IRS
Free Tax Filing Option from the IRS Would Benefit People of Color, Contrary to Corporate Warnings
• By Brakeyshia Samms
There's a patchwork of programs and preparers for people of color to turn to when filing taxes, and most come from corporations that profit from providing a service that the government could provide more effectively and efficiently for free. The Direct File program can change that and is a great step forward in the IRS’ work addressing racism in the tax code.
Intuit Receives Millions in Federal Subsidies While Arguing IRS Direct File Would Be Too Costly
• By Joe Hughes, Spandan Marasini
The tax preparation industry has for years lobbied to prevent the IRS from providing a tool that would allow Americans to file their taxes online for free. Recent public disclosures from Intuit, the maker of TurboTax and the leader of the pack, show that tax breaks the company claims for doing “research” might be larger […]
Large and Growing Tax Gap Underscores the Need to Adequately Fund the IRS
• By Jon Whiten
New figures released show the difference between what Americans paid and owed in taxes grew to $688 billion in 2021, a significant jump from previous estimates. This new data underscores that last year’s boost to IRS funding under the Inflation Reduction Act was absolutely necessary and should be protected by lawmakers.
The IRS Shouldn’t Be Lawmakers’ Sacrificial Lamb
• By Joe Hughes
Last year, Congress reversed decades of funding cuts to the IRS to help the agency improve taxpayer services and crack down on wealthy tax cheats through the Inflation Reduction Act. The IRS adopted their assignment, and this past tax filing season was a marked improvement from the year before – both for the agency and […]
Government Shutdown is Rooted in Hypocrisy, Dysfunction, and, As Always, Tax Cuts for the Rich
• By Joe Hughes
The priorities in this shutdown drama couldn’t be clearer. House Republicans once again threaten the financial security of the millions of Americans to exact cuts to programs like Head Start, the Social Security Administration, and the EPA – all while seeking unaffordable tax cuts for multinational corporations, the wealthy, and foreign investors.
Letter to IRS on Section 1001 Regulation in 2023-2024 Priority Guidance Plan
• By ITEP Staff
Read as PDF Re: Recommendation for Inclusion of Section 1001 Regulation in 2023-2024 Priority Guidance Plan To Whom It May Concern, We are writing to respectfully urge that the IRS return to the work it left unfinished in 2019 when it issued final regulations on “Contributions in Exchange for State or Local Tax Credits” (RIN: […]
Debt-Limit Deal’s Provision to Let Tax Cheats Off the Hook Will Increase the Deficit
• By Jon Whiten
The latest debt-limit bill in Congress includes a provision to claw back important IRS funding meant to crack down on wealthy tax cheats. This cut in funding would actually increase the deficit while continuing the rig the system in favor of the most well-off.
The House’s Debt Ceiling Smoke Screen: The GOP Budget Plan Gives Cover for Tax Cuts for the Rich
• By Joe Hughes
While it isn’t reasonable in the first place for Congress to debate whether it will pay the bills it has already incurred, some of the same lawmakers who are holding the economy hostage to exact budget cuts have decided to make the conversation even more irrational by proposing to increase deficits with tax cuts that enrich the already rich.
By Fighting Audit Bias, Funding for Tax Enforcement Can Advance Racial Equity
• By Jon Whiten
Black households are between 2.9 and 4.7 times more likely to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service than non-Black households. This disparity is driven in part but not wholly by a lack of resources at the IRS, which itself is driven by years of budget cuts the agency has faced.
National Taxpayer Advocate: Infusion of New IRS Funding a ‘Gamechanger’ for Taxpayers
• By Jon Whiten
A new report from the National Taxpayer Advocate – part of an independent oversight arm inside the IRS – found that the agency struggled in 2022 with timely processing of tax returns and refunds, responding to taxpayer correspondence quickly, and answering phone calls. It expects these issues to improve in 2023, thanks in part to the influx of $80 billion in new funding from last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, which the Advocate’s office calls a…
“Fair Tax” Plan Would Abolish the IRS and Shift Federal Taxes from the Wealthy to the Rest of Us
• By Steve Wamhoff
The "Fair Tax" bill would impose a 30 percent federal sales tax on everything we buy – groceries, cars, homes, health care - and lead to a giant tax shift from the well-off to everyone else.
