Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act” threatens to more than double the size of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by hiring 87,000 employees – a number that Republicans and some media have been quick to put into perspective.
By providing the IRS with an additional $80 billion, the bill funds, among other things, the 87,000 new hires.
The 87,000 hiring total is more than the entire population of President Joe Biden’s home town of Wilmington, Delaware. In 2020, Wilmington had a population of 70,898, according to that year’s census, a number the Census Bureau estimates fell to 70,750 as of July 1, 2021.
Other notable populations surpassed by the 87,000 additional IRS employees include the entire British army and the Roman Coliseum:
- Pres. Biden’s home town of Wilmington, Delaware (approx. 71,000)
- 2 Washington Nationals stadiums (41,313 X 2 = 82,626)
- 1.7 Roman Coliseums (50,000 X 1.7 = 85,000)
- Entire British Army (82,000)
- The Stadiums of Real Salt Lake, Houston Dynamo FC, Los Angeles FC and FC Dallas combined (approx. 20,000 each)
- The entire personnel on all 11 U.S. aircraft carriers.
What's more, some of those 87,000 new IRS agents would even “carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force.”
The 87,000 additional employees would, ultimately, more than double the size of the IRS, the Washington Free Beacon explains:
“Under the Inflation Reduction Act negotiated by Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), the agency would receive $80 billion in funding to hire as many as 87,000 additional employees. The increase would more than double the size of the IRS workforce, which currently has 78,661 full-time staffers, according to federal data.”
As the Beacon notes, and Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have pointed out, the final IRS staff count could exceed that of the current Pentagon (housed), State Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Customs and Border Patrol (agents) combined (158,779):
“That would make the IRS one of the largest federal agencies. The Pentagon houses roughly 27,000 employees, according to the Defense Department, while a human resources fact sheet says the State Department employs just over 77,243 staff. The FBI employs approximately 35,000 people, according to the agency's website, and Customs and Border Protection says it employs 19,536 Border Patrol agents.”
Indeed, if 87,000 IRS employee were added to the current staff of 78,661, the IRS would end up with a total of 165,661, exceeding the 158,779 combined total for the Pentagon, State Department, FBI and CBP.