The IRS has collected $1.3 billion from high-wealth tax dodgers since last fall, the agency says, crediting spending that has ramped up collection enforcement through President Joe Biden's signature climate, health care and tax package signed into law in 2022.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/28466921

The IRS has collected $1.3 billion from high-wealth tax dodgers since last fall, the agency announced Friday, crediting spending that has ramped up collection enforcement through President Joe Biden’s signature climate, health care and tax package signed into law in 2022.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel traveled to Austin, Texas, to tour an IRS campus and announce the latest milestone in tax collections as Republicans warn of big future budget cuts for the tax agency if they take over the White House and Congress.

Yellen said in a speech in Austin that in 2019, the top one percent of wealthy Americans owed more than one-fifth of all unpaid taxes, “leaving ordinary Americans to shoulder the burden.”

  • d00phyEnglish
    36•4 months ago

    Good start. Emphasis on “START.”

  • @ValmondEnglish
    13•4 months ago

    That sound like a drop in a bucket

    • @Viking_HippieOPEnglish
      24•4 months ago

      It is, but it’s better than the former complete dryness of the bucket and hopefully they’ll be able to turn the spigot soon now that they’ve proven that the IRS still offers a good return on investment 🤞

  • @TreczoksEnglish
    9•4 months ago

    That’s a good start, but just a start. There is probably at least ten times as much…

    The question is: Will they put the tax dodgers behind bars where they belong?

    • @Viking_HippieOPEnglish
      5•4 months ago

      That’s a good start, but just a start. There is probably at least ten times as much…

      You’re absolutely right.

      The question is: Will they put the tax dodgers behind bars where they belong

      Probably not 😮‍💨

    • @Viking_HippieOPEnglish
      19•4 months ago

      Nah, they probably haven’t even gotten to the billionaires yet.

      My guess is that they’re trying to hit the rich tax frauds with the fewest lawyers and accountants first as proof of concept before going for the ones who are much more expensive to crack but with more than proportionally larger tax debt.

  • @NeoNachtwaechterEnglish
    -26•4 months ago

    The United States intelligence budget is around 70 billion.

    Does so much spying pay off? /s

    • @Viking_HippieOPEnglish
      12•4 months ago

      Not for the government itself or the population it’s supposed to serve, no.

      For the politicians taking bribes from the military industrial complex and Big Data to support all of it, though? Hoo boy does it!