Even so, Republicans will have a lock on the lie that the money would have been used to hire 87,000 new tax-collection agents to audit middle class families and small businesses.

Democrats, as usual, will look like talking pretzels trying to explain complicated calculations that show that $80 billion spent upgrading IRS computer systems, replacing retiring agents and hiring new agents, will actually increase revenue to federal coffers by capturing taxes that would otherwise go unpaid and that not spending more money will actually reduce revenue. Got that?

Ever since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, Republicans have conjured up terrifying images of hordes of suited IRS bureaucrats tasked to accuse and harass working Americans, to attack their Form 1040s with sharp pencils and to twist arms until they pay taxes, fines and penalties. Hollywood couldn’t dream up a more terrifying plot using zombies and vampires.

The image is bound to stick in people’s minds while a chalkboard full of numbers that outline the real result of money invested in the IRS will elicit yawns, a flip of the page or a channel change.

Since August, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo has used his web page to denounce “a supersized IRS” and “an army of IRS agents” as a scourge of American citizens. Here’s the dirty little secret behind that mislaid claim.

The Congressional Budget Office says that not spending the money would reduce anticipated tax revenue by $180.4 billion over a 10-year period. The unrealized cash would increase the federal deficit.

The vote signaled that if the new Republican-controlled Congress has its way, unfairness in the tax system will continue to tilt to the detriment of middle-income taxpayers and to the benefit of wealthy tax dodgers. Wage earners already pay far higher percentages of their income than corporations and people who derive income primarily from investments, according to information published by the Congressional Budget Office.

Like every organization in the country, the IRS is understaffed. Employees who remain are overworked. It’s been well reported that its computer systems are old or nonexistent and that its auditing capabilities are woefully weak.

Another adage applies here: For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.

If the nation’s taxes are to fall fairly and equitably on Americans, it needs an agency able to ensure that complicated tax laws are enforced and that individuals and businesses pay fair shares.

Without taxes, there is no government. Without government, there is no democracy. This potentially real nightmare should scare every American far more than the Right’s made-up tales of armies of tax agents, vampire bureaucrats and bogeymen.

“Our View” represents the opinion of the newspaper editorial board, which is made up of members of its board of directors. Remarks may be directed to editorialboard@mtexpress.com.