Posted on 01/14/2023 6:25:51 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The new Republican-controlled House of Representatives got off to a bumpy start by attempting to repeal last year’s addition of of $71.5 billion to the IRS budget. It’s a political stunt with no chance of passing the U.S. Senate.
Hamstringing the taxman doesn’t make taxes go away, but it does make it harder for taxpayers to pay them, the government to collect them and public agencies to function. Defunding the IRS would aggravate an already egregious problem: Billions of dollars of uncollected taxes, mostly from corporations and the wealthy.
From 2014 to 2016, the IRS estimated $500 billion per year in taxes that were owed but not collected. The government recovers less than 15% of that through enforcement actions — so $71.5 billion to narrow the gap isn’t a bad investment. This is a fundamental issue of fairness.
Most uncollected taxes come from higher income taxpayers and corporations, whose tax returns are often incredibly complicated. Because the IRS doesn’t have the manpower to go after all the big fish, 53% of its audits focus on people making less than $50,000, reports a Syracuse University study.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
people who get the EITC don’t have any money.
That is usually true. But quite a few people commit fraud with the EITC to get more than the law permits from that tax credit. They are easy marks to go after when the IRS audits them.
The only reason I post their stuff and subscribe to them is because they actually endorsed Trump in 2020 and Oz in 2022, rather than doing straight neo-Commie party line endorsements. They seem to be a bit more thoughtful than the average left-leaning rag, and they even occasionally post op-eds by actual conservatives, as opposed to resident pet monkeys like David Brooks (NYT).
I’m not sure that is accurate. I read about it recently in some article. Those groups pay professionals to prepare taxes and also have more resources to contest IRS claims.
We bully little guys because we don't have the firepower to bully big guys! Doesn't that make sense?
Correct. And when the income tax was enshrined, it affected only the top 3% of earners. Nobody else even had to file.
It is a political stunt.
But it would be a good idea if it were not.
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