‘They Will Go After Small Business’: Fox Business Host Decries ‘Weaponized’ IRS

A Fox Business Network host claimed during a Tuesday morning appearance on Fox News that small businesses would bear the brunt of enforcement efforts from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“I think the IRS has been weaponized,” Stuart Varney told “Fox and Friends” host Steve Doocy while discussing legislation passed by the Senate Sunday that included expansion of the IRS. “Eighty billion dollars, 87,000 new agents, that is the weaponization of an institution. What are they going to do with this power they’re about to acquire? This extra power?”

The legislation, which resulted from a deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, will add billions to the IRS’ budget for enforcement of tax laws, which proponents claim will generate about $200 billion in revenue.

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“I think they’re gonna go after middle America, specifically small business,” Varney continued. “In 2021, 9 million people earned 200,000 to a million dollars. Only 40,000 were audited. Most of those people, many of those people, are in small business. The Democrats think that’s a conservative group. The IRS will go after small business. There will be more audits, more penetration of small business, putting them on the block there to answer for their earnings.”

The IRS is under fire over a leak of taxpayer information involving some of the richest Americans to ProPublica, a left-wing media outlet, in 2021. A similar leak in 2013 involved conservative organizations.

The agency also faced allegations it targeted Tea Party groups during the Obama administration. Lois Lerner, the central figure in the scandal, was not charged with any crimes.

The White House and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.