The Internal Revenue Service was slammed on Twitter after the government agency proposed a new reporting program for workers who receive tips.
The program would track point-of-sale data provided by employers in order to ensure that service workers like waiters, many of whom are paid less than minimum wage and rely on gratuity from customers, are paying taxes on the tips they receive.
President Biden previously promised that new funding provided to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act would not be used to target Americans making under $400,000 per year. This latest development, conservatives argue, represents a violation of that promise.
"The IRS, flush with a boosted enforcement budget that they totally promise is to go after rich people has… announced a crackdown on service industry tipped workers," Kevin Glass, a conservative commentator, remarked.
REPUBLICANS BLAST BIDEN ADMIN OVER PLAN TO CRACK DOWN ON WAITERS' TIPS
"Those 87,000 new IRS agents that you were promised would only target the rich... They're coming after waitresses' tips now: 'monitoring of employer compliance based on actual annual tip revenue and charge tip data from an employer's point-of-sale system.'" Mike Palicz, director of tax policy at Americans for Tax Reform, tweeted.
Matt Whitlock, a GOP communications veteran, added, "The ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ everyone. Sending the super-sized IRS after waitress tips to pay for electric Bentleys for the wealthy."
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted, "Stop the presses. No need to raise the debt limit. Biden is going after those billionaire waitresses' tips."
John Bhasham, a U.S. Army veteran and conservative commentator, retorted that Biden is going to make "rich waitresses" pay their fair share.
"BREAKING: @JoeBiden, Who Promised In LAST NIGHT's State Of The Union That New Tax Policies WILL ONLY TARGET PEOPLE WHO MAKE MORE THAN $400,000/yr Now Has The #IRS Targeting #Waiters & #Waitresses TIPS! FINALLY, WE'RE GONNA TAKE DOWN THE RICH WAITRESSES AT WAFFLEHOUSE!" he tweeted.
Commentator Carol Roth, criticized the government for targeting middle class Americans instead of the wealthy.
"We are going after ‘billionaires’ is a trick they use to get you to give up your principles so they can come after you. The govt isn't looking to expand IRS staff and programs because of ‘billionaires'. They aren't going after the wealthy; they are creating barriers for you," Roth tweeted.
Mostly Peaceful Memes, a popular conservative account whose name is a play on CNN's "mostly peaceful protest" headline against the backdrop of burning cars during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, tweeted, "I was told all those new IRS agents were gonna go after billionaires."
"@JoeBiden's IRS has no business going after waiters' tips," Citizens Against Government Waste tweeted.
This is the latest public controversy for the Biden administration, which has presided over the Chinese spy balloon infiltration into the United States, the southern border crisis, depleting military reserves as aid is shipped to Ukraine, depleting oil reserves after Biden released them into the market just before the midterms and also sold them to China, and various other scandals.
