It is a historic milestone as President Biden and congressional Democrats increased funding for the IRS to go after wealthy people who weren’t paying their fair share and the result has been a billion dollars in recovered funds.
The IRS announced Thursday that it has collected $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax cheats â a milestone meant to showcase how the agency is making use of the money it received as part of the Biden administrationâs signature climate, health care, and tax package signed into law in 2022.
Part of the push for public awareness of high-wealth tax collections is a growing recognition by agency officials that a potential Republican takeover of the White House and Congress could mean massive future budget cuts for the IRS. Showing the public how much work the IRS is getting done is meant to give the much-maligned agency a more sympathetic image.
As part of that effort, last year the IRS launched a series of initiatives aimed at pursuing high-wealth individuals who have failed to pay their tax debts. The IRS says the campaign is focused on taxpayers with more than $1 million in income and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt.
Trump and congressional Republicans are obsessed with ending the IRS efforts to get the wealthy to pay their fair share. House Republicans have tried numerous times since they took the majority to cut funding for the IRS, as the GOP less enforcement and to weaken the ability of the federal government to go after wealthy tax cheats.
Governments are made up of people, and the priorities of those people reflect what the government does. President Biden and Democrats have used their power to promote fairness and to benefit the people who have and earn less. The Republican philosophy is that government is a tool that should be used to help the wealthy and powerful.
The success of the IRS enforcement program is an example of what the government can accomplish when its power is put toward actions that benefit the majority of Americans.
Rich people are still rich, and in fact, under Joe Biden, they are richer than ever. The only difference is that now they are being required to step up and give back their fair share to a society that has allowed them the opportunity to build vast wealth.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
