In a historic milestone, President Biden and congressional Democrats increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service to track down wealthy people who didn’t pay their fair share, resulting in the recovery of $1 billion.
The Associated Press reported:
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Thursday that it has recovered $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax evaders, a milestone intended to show how the agency is using the funds it received as part of the Biden administration’s signature climate push. As part of the plan, the health care and tax package will be signed into law in 2022.
Increased public awareness of high wealth tax collections is driven in part by a growing recognition among agency officials that a possible Republican takeover of the White House and Congress could mean deep cuts to the IRS’s future budget. Showing the public how much work the IRS does is an effort to give the much-maligned agency a more sympathetic image.
As part of that effort, the IRS launched a series of initiatives last year aimed at going after high-wealth individuals who failed to pay their taxes. The IRS said the campaign is focused on taxpayers with incomes in excess of $1 million and recognized tax debts in excess of $250,000.
Trump and congressional Republicans are keen to end the IRS’s efforts to make wealthy people pay their fair share. Since House Republicans gained the majority, there have been multiple attempts to cut funding for the IRS, as Republicans have reduced enforcement and weakened the federal government’s ability to go after wealthy tax evaders.
Government is made up of the people, and the people’s priorities reflect the work of the government. President Biden and Democrats are using their power to promote equity that benefits those who make less. The Republican philosophy is that government is a tool that should be used to help the rich and powerful.
The success of the IRS’s enforcement program proves that great things can be accomplished when the government dedicates its power to actions that benefit the most Americans.
The rich are still rich, in fact, under Joe Biden they are richer than ever. The only difference is that now they are being asked to step up and give their fair share back to a society that gave them the opportunity to amass vast wealth.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of Society of Professional Journalists and American Political Science Association
