Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) criticized the IRS for failing small businesses with delayed tax credits promised to boost operations that stalled due to the pandemic.

Vance pointed to the slow rollout of the employee retention tax credit, designed by the agency to keep employees on their payroll. Fraud controversies have surrounded the ERC after questionable claims came through, threatening businesses that need tax relief.

MAUI FIRES: EMERGENCY OFFICIAL WHO DECLINED TO SOUND SIRENS RESIGNS

“You would think that an agency with an influx of new resources could process these forms and provide businesses with long-overdue tax relief,” Vance wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “You would be wrong. Progress has been slow. Rather than processing claims and getting money out the door, the IRS discouraged taxpayers from claiming the credit.”

Vance praised the Paycheck Protection Program, the Small Business Administration-backed initiative that provided small businesses with funds to help cover payroll and benefits.

“The program was popular and effective not only in the eyes of business owners and lawmakers, but in the eyes of my fellow conservatives,” Vance said, noting it wasn't perfect.

Vance slammed the IRS renovation movement when the agency launched its "Strategic Operating Plan" in April, which outlined dozens of initiatives designed to achieve the agency's 10-year vision. The new goals come as greater taxpayer customer service has been asked for for decades and was a major driver for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocating $80 billion to the agency.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

While Republicans are pushing that the $80 billion will go exclusively toward additional auditors, Democrats have contested that claim. The House Ways and Means Committee pointed to a Treasury report from 2021 that shows a goal of adding 86,852 full-time equivalent employees by 2031 who would cover a wide range of positions, not just enforcement agents, and will be spread out over a 10-year range.

“Republican policymakers have long been fond of saying that government should be run more like a business,” Vance said. “However glib the remark, the lessons of COVID relief demonstrate that to meet novel challenges and devise effective programs, public policy should leverage the benefits of the market-based system, not seek to tame them.”