Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said the Internal Revenue Service should "just go away" because agencies like it can be weaponized.
"I'm rooting for the IRS to be closed. I've got a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment," Davidson told CNN when asked about a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Trump administration is preparing "sweeping changes" to allow the agency to "pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily."
"I think it's a massive invasion of privacy to collect all this information from citizens in the first place. And so, I hope we completely repeal the 16th Amendment and fully close the IRS," Davidson said.
"You know, we've got lemons. Democrats have chosen to shut the government down. The Trump administration's making lemonade, and one of the areas that we've cut is the IRS.
"And so, I think there's a lot of dead weight there, and a lot of people involved in things that really are outside the purview of collecting the revenue for the country," Davidson said.
"We saw this going back to the [Barack] Obama administration with Lois Lerner and others. So, it's an agency that can be weaponized, and I think those kinds of agencies should just go away," he added.
The Journal, citing several sources, said a senior IRS official had already drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democrat donors and that Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, was leading the effort.
On the list are Democrat donor George Soros and his affiliated groups, according to the report.
Soros founded the Open Society Foundations, which funds democrat and civil society causes around the world.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Soros in public statements and in August called for him and his son to be charged under the RICO law, accusing them of funding violent protests.
Shapley, when asked about the changes, told the Journal, "I'm grateful to continue in my role in reforming the IRS."
The IRS, like many other federal agencies, has experienced cuts and disruptions amid the current government shutdown and ongoing staffing changes.
Nearly half of its employees have been furloughed as the shutdown continues with no end in sight.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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