Let’s remember?
Since the Obama IRS went after phoney Conservertyive non-profits?
The Republicans have been short changing revenue to agency…
The result?
Less taxes collected…
More taxes needed from Middle Income folks to make up for missed money ….
The amount of taxes going uncollected by the federal government could be as much as $1 trillion or more per year, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said Tuesday.
His estimate goes far beyond the official $441 billion difference between taxes paid and taxes owed annually, the so-called tax gap, reported by the IRS, which is based on figures from 2011-2013. The next official estimate will come out next year.
A confluence of factors suggest the tax-gap growth Rettig projected, including increased virtual currency holdings, which weren’t figured in the 2011-2013 period but now amount to more than $2 trillion worldwide, he said. In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Rettig also said counting foreign-source income and illegal-source income would increase the tab, too, and that IRS research indicates $175 billion in underpayments among the wealthiest Americans.
With all those reasons in mind, it wouldn’t be outlandish to think the tax gap “could approach and possibly exceed $1 trillion per year,” Rettig said.
What can help: Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said he’s crafting a bill to define virtual currency for tax purposes and improve information reporting on it. Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also asked Rettig what changes in law and regulations could improve the overall tax gap situation.
Rettig said better information reporting from third parties would help the IRS boost collections. He also called for more electronic tax return filing, error correction authority for the IRS and regulation of tax return preparers, in addition to requesting sustained budget improvements.
President Joe Biden just proposed a 10.4 percent increase in spending on the IRS, with most of the additional money tabbed for enforcement. Rettig admitted the IRS is currently “outgunned” in trying to keep pace with all the tax avoidance and cheating, and he endorsed the idea of mandatory funding for the agency that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she would soon propose in legislation….
Note…
The IRS has also been given the immediate task of sending out stimulus checks again….