Cuts don’t yet hurt the IRS but do signal that the IRS is extremely vulnerable and unprotected

The debt ceiling deal’s funding reduction for the IRS in the short term is not as serious a concern for the agency’s advocates as the political target that the deal places upon the IRA funding in the future. “It’s certainly a signal that the funding was fragile to begin with. There were no guardrails here – there was always going to be the opportunity for Congress to short the IRS on annual appropriations,” Holtzblatt said.