On The Money: House Democrats line up $1.5T in spending without budget | GOP takes aim at IRS | House Democrat mulls wealth tax

Happy Monday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-staging.thehill.com, njagoda@digital-staging.thehill.com and nelis@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.

THE BIG DEAL—House Democrats to kick off $1.5 trillion spending process without budget: House Democrats on Monday moved to advance the annual appropriations process for 2022 without a budget resolution.

House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) filed with the House Rules Committee a $1.5 trillion deeming resolution, which would allow appropriators to begin writing their 12 annual spending bills.

The strategy: 

• The process would postpone the debate over a budget resolution, which Democrats are eyeing as an alternative vehicle for passing President Biden’s proposed jobs and families plans.
• If talks with Republicans fail on infrastructure, Democrats hope to use a budget process called reconciliation to sidestep the Senate filibuster, allowing them to advance the legislation without GOP support.

The problem: In order to do that Democrats would need to carefully tailor the budget resolution to the bills they hope to pass through reconciliation, divvying up precise amounts that authorizing committees will be able to spend to match their legislative goals. The Hill’s Niv Elis has more here.

LEADING THE DAY

Republicans open new line of attack on IRS: The IRS is back in Republicans’ crosshairs following a ProPublica report based on the confidential tax records of the wealthiest Americans.

Republicans have long disliked the tax-collection agency, and have been critical of President Biden’s proposal to give the IRS significantly more resources. Now, GOP lawmakers are amplifying their attacks on the IRS in light of an unauthorized disclosure of tax data to ProPublica, arguing that it undermines taxpayers’ ability to have confidence in the agency.

“This is an astonishing breach of trust that should make taxpayers very concerned,” Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas), the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters Friday.

What happened: 

• ProPublica published a report Tuesday detailing how prominent U.S. billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in certain years have paid little-to-no federal income taxes. 
• The article also found that the richest Americans paid little in taxes when compared to their wealth gains.
• It is unclear who provided the tax information to ProPublica or how it was obtained, but it’s unlawful for federal employees to make unauthorized disclosures of tax-return information and administration officials said the matter has been referred to several agencies, including the inspectors general for the Treasury Department, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda breaks it all down here.

Exclusive: Democrat exploring ‘patriot tax’ on multimillionaires’ wealth: While Republicans are taking aim at the IRS, a Democrat has an idea to give them a little more work to do.

Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said that he’s exploring the idea of a one-time tax on the wealth of the richest Americans as Democrats seek to increase taxes on the rich in order to pay for spending priorities.

• In an interview with The Hill on Friday, Suozzi said he’s in the early stages of looking at what he called a “patriot tax.” 
• This would be a one-time surcharge of 2.5 percent on wealth between $50 million and $100 million and a 5 percent tax on wealth above $100 million. Wealthy people would be able to pay the tax over five years.
• Research provided by Suozzi’s office estimates that such a tax could raise about $450 billion.

“We all know that people who are wealthy did very well during the pandemic and people that were low-income people did not do well,” Suozzi said. He said that for wealthy people, the surcharge would be “a way to help your country to build back better.” Naomi has more here.

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing on central bank digital currencies at 10 a.m.
• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on local community infrastructure needs at 10 a.m.
• A House Small Business subcommittee holds a hearing on reversing the decline in women’s entrepreneurship at 10 a.m.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Group of Seven (G-7) leaders on Sunday announced their commitments to cutting forced labor practices out of global supply chains in a shot at China, as well as efforts to stop ransomware attacks and root out corruption. 
• British diplomats are pitching U.S. lawmakers on trade as the Biden administration slow-walks discussions around a bilateral trade agreement.  
• Crude oil Monday rose to its highest price in almost three years as demand rebounds and restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic are lifted.

ODDS AND ENDS

• A Microsoft executive has revealed that some company employees slept in data centers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid getting stuck in lockdowns.
• Op-Ed: “Why aren’t more American women and men in the labor force?”