Nov 02 2023
Cutting IRS Funding Makes It Easier for the Wealthy to Cheat on Their Taxes and Increases the Budget Deficit
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with funding to help the agency modernize tax collection and go after wealthy tax cheats. Already, the IRS has improved taxpayer customer service and increased tax enforcement against wealthy individuals and corporations, recouping $160 million in 2023 alone. Recent research shows that focusing tax enforcement on the wealthiest individuals yields substantial revenue, with as much as $12 in returns for every $1 dollar spent on audits of the wealthiest taxpayers. Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office has routinely found that cutting the IRS budget would actually increase the deficit in the long run.