ABOUT THAT FUNDING DEAL: Both senior Democrats and Republicans appear fairly pleased with the spending deal framework that was announced over the weekend. But make no mistake: Republicans keep getting Democrats to make concessions when it comes to the new stream of IRS funding enacted in 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act. The latest there: This latest deal allows for pulling back $20 billion in IRS funding just in fiscal 2024, or a full quarter of that new funding stream. President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to those $20 billion in cuts as part of last year’s agreement to raise the debt ceiling, but those reductions were supposed to be spread out over 2024 and 2025. For their part, Democrats are swearing up and down that they’ll hold the line against any further chipping away at that extra IRS funding, and basically suggest there is no huge difference between implementing already agreed-to cuts over one year or two. But whether Republicans believe them or not, you can probably expect GOP lawmakers to push for further IRS cuts in future budget deals — and even Democrats’ allies on the outside are getting increasingly worried about how quickly and successfully this new IRS funding aimed at better enforcing tax laws for the rich has been targeted by Republicans. Or put another way, progressive activists believe that Democrats are only rewarding what they see as Republicans’ bad behavior and shouldn’t be surprised when the GOP keeps coming back for more. “There’s every reason for Democrats to expect that if they agree to Republicans’ blackmail over the IRS now that Republicans will demand further leniency for billionaires next year,” said Adam Ruben of the Economic Security Project, which released a statement lashing out at the accelerated IRS cuts with Groundwork Action. And in fact, Igor Volsky of Groundwork Action even called on lawmakers to oppose a spending deal that included the immediate $20 billion in IRS cuts. (To be fair, it’s not just liberal groups that are questioning the wisdom of these IRS cuts — so are more centrist deficit hawks, for instance.) Quick aside: There had been chatter for much of last week about House Republicans seeking to accelerate those $20 billion in cuts. But then on Friday, our Benjamin Guggenheim and Caitlin Emma reported that Johnson’s team wasn’t seeking to push forward the $10 billion in IRS cuts then slated for 2025, and instead wanted to add new spending reductions for the agency on top of what was already scheduled for 2024. In the end, it was the accelerated cuts that ended up in the agreement. ONE LAST THING: Former President Donald Trump plans to prioritize extending the expiring individual cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act if he's elected again, instead of one of his long-stated goals — further reducing the corporate rate, as Bloomberg reported. That could make for a better and more populist political play, though the TCJA has never proven to be that popular. But on some level, this could also just be Trump and his team bowing to reality — not that campaign tax ideas are always realistic. A second Trump administration would take part in talks next year over the expiring parts of the 2017 tax law, whether Trump wants to or not. It’s far less clear whether there would be an opportunity to cut the corporate rate even further from 21 percent if Trump got another four years in the White House.
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