Here's one simple thing Dems can do 'to prove to the American people that audits are nothing to be afraid of'

Sarah D | 11:05 AM on August 08, 2022

Yesterday, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin tried to reassure the American people that as long as they’re not high-income earners or corporations, they really have nothing to worry about with regards to the Inflation Reduction Act’s promise of an even more powerful IRS. If you haven’t done anything wrong, you should be fine! And you should be thrilled by the prospect of the IRS cracking down on more people!

It’s easy for someone like Ben Cardin to say that, because as long as Democrats like him are the ones making these laws, he knows that he’s effectively untouchable. And that raises a really important question: would authoritarians like Cardin be so quick to dismiss fears about the potential for the IRS to be weaponized by the government if he were at just as much risk as regular Americans?

We rather like this suggestion from criminal defense attorney and podcast cohost Eric Matheny:

To prove to the American people that audits are nothing to be afraid of, every Member of Congress should submit to one. First up, those who have served 30 years or more.

— Eric Matheny 🎙 (@EricMMatheny) August 8, 2022

Cardin hasn’t been in the Senate for 30 years yet, but it seems only fair that he’d submit to an audit since he’s so insistent that only people who have committed some kind of financial crime need to be concerned.

Senate and House Dems should be lining up to volunteer themselves for comprehensive audits to prove how painless they are. And surely with 87,000 new agents, we could even put multiple agents in charge of auditing a single politician and still have plenty to spare.