Free Republic

The IRS hopes to increase tax audits on the wealthiest taxpayers tenfold under the Biden administration’s plan for the agency, according to a senior administration official and the IRS’s new strategic operating plan. IRS and Treasury Department officials said Thursday that they will use $80 billion in new funding for the tax service to claw back unpaid balances from high-income earners and complex businesses — restoring audits on those taxpayers to higher rates from more than a decade ago — and boost customer service resources for middle- and low-income tax filers. The agency plans to digitize its tax-processing pipeline and...

PIERRE, S.D. — A 23-year-old rancher whose family has fallen behind in their taxes and recently had a mobile home repossessed claimed a $232.1 million Powerball jackpot on Friday, one of the largest undivided jackpots in U.S. lottery history. Neal Wanless, who lives on his family's 320-acre ranch near Mission, S.D., bought the winning ticket in the nearby town of Winner late last month during a trip to buy livestock feed. He will take home $88.5 million in a lump sum payment after taxes are deducted.

OF COURSE LAWMAKERS OUGHT TO PAY INCOME TAX ON GIFTED TRIPS Everybody knows that for years and years and years, lawmakers have taken their spouses along on their little junkets. The travel, meals and hotel rooms have fair market value that the rest of us little people would find ourselves taxed on. So why should the lawmakers think they're so much different from the rest of us. Who really needs to go to Peru anyway? Just to look at an Incan mountaintop? How could that possibly have anything to do with the official business of running the U.S. Senate? And...

Two weeks ago, the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform issued its final report. Although our federal tax system is in dire need of restructuring and simplification, the panel's approach is a nonstarter. It proposes much pain for very little gain. The likelihood is virtually nil that it will form the basis for congressional action. The panel proposed two alternative tax plans for restructuring the federal corporate and individual income tax systems. One is called the Simplified Income Tax Plan and basically keeps the income tax while making a number of changes. The other is called the Growth and...