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CBO Confirms at Least $20 Billion From New Audits Will Come From Those Making Less than $400K

CBO Confirms at Least $20 Billion From New Audits Will Come From Those Making Less than $400K

Key point: “At LEAST.” So more than likely, it will be more than $20 billion.

We have more proof the new audits from the Internal “Revenue” Service will take at least $20 billion from those making less than $400,000.

“At least.” This means it could (and in my pessimistic mind, likely) be more than $20 billion.

The new audits should take $124 billion in total. Taxation is theft.

The GOP members of the Ways and Means Committee revealed:

Key Point: At least $20 billion of the revenue Democrats hope to collect from taxpayers with a supercharged IRS would come from lower- and middle-income earners and small businesses, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan congressional scorekeeper. That’s in addition to existing audits of these income levels.

Explanation: Last weekend, all 50 Senate Democrats voted against an amendment offered by Senate Finance Republican Leader Mike Crapo (R-ID) that would have protected lower- and middle-income American taxpayers against new audits by the IRS.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that had this amendment passed and lower- and middle-income taxpayers been protected, revenue in Democrats’ bill would have been reduced by at least $20 billion – confirming that at least $20 billion of the $124 billion in new revenue expected by a supercharged IRS will be coming from higher audits on low- and middle-income Americans. This will be in addition to existing audits on these income levels.

From CBO:

“CBO has not completed a point estimate of this amendment but the preliminary assessment indicates that amendment 5404 would reduce the ‘non-scorable’ revenues resulting from the provisions of section 10301 by at least $20 billion over the FY2022-FY2031 period.”

The GOP committee members provided these points:

Lower- and middle-income earning Americans are the primary target in Democrats’ bill:

  • A previous Congressional Budget Office analysis makes clear that under this plan, audit rates will “rise for all taxpayers” and the policy “would return audit rates to the levels of about 10 years ago.”
  • The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’s official tax scorekeeper, says that from 78 percent to 90 percent of the money raised from under-reported income would likely come from those making less than $200,000 a year. Nearly half of the audits would hit Americans making $75,000 per year or less and only 4 percent to 9 percent would come from those making more than $500,000.
  • Democrats voted against guardrails preventing audits for middle-income earners, instead using non-binding legislative language that would do nothing to protect taxpayers from agency abuse.

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Comments

They haven’t even hired the auditors yet and already they’ve declared their victims guilty.

How very progressive of them.

    geronl in reply to hopp singg. | August 12, 2022 at 7:25 pm

    With the IRS you are guilty until proven innocent. Of course if you actually try to fight them in tax court they will hit you 1000x harder than they were “innocently requesting” at the start

Milking blood from a turnip

Colonel Travis | August 12, 2022 at 5:21 pm

When does the revolution begin?

    The Gentle Grizzly in reply to Colonel Travis. | August 12, 2022 at 5:29 pm

    I’ve said for a long time that The Shot Heard’Round the World next time will be fired by the little guy. The owner of a one-man business with form 123-XYZ declared out of order.. The wage-earner who spoke up at a school board meeting. The nobody that Someone In Charge just doesn’t like.

    Some poor devil trying to feed his family and keep the 17 year old car running one more winter will get an IRS knock on the door. The agent knows there’s no money for a lawyer or accountant and goes on the attack. Who knows what happens next.

      Hence the requirement for IRS agents to be prepared to use deadly force.

      Colonel Travis in reply to The Gentle Grizzly. | August 12, 2022 at 5:52 pm

      When I managed a district office for a congressman, one of the regulars who would stop by had an IRS problem. He was a good man, this is when I learned how evil the IRS really was. He was at the end of his rope and told me – I have never understood how people could want to go into an office with a baseball bat and take off heads….until now.

      I couldn’t fully comprehend his rage. Yes, I knew it was real, I thought it was legit. But had I gone through what he was going through in my own life? No. What does it like to feel like you have no light at the end of the tunnel? I honestly do not know.

      I don’t think people understand what happens when you truly push someone against the wall.

      87,000 newly-armed thugs. What could go wrong?

      That’s exactly why IRS agents go after the middle class and working poor. Can they fight a bogus demand for back taxes? No, it would be economic suicide to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight a small but very likely fundamentally fraudulent tax assessment. So they pay the assessment and the auditor chalks up a win. A millionaire might very well spend the money to fight just on principle, even if it’s economically unsound.

the 16th Amendment has a final sentence: “All Rights conflicting with this Amendment are null and void.”

