IRS Crackdown Nets Enough Revenue To Fund the Government for 90 Minutes The Biden administration's $60 billion expansion of the IRS has netted $1 billion in new revenue so far. https://reason.com/2024/07/11/irs-c...evenue-to-fund-the-government-for-90-minutes/ excerpt: The Biden administration's expensive efforts at beefing up the IRS' ability to target wealthier Americans with unpaid federal taxes have finally netted $1 billion in additional revenue. Or, to put it another way, the yearlong campaign has generated enough cash to fund the federal government for…about 90 minutes. Do the math. The United States spent about $6.1 trillion last year. That translates to roughly $16.7 billion per day or about $700 million per hour. Against the federal government's insatiable appetite for spending, even unfathomably large figures like $1 billion are reduced to mere rounding errors. That $1 billion was the result of what the IRS calls "stepped up activity" targeting about 1,600 individuals with incomes of over $1 million and who owed over $250,000 in known tax debt. The $1 billion in new revenue comes from payments made by about 1,200 individuals, according to the IRS. "Our increased work in this area means these past-due tax bills from high-end taxpayers are no longer being left on the table, like they were too often in the past," IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a press release. Of course, everyone should pay the amount of tax that they legally owe—and not one penny more. And, yes, $1 billion in additional revenue brings the federal books marginally closer to balancing. But this announcement mostly serves to underscore the size of America's fiscal problems and the utter inability to solve them by closing the so-called "tax gap." The federal government is on pace to run a deficit of $2 trillion this year and a cumulative deficit of over $20 trillion in the next decade. Closing that gap will require a complete overhaul of the federal budget and a rethinking of the role of government. Indeed, the fact that this $1 billion came from wealthy taxpayers with known tax debts means that it was the lowest of low-hanging fruits. And the government will chew through all of it in less time than it takes to watch Jaws. Harvesting that extra revenue wasn't cheap, either. Taxpayers ponied up an additional $60 billion in new revenue for the IRS in recent years, of which about $5.7 billion has already been spent, according to The New York Times. (The agency was given $80 billion in new funding as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, but Congress later clawed back $20 billion as part of last year's debt ceiling deal.) The Biden administration originally said the additional enforcement funding for the IRS would pay for itself by squeezing $316 billion in additional revenue out of American taxpayers. Separately, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that increased IRS enforcement would generate about $200 billion. It's probably right to be skeptical of that claim. One should also wonder if the country would be better off if that money remained in the hands of productive people rather than being swallowed up by the federal government. more
The $60 billion wasn't all for catching tax cheats but also for modernizing and improving the IRS to make it more responsive to tax payers. This is also only the first year it has been in effect so getting a return in the first year is a good sign.
The $1B is only for past-due collection, and it's only a start. Past-due collection is a small part of the overall expected additional revenue. The estimate is $851 billion in additional revenue over 10 years. Expected increase in compliance seems to be the largest factor. U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS Announce $1 Billion in Past-Due Taxes Collected from Millionaires | U.S. Department of the Treasury In an initial success, the IRS announced last year that it had collected $38 million from more than 175 high-income, high-wealth individuals. The IRS then expanded this effort last fall to 1,600 additional high-income, high-wealth individuals. The IRS has assigned more than 1,500 of these 1,600 cases to senior employees, with more than $1 billion collected to date. New Treasury and IRS analysis shows these investments in high-end enforcement, technology, and data resulting in $851 billion in additional revenue over the next decade if the investments in the Inflation Reduction Act are continued as President Biden has proposed.
The GDP grew 2.8% last quarter while inflation continues to relax. Consumer spending remains strong. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/business/economy/us-gdp-economy-inflation.html U.S. Economic Growth Accelerates, Outpacing Forecasts Gross domestic product rose at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter, new evidence of the economy’s resilience despite high interest rates. Economic growth picked up more than expected in the spring, as cooling inflation and a strong labor market allowed consumers to keep spending even as high interest rates weighed on their finances. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was faster than the 1.4 percent rate recorded in the first quarter, but shy of the unexpectedly strong growth in the second half of last year. Consumer spending, the backbone of the U.S. economy, rose at a 2.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter — a solid pace, albeit much slower than in 2021, when businesses were reopening after pandemic-induced closings. Business investment in equipment rose at its fastest pace in more than two years. Inflation, which picked up unexpectedly at the start of the year, eased in the quarter. The data is preliminary and will be revised at least twice. Taken together, the findings suggest that the economy remains on track for a rare “soft landing,” in which inflation eases without triggering a recession. That is something few forecasters considered likely when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates two years ago to combat inflation. More at link.
Stop it right this minute. I’ve been told that this is the worst economy in the history of the world.
I'm sure trying to tell everyone how great the economy is doing while the cost of everything has exploded the last few years is a winning strategy. People are so dumb! They don't know how good their economic condition really is! They need to look at the data!
I don't think they are dumb, it's just we haven't had this type of inflation in 40 years. Inflation effects all Americans while "high unemployment" by US standards still only effects like 10% or 15% or 20% of the working population. However, I think the economy is in a good place which isn't to say there aren't major issues.
Except that given consumer spending is very strong shows that while inflation is a problem it’s not holding people back from spending and otherwise participating in the economy. The sharp rise in inflation was bad but it’s come down significantly.
I want my 10 cents per gallon gasoline. If it was good enough for my grandpappy, it is good enough for me.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/25/stock-market-today-live-updates.html Dow surges spurred by good inflation report
Budenomics is red hot. Swapped Biden for Harris just in time. It was never about a fear of running against Trump. Nobody wanted to be handed Bidens **** economy.
recession is when there has been 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth; under Biden the GDP has grown every quarter
the so-called recession indicator, as concocted by the Sahm rule had been red every quarter since late 2022, but the GDP continue to grow This recession indicator is flashing red, but the ‘Sahm Rule’ creator says ‘this time really could be different’ roflmao !
