An eight-year campaign to slash the agency’s budget has left it understaffed, hamstrung and operating with archaic equipment. The result: billions less to fund the government. That’s good news for corporations and the wealthy.
Reading the headline left me with an almost warm feeling.
Until I read the full article!
Without enough staff, the IRS has slashed even basic functions. It has drastically pulled back from pursuing people who don’t bother filing their tax returns. New investigations of “nonfilers,” as they’re called, dropped from 2.4 million in 2011 to 362,000 last year. According to the inspector general for the IRS, the reduction results in at least $3 billion in lost revenue each year. Meanwhile, collections from people who do file but don’t pay have plummeted. Tax obligations expire after 10 years if the IRS doesn’t pursue them. Such expirations were relatively infrequent before the budget cuts began. In 2010, $482 million in tax debts lapsed. By 2017, according to internal IRS collection reports, that figure had risen to $8.3 billion, 17 times as much as in 2010. The IRS’ ability to investigate criminals has atrophied as well.
Is this how Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, among so many, get away with not paying taxes on millions of dollars?
Of course, this article blames the Republicans for this.
It talks about old timers leaving. What it doesn’t talk about is whether or not the technology used by the IRS has been updated and modernized. Does it need more CPA or more IT types? It should be interesting to see what the new head, Commissioner Charles Rettig asks for in the 2019 budget.
More of the lengthy article with charts @ How the IRS Was Gutted — ProPublica
Reading the headline left me with an almost warm feeling.
Until I read the full article!
Without enough staff, the IRS has slashed even basic functions. It has drastically pulled back from pursuing people who don’t bother filing their tax returns. New investigations of “nonfilers,” as they’re called, dropped from 2.4 million in 2011 to 362,000 last year. According to the inspector general for the IRS, the reduction results in at least $3 billion in lost revenue each year. Meanwhile, collections from people who do file but don’t pay have plummeted. Tax obligations expire after 10 years if the IRS doesn’t pursue them. Such expirations were relatively infrequent before the budget cuts began. In 2010, $482 million in tax debts lapsed. By 2017, according to internal IRS collection reports, that figure had risen to $8.3 billion, 17 times as much as in 2010. The IRS’ ability to investigate criminals has atrophied as well.
Is this how Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, among so many, get away with not paying taxes on millions of dollars?
Of course, this article blames the Republicans for this.
It talks about old timers leaving. What it doesn’t talk about is whether or not the technology used by the IRS has been updated and modernized. Does it need more CPA or more IT types? It should be interesting to see what the new head, Commissioner Charles Rettig asks for in the 2019 budget.
More of the lengthy article with charts @ How the IRS Was Gutted — ProPublica