I wonder if this will affect small businesses the most. Monopolies are bigger donors.

    nordic prince in reply to r2468. | August 12, 2022 at 6:14 pm

    The whole tax code, as well as regulations and three-letter-agency diktats, are rigged against “the little guy” because BigCorp can hire a phalanx of lawyers to navigate around that crap… while Ma & Pa’s little family business can’t afford the time, money, or hassle to comply with the bullshit. So guess who goes out of business, and guess who gobbles up the leftovers like the greedy vultures they are?

My only direct experience with the IRS was a result of the sort of automated BS they send to non wealthy earners. I had filed owing nothing but received a letter questioning my filing. This was in late July, I filed an extension and worked it out because I was deploying again in August. Original case agent says no problem, sends me a letter telling me we can work it when I come back.

Four months later I have a new case agent. Mail is incredibly spotty. Maybe once every 12 to 15 days. The new agent is unwilling to put it off, wants it resolved and because I made the mistake of answering the first letter they are convinced that I am making excuses.

Now in the early fall of 2006 I am in the Sunni Triangle, in Ramadi, in the epicenter of the Anbar Awakening, posted to a remote COB, embedded as an advisor to an Iraqi Army IN BN with 11 other US personnel. Daily sniper and mortar attacks. VBID and IED attacks, firefights. Our Iraqis are Shia from Baghdad and the local Sunni hate their ass and take pot shots for fun while we are on patrol, not to mention our Iraqis were infiltrated by JAM so I was sleeping curled up with a 12 GA when I actually was able to sleep. Did I mention I was issued a blood chit due to the danger of being kidnapped by our Iraqis and sold to ISIS? Placed in our belt was a sewn in document in ten languages promising $50,000 in gold or currency for my safe return. So, as you can comprehend I had some distractions.

All my documents and records are back in Germany. I have no way to access them, have no way to comply with his demands and this SOB won’t quit. It took a letter from a very bemused General Officer to get the IRS to back off until I redeployed. The punchline was the govt actually owed me $22 and change.

That’s the sort of thing another 87,000 IRS employees will generate. Keep your receipts and hire an accountant.

    Gosport in reply to CommoChief. | August 12, 2022 at 8:16 pm

    Same sort of situation, Because of how fouled up things were after 911 I had 3-4 years of screwed up military travel/per diem claims at one point. By the time they were finally sorted (or as sorted as they were ever going to get) I was 2 years late filing 2 of my tax return returns. IRS wouldn’t budge on the fines and claimed I should have submitted and then re-filed amended ones later.

    I pointed out that the signature block on the 1040 form specifically states that:

    “Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return and accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and complete”

    As I knew that the information I had on hand was anything but true, correct, and complete there was no way in hell I was going to sign that. I know what perjury means and “Trust me” isn’t in my vocabulary when it comes to the feds.

    It took 2 Congressmen and a Senator getting involved to straighten that one out. I can’t imagine what dealing with a 22 year old nazi with a gun and a calculator would have been like in that case.

Willie Sutton may not have actually said that he robbed banks “because that is where the money is”, but the point is valid. The IRS collects money from the middle class because that is where the money is. The poor don’t have any money and the rich have accountants, lawyers and lobbyists. And, there aren’t that many rich.

The middle class have some money and don’t have the resources to protect themselves.

    lichau in reply to lichau. | August 12, 2022 at 5:38 pm

    Taxing the rich is like making love to Angelina Jolie. Theoretically possible, but it ain’t a going to happen. Thinking about it is fun, but any efforts spent are purely a waste of time.

The results are self evident. Hire 87K people, give them guns. They are going to do SOMETHING. The only valid prediction is that they aren’t going to go after “the rich”.
Most likely, they will not collect enough to pay their own salaries. But, that isn’t the objective.
See the “War on Drugs”. Drugs won.

Maybe I’m the exception here, but I have never made over $200,000 a year in my lifetime, and not one of my neighbors or friends or family members have either. We are construction workers, farmers, mechanics, office workers, teachers, truck drivers, military service members, and maybe a rare professional here and there. I guarantee you that none of us considers someone making $400,000 a year or even $200,000 to be middle class. In my neck of the woods, that makes you wealthy. If these people are not paying more than $20 billion dollars a year in their fair share of taxes owed, then something needs to be done about it.

    geronl in reply to JR. | August 12, 2022 at 7:22 pm

    “If these people are not paying more than $20 billion dollars a year in their fair share of taxes owed, then something needs to be done about it.”

    huh?

    Do you think taxes are too low? lolz

      I’m just saying that that it is very hard for working class, deplorable, “fly over” people who earn less than $100,000 per year to feel sorry for people who earn $200,000 to $400,000 per year who are not paying their fair share of over $20 billion dollars in tax money that they owe. Because if they don’t pay it, then we have to pay it.

    The Gentle Grizzly in reply to JR. | August 12, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    You seem to automatically assume they aren’t paying “their fair share”.

