Kevin McCarthy Pledges Repeal of 87,000 IRS Agents On Day One If Republicans Take Majority

If Republicans gain control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections, thousands of IRS agents can expect their jobs to be on the chopping block, Rep. Kevin. McCarthy (R-CA) announced on Wednesday.

The House Minority Leader joined CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday and mainly pitched himself and Republicans to potential voters ahead of the midterm elections. Mixed into a collection of pledges was McCarthy’s promise of a crack down on IRS hiring should Republicans take a majority in the House and Senate.

Co-host Joe Kernen asked McCarthy at the tail end of their discussion whether Republicans being the majority would lead to the January 6-style congressional hearings on things like President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

McCarthy lightly sidestepped the Biden question, simply insisting that Republicans wouldn’t “play politics in the process.”

“We won’t play politics in this process. We will follow the law, and we’ll follow the information wherever it takes us, but first and foremost, we’re going to focus on the economy … We’re going to apply a ratings scale to every single prosecutor to make they’re upholding the law. We’re going to pass a parents’ bill of rights, so that parents have a say in their education,” he said.

The Republican leader then went into campaign mode and said Republicans’ first day in the majority would be a bad one for the IRS.

“We’re going to hold America accountable [and] on my first day, we’re going to repeal 87,000 IRS agents,” McCarthy said. “Government should be here to help you, not go after you.”

McCarthy’s specific number is pulled from new hires being reported after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The bill calls for the IRS to use new funds to better target and catch tax dodging individuals and corporations.

According to CBS News, the 87,000 figure is contained in a 2021 report estimating how many hires the IRS will be making over a decade:

The 87,000 figure comes from a Treasury report released in May 2021, which evaluated a proposal to provide the IRS with an additional $80 billion in funding. That amount of money has since been approved, courtesy of the climate, health care and tax law passed earlier this year.

Watch above via CNBC.