Summary

Mass firings at the IRS under the Trump administration threaten ongoing audits of wealthy individuals and corporations, potentially leading to millions in lost tax revenue.

The cuts primarily impacted employees in the Large Business & International Division, many of whom had extensive tax expertise.

With fewer agents and specialists, complex cases may be prematurely closed, undermining enforcement against high-end tax evasion.

Critics warn this weakens IRS oversight and emboldens tax avoidance among the ultrawealthy.

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      For every dollar spent on IRS audits for middle America, they get about a dollar back in recovered revenue. For every dollar spent on auditing wealthy Americans, they get about twelve dollars back in recovered revenue. I don’t think these cuts are intended to help balance the budget.

    • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      The rest of us are mostly automated. Checking your return against a W2 and a couple of bank 1099s is easy.

      Chasing down tax dodging through a web of pass through entities is not.

      • CritFail@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Fair point, but potential returns are massive, and if they were targeting likely evaders , they could compound the money spent on manual checks (a list of high ranking Republican members might be a good place to start)

      • CritFail@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I may be behind, have they installed a Republican shill in directorship in the IRS as well as defunding them? If not, then they should still have agency in fund allocation

  • PearOfDees@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    we the poor are not a fucking bank for these lazy bastards that just keep taking all our shit for their own personal financial gain… And they’ll keep taking and taking if we keep letting them, and we’ve been over the limit for some time already It’s past due to push them off of us

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      And yet, Republicans have been steadily making gains with the working class. With this past election they are now the dominant party for working class voters. It comes down to two things. American voters are deeply ignorant and the Democratic party is pathetically weak and out of touch.

    • aaron@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      we the poor are not a fucking bank for these lazy bastards that just keep taking all our shit for theithat just keep taking all our shit for their own personal financial gain

      Capitalism is a trickle-up system, so yes, that is exactly what you are.

  • charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Geez gosh golly!

    I can’t believe stuff like this happening under a Trump presidency ! Is it actually possible Trump wants good things to happen to the wealthy and nobody else!

    Not possible! I refuse to believe it!

    • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I refiled my W4s to pay little to no taxes. I realize they’re going to come after it later, but I just plan to play dumb and delay and deny for as long as I can (without facing jail time).

      • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Maybe tell them you were using it to pay the new import taxes Trump implemented and that you thought it was the same thing.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I would say “why don’t they just focus on rich people and not audit the other 90% of Americans.” But we already know the answer to that one no matter who’s in charge.

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It doesn’t make sense to me because there are fewer ultra wealthy people in America than there are poor people.
    so with staff getting cut in half, you’d think it would be better to focus on the smaller group.

    • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Smaller group with more to pay. It’s a no-brainer if you’re acting in good faith and not a complete moron. So obviously not what the current administration is going to do.

    • Hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      The rich have more assets and income sources and have staff who do a bunch of financial chicanery to try to hide their tax evasion. Auditing the rich requires significantly more work than the poor.

      These decisions are not about doing what makes sense. The IRS is a revenue generator. Spending money on the IRS brings in significantly more money in unpaid taxes than it costs.

      The goal is not to do what’s best for the government’s budget. Its really about ensuring that their criminal friends can continue to get away with it.

      • sibachian@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        but the payback from auditing the rich and finding cheats is way more than the few cents per poor.

        • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It’s high risk/high reward, vs low risk/low reward for lower income households. However I’m sure there are things like qoutas, etc. that push auditors to go after the easy wins.

          Not to mention you loose some big cases against wealthy people cause they have a lot of money, and they come after your job or make the IRS look ineffective.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Fucken sick of this blatant manipulation by the wealthy. The IRS is our fucken money maker.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      Let’s rename it to “Accounts Receivable” and really run this country like a business.

  • Lit@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Sue Trump and Elon for the illegal firing now before it is too late.

  • Master@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Turns out they only have enough to audit the poor and middle class.