    You sound like you’d be the perfect candidate to be one of the IRS’s new agents. Have you applied?

      There is obviously a disconnect between my working class family, friends, and neighbors. I am sorry. Enjoy your $200,000 to $400,000 per year salary. I wish we could all be blessed as you are.

        The Gentle Grizzly in reply to JR. | August 12, 2022 at 9:39 pm

        I topped out at far less than that.

        taurus the judge in reply to JR. | August 13, 2022 at 12:01 pm

        The “disconnect” here is your total lack of understanding of how the tax system works combined with you being one of the millions who have been duped by the political class talking points as legitimate facts into believing that they are both true and accurate.

        In reality, neither are true and this is as big a LIE as the reason foreign products cost less is labor.

        I would suggest a learning annex on business and money from Udemy or similar to get familiar with the subject.

        The “rich” (whoever they are) pay taxes and don’t believe they don’t.

        This crap about ‘fair share/tax” is a Marxist dream- don’t fall for it.

        Equally bad (possibly worse) is the flat tax- don’t bite that one either.

    herm2416 in reply to JR. | August 13, 2022 at 8:58 am

    What about the 51% who pay nothing, let alone their “fair share”? Representation without taxation hardly seems “fair” to me.

      TrickyRicky in reply to herm2416. | August 13, 2022 at 10:00 am

      This!

      taurus the judge in reply to herm2416. | August 13, 2022 at 12:05 pm

      because that 51% don’t exist- its a combination of liberal leftist lies (Marxist doctrine) and VERY SELECTIVE wordsmithing which most people don’t catch.

      Taxing is not “fair’ because “fair’ is an emotional concept and ‘exist outside a Marxist Utopia wet dream. Taxing is based on actual numbers and where you fall on the scale based on a number of factors.

      If you don’t like where you are at on that scale- change it. (requires work, effort, study and discipline)

    Morning Sunshine in reply to JR. | August 13, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    do any of those people OWN their businesses? Own a family farm? Cuz that is where the IRS is going to focus, as that person may have an INCOME of less than 200k – but the real assets are worth far more than that.

Of course they’re going to target middle-income folks. They’re the ones who can’t afford to fight.

Their estimates are going to be way, way off. They can’t squeeze $124 billion from a turnip. Is that supposed to be annually or over 10 years?

Much, if not most, of the additional revenue will come from people who cannot afford to hire attorneys and tax accountants to fight the IRS when they demand more money. Or who conclude it will be cheaper to pay what the IRS demands.

Also from people who won’t bother to challenge IRS demands for an additional few hundred bucks because it would be the easiest way to get the IRS off their backs. And possibly least costly overall.

The new improved Democrat run IRS will become a shakedown outfit and a tool used to harass and attack the Dem’s political opponents.

Imagine 87,000 armed Lois Lerners on steroids, no longer held accountable to anyone other than fellow Democrats.

A flat tax would cure the majority of the ills, current and future, with the IRS and give no excuse for not massively reducing its size.

    taurus the judge in reply to Gosport. | August 13, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    a flat tax would destroy our economic system and usher in socialism (Cloward-Piven)

    Dont buy the talking points- research it in depth and the 2nd/3rd level effectiveness of a “flat” tax.

    Then get ready for the user fees to make up the deficit and short falls.

      CommoChief in reply to taurus the judge. | August 13, 2022 at 2:01 pm

      Cutting govt spending is usually implied with implementing the flat tax by it’s advocates. You are correct that absent those cuts ancillary forms of taxation will be used to make up the shortfall.

      Personally I would prefer a much simpler code with far lower rates and a universal minimum tax amount. But that would gore too many oxen so we won’t do it. Until we remove healthcare deductions we aren’t really serious about reform, IMO.

      No. Our current progressive – wealth redistribution tax system is socialist.

      Ending Tax Socialism

      In 1848 Marx and Engels proposed that progressive taxation be used to acquire, bit by bit, all capital from the bourgeois, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state.

      The current U.S. progressive tax system, which taxes one man differently than another based on the amount he earns, is a perfect example of socialist wealth redistribution.

      That progressive tax system is enabled by a huge police/surveillance state tax collection system, which is about to get much bigger and much more police-ish. This huge and menacing organization is used to enforce the organization’s arbitrary, subjective, and essentially un-appealable interpretations of the progressive tax code. A tax code that is so huge, complex, contradictory, confusing, etc. that no mortal soul can understand it all – which is a positive feature to the progressives.

      Nope. If we have to be taxed make it a flat one where the state doesn’t get to make arbitrary decisions regarding who owes, who doesn’t have to pay, who gets fined, etc., etc.

      Most importantly, one that can’t be weaponized against political opponents.