Wealthy tax evaders, beware!
The Internal Revenue Service's efforts to collect overdue taxes from the wealthy $1.3 billion Unpaid taxes from people with incomes over $1 million and recognized tax liabilities over $250,000.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Danny Wuerfel announced the latest tally during a visit to the IRS campus in Austin, Texas, on Friday, which is up from $1 billion in July.
Yellen told IRS officials that the top 1% of wealthy Americans were behind on more than a fifth of all unpaid taxes in 2019, leaving “ordinary Americans shouldering that burden.”
To address this discrepancy, “we have redirected IRS resources to make significant investments in fighting tax evasion,” Yellen explained.
Of the 1,600 millionaires who were subject to delinquent taxes, nearly 80 percent have since paid them, according to the IRS.
This year alone, the IRS has collected $172 million from 21,000 wealthy taxpayers who hadn't filed a tax return since 2017.
The department recently announced a crackdown on companies that improperly deduct the cost of personal flights on corporate jets.
Republicans have called for cutting funding to the IRS.
They argue that increasing the IRS's resources, and therefore taxpayer scrutiny, would hurt middle-class taxpayers and small business owners.
According to the IRS, audit rates have fallen significantly over the past decade, from 7.2% in 2011 to 0.7% in 2019.
With post wire.
