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299

IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes, braces for cuts under Trump and GOP majority (www.pbs.org)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

The IRS announced it has recovered $4.7 billion in back taxes and criminal proceeds since receiving $80 billion in funding through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

This includes $1.3 billion from wealthy tax dodgers and $2.9 billion from criminal investigations.

Despite these gains, the IRS faces funding cuts: $1.4 billion was rescinded earlier, and $20 billion is frozen or redirected under recent budget deals.

Republicans, under a new majority, aim to further reduce IRS funding and renew Trump-era tax cuts. Trump has nominated Billy Long as the next IRS commissioner, drawing criticism from Democrats.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

As sure as the rising and the setting of the sun, billionaires will cut their own taxes.

Every one of us suffers by their existence.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

We shouldn't suffer their existence

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

IRS investigators (circa Jan 20) now ~~randomly~~ arbitrarily audits low income people...

🙃

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

randomly

Nope. It will be targeted. This is what regulatory agencies will exist for (those that continue to exist). They will be used as a cudgel against perceived enemies.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

arbitrarily is what I meant

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Yeah, but that's why I mean... It won't be that either. It will be targeted.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Low income people have already been automatically audited for a long time.

[–] SuperSpruce 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm definitely missing the whole story, because getting $4.2B back from $80B in funding is terrible ROI. Where is all of this money going?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

They received $80B but haven't spent it yet. Looks like they've spent $7B so far , and it looks like the Republicans rescinded $20B of it already.

Still not a great ROI but they could be spending the money on building infrastructure to recover more. I'm guessing they require some pretty good software to catch the cheats and that costs a lot to create but less to maintain. That plus general growing pains might mean they'll take a bit to ramp up, but we might start seeing more ROI gains in the following couple years.

Also they're using some of it to improve operations like creating the new free tax portal so you don't have to pay through turbotax, h&r etc. So that'd be nice, maybe not worth $1B, but nice

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Hopefully the new tax portal is great. That alone would be worth 1B. Just sending everyone a disputable bill or check would be easier and cheaper of course but we can't have that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They had to staff up which has a delay on impact. The money was supposed to last awhile and historically every dollar given to the IRS results in more money back. The more complex cases take longer to get results from as well. Those rich folks have very complex set ups to avoid paying taxes.

And as mentioned, they also built that tax portal which will likely expand and will save tax payers millions of dollars instead of going to turbotax etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Gotta steal somehow. If you can make the police go away, stealing gets easier, cosier. it's like the Republicans way of making a nest

[+] shortwavesurfer -78 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

New headline: Thugs managed to steal $4.7 billion that they would previously have been unable to steal.

Taxation is theft.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Taxation is theft.

Always one of you silly buggers commenting these kinds of stories isn't there.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

But you don't understand, see, he didn't consent to being taxed, therefore it's theft.

Be kind to them, they were kidnapped and imprisoned for many years since birth. The earlier years involved many forms of humiliating torture.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago

Man, I remember middle school...

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why?

Roads, schools, fire department,...

The large one defense budget (possible theft here)...

Why do you think "taxation is theft"?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Because they want the benefits of a civilized society but think they shouldn’t have to pay for them

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

I bet it's that the think they will one day own the benefits of a civilized society, and want to preemptively pull the ladder up while making money off the backs of everyone else. You know, like a parasite.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Taxes are the subscription fee one pays to live in a society. Don’t like that? Go live somewhere else.

[+] shortwavesurfer -21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

There is no land on this planet that has not been claimed by government goons, so there is nowhere else to go.

Edit: Okay, that is not quite true. But for the most part, it is. The only exception I'm totally aware of at the moment is Gornyasiga, which became Liberland. Now that I find to be an interesting project and something that seems like it would be interesting to participate in.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

All of Antarctica, though that's been designated entirely for science by international treaty.

Plenty of land is claimed but uncontrolled. Just get some like-minded people together and set up camp. I'm sure it'll go fine.

[+] shortwavesurfer -13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh yes, I read a book about that and it was quite funny actually. The Free State Project is actually something I am interested in and have considered moving for myself, but it's still in the United States, which is under the tyranny of the federal government, so it might not be worth it. Unless they succeed in actually seceding from the Union.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think you missed the point of the book, the FSP is a failure. You can't build a society of people who reject society.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Let me know after you move to a region with no taxes. I’ll come kill you and take all your stuff since there’s no justice system.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So you don't like schools, roads, public healthcare, having a police force to protect the citizens? You realize taxes pay for those right? And without them, if you get robbed, there will be no police to help you.

Also, did you know the bourgeoisie steal way more from you than the taxes you pay?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Only one argument here- the police don't protect anyone, they protect rich people's property. It's been proven in court that they have no duty to "protect and serve" the people. If you get robbed right now, right this second, and call the police, they will come and take a statement from you, asking the value of the missing money and items, print it on a sheet of paper and file it in a drawer (or on a computer system).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The concept of money is theft, taxation is how the money-printing thugs keep it from inflating itself out of existence.

[–] shortwavesurfer -4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It sure doesn't seem to be working because it's still costing more and more all the time. So they're printing it faster than they're taking it away. But that's not surprising since the government doesn't tax itself.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

What in the world are you talking about? The government doesn't exist to profit, it's not a corporation despite shitty people's ideas that it should be run like one. Why would its revenue, which is all spent, be taxed? Are you saying taxes should be taxed? Where would the tax on government revenue even go?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It sure doesn't seem to be working because it's still costing more and more all the time. So they're printing it faster than they're taking it away.

Precisely.

The government can either fix this by raising taxes or by reducing the rate at which it allows the banking industry to print money, and neither option is politically viable for obvious reasons.

But that's not surprising since the government doesn't tax itself.

This comment leads me to believe that you have some fundamental misapprehension as to how money and/or governments work.

Governments create money so they can pay people to do things. If a government tried to tax its own payments then it'd just be paying itself with dollars that never had a chance to circulate through the economy. Even in concept, this is a waste of time and energy. The only real effect would be artificially inflated numbers for government expenses and tax receipts, the total amount of economic activity enabled by those dollars and the total amount of currency removed from circulation would be zero.

The purpose of taxation is to take excess currency out of the economy, and you just can't do that by moving money from one government office to another.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Take it a step further. Private exploitation is still exploitation. Creating an ancap world without public monopoly on force will not remove exploitation or force from the world. Property is theft.