Republicans are lying when they say slashing IRS funds will lower the deficit. For each extra $1 the IRS spends auditing rich tax cheats, it can collect $12. Defunding the IRS will INCREASE the deficit.They want to help their rich donors cheat, while the rest of us pay for it.
@rbreich With how desperately they defend our oligarchs, maybe it's time we stop pretending there is any difference between our corporate owners and our "elected representatives".
I still like the idea of having senators wear the logo of the donor who purchased them on their suit so we can know whose interest they're being for; Like NASCAR!
We could save ourselves a great deal of time and trouble by rephrasing our complaints: Republicans lie so much, can't we start with the axiom "Republicans always lie about their agenda".
That way, honest people such as yourself can wave your hands and bellow: "Hey! I found somewhere the Republicans are telling the truth ! Come and look ! You won't see this again soon !"
@rbreich Honestly it extends beyond that. Keeping the IRS "Starved" of in-house expertise also means that simplifying and automating systems to benefit honest taxpayers is difficult or impossible to do, which is of huge benefit to the entire 3rd-party tax preparer industry (cough, TurboTax), who make millions off of the U.S. being one of the only modern countries to not provide easy on-line (and free) filing to taxpayers.
@rbreich
Further: it is more expensive to catch wealthy tax cheats, so cutting the IRS budget will result in more wealthy people getting away with cheating on taxes, and more non-wealthy people being audited because the IRS will feel compelled to make up for lost revenue that could have been gathered from wealthy tax cheats.
@rbreich The important thing here is that the Federal Reserve does not dip its hand into a pot of “tax dollars” to pay military contractors, nor is it required to check some mythical account where tax dollars live before it wires the money. In fact, that account doesn’t exist. As former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke once noted, when the government pays for things, it is “not taxpayer money. We simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account.” https://newrepublic.com/article/158221/government-can-afford-anythi-wants
@rbreich it makes sense, but also to wit I got hit in 2023 by a tax credit I owed that was ACCRUING INTEREST from 2021. I tried calling IRS in Nov and Dec, up until now I haven't been able to get on the phone with them. 🤷🏽♀️
Where the IRS could save money is in stopping the whole tax refund thing. Just make it automatic. The IRS knows what each wage worker makes, including whatever meager investment they have. Instead of giving us homework and punishing us for mistakes, just cut a check or send a bill.
Make it a simple three step system.
You get a letter saying you are getting a refund or not.
@rbreich
The one and only answer to most all of our problems is taxing the wealthy at the same rate as everyone else and FORCE them to pay what is due now, not later.