New House Majority Quickly Moves to Help Wealthy Evade Taxes
• By Jon Whiten
The “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act” would rescind 90 percent of the new funding for the IRS included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. This would eliminate the new law’s $45.6 billion to enforce the tax code for people making more than $400,000 and repeal an additional $26 billion in IRS funding that would include, among other things, a pilot for a free e-file program to make it easier for people with relatively…
Trump’s Tax Shenanigans Show Need for Real Reforms
• By Amy Hanauer
Congress should unite around a basic principle that Republican, Democratic, and independent voters support: the wealthiest, whether they are presidents, CEOs, or just rich heirs, should pay their fair share. Using Trump's tax maneuvering as a guidebook could make the tax code much fairer for all of us.
The Case for More IRS Funding
• By Jon Whiten
Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in The Hill. Though the Inflation Reduction Act is enormously popular, some politicians and pundits are trying to generate hysteria about one feature: Funding for the IRS. All the false claims are distracting us from two important things: how necessary the funding increase is to reverse […]
Lawmakers Must Choose Between Funding the IRS or Protecting Wealthy Tax Cheaters
• By Steve Wamhoff
Grasping for some way to criticize the popular Inflation Reduction Act as it approaches final passage, Congressional Republicans have decided to attack its provisions that will reverse a decade of budget cuts to the IRS and instruct the agency to crack down on tax evasion by big corporations and individuals making more than $400,000. Of […]
What Tax Provisions are in the Senate-Passed Inflation Reduction Act?
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Inflation Reduction Act approved by the Senate on Aug. 7 would raise more than $700 billion in new revenue over a decade by closing corporate tax loopholes, empowering the IRS to enforce the tax laws on the books, taxing stock buybacks, and extending a limitation on deductions for business losses. The IRA – if […]
The Role of Census Data in Policy and Racial Equity
• By Emma Sifre
The Census has changed the way it asks questions in the past and can choose to do so again in the future. As the Biden administration makes data a central part of its plan to achieve greater racial equity, it has an opportunity to implement research-backed changes that will improve our understanding of race and ethnicity in the United States, and in turn, our ability to draw meaningful conclusions about how our tax laws impact…
When Tax Breaks for Retirement Savings Enrich the Already Rich
• By Steve Wamhoff
Members of Congress frequently claim they want to make it easier for working people to scrape together enough savings to have some financial security in retirement. But lawmakers’ preferred method to (ostensibly) achieve this goal is through tax breaks that have allowed the tech mogul Peter Thiel to avoid taxes on $5 billion. This is just one of the eye-popping revelations in the latest expose from ProPublica.
How Biden’s Plan Would Crack Down on Wealthy Tax Evaders
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Treasury Department released a report explaining what the administration’s tax enforcement plan would do—and how it fits into the president’s overall plan to collect more revenue from profitable corporations and individuals making more than $400,000 a year.
IRS Clock Runs Out, Saving 14 Large Companies $1.3 Billion
• By ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
Each year, corporations publicly state that some of the tax breaks they claim are unlikely to withstand scrutiny from tax authorities. And each year, corporations report that they will keep some of the dubious tax breaks they declared in previous years simply because the statute of limitations ran out before tax authorities made any conclusions. This suggests that, perhaps because of cuts to its enforcement budget, the IRS is not even investigating corporations that publicly…
Tax Reform Must Include Adequate Funding for the IRS
• By Jenice R. Robinson
The Biden administration has made clear that its top priorities include a major recovery package with critical investments to boost the nation’s economy and tax increases for corporations and the wealthy. Adequately funding the IRS must be part of that agenda. It seems every week, a new study, data set or research-driven commentary reveals how […]
Enforcing Current Tax Law Makes Financial Sense
• By Steve Wamhoff
While lawmakers disagree sharply over what our tax law should look like, there should be no argument that we must enforce tax laws currently on the books. Yet, Republican Congresses systematically weakened the IRS’s ability to enforce tax laws by defunding the agency, resulting in hundreds of billions in lost tax revenue every year. Two bills introduced in the U.S. House would address this by increasing tax audits of big corporations and high-income individuals and…
Donald Trump and Taxes: Fast and Loose with Loopholes or Fraud?
• By Matthew Gardner
The president’s apparent abuse of everything from hair-care deductions to consulting fees for family members raises questions about whether Trump was fast and loose with tax loopholes or whether the IRS simply wasn’t enforcing the law. Either way, Trump successfully flouting or pushing the limits of the law shouldn’t come as a surprise: Congress has cut IRS funding, in real terms in each of the last 10 years.
Adequately Funding the IRS Would Be One Small Step Toward Racial Equity in the Tax Code
• By Jenice R. Robinson
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig vowed to work with Congress to explore how the federal tax system contributes to the racial wealth gap. There are at least two ways this can happen: tax policies enacted by Congress and IRS enforcement of these policies.
