Elon Musk cast doubt over the $80 billion funding boost to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is part of a Democrat-backed economic package passed by the Senate on Aug. 7.
“Maybe investment in automation?” Musk added in a follow-up post.
The bill seeks to generate about $700 billion in new revenue over the next 10 years, including $124 billion in IRS tax enforcement, and will include tax hikes on corporations, setting a mandatory minimum tax of 15 percent on those making $1 billion or more annually.
“Democrats under Joe Biden have spent trillions, creating the worst inflation in over four decades, and now their answer to this disaster of their own making is to tax us into a recession,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement after voting against what he called a “radical proposal.”
The Senate approved the bill in a party-line vote of 51–50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. The package next goes to the Democrat-led House for consideration, before sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.