87,000 hires will be armed. According to an IRS spokesman, the only agency staffers allowed to carry guns are 2,100 special agents in the criminal investigation division, and they make up less than 3% of the total current IRS workforce of about 80,000.

According to Natasha Sarin, a Treasury official overseeing the IRS, about 1,000 of the hires will be special agents, with many replacing departing agents. In the late 1990s, the agency had 3,500 special agents. (To read more of what is really in the Inflation Reduction Act as regards new funding for the IRA, follow this link:What $80 Billion More for the IRS Means for Your Taxes.)

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