This week I argue that a vague "pay more attention to the tax returns of the rich" mandate falls short -- we need real, quantifiable performance metrics.
Previously the IRS committed to auditing 8% of returns with over $10m in income. They abandoned that in favor of a general focus on higher income individuals and corporations.
I argue for 100% audit coverage of the top 1% of returns by income.
"Achieving 100% audit coverage for the top 1% would entail auditing more than 1.5 million returns. In 2023, the IRS closed 582,944 audits in total—resulting in $31.9 billion in adjustments, for an average of a bit more than $54,000 per audit.
By comparison, for tax years 2016 through 2021, audits of individual taxpayers with $10 million in income or more averaged $124,389 per return.”
How would it apply less scrutiny to the ultra-rich if they are, by definition, being audited?
As it stands they are neither adhering to the 8% of $10m+ nor any other defined performance metric -- just vaguely focusing more generally on the ultra-rich and corporate returns.
You don't overcome an entrenched culture of declining to audit the wealthy by vaguely suggesting it should be done.
"Top 1%" and "ultra-rich" are not synonyms.
@andrew
> As above, you're just accepting as read that if you ask them to look at A and B, they'll pay less attention to A than if you only asked them to look at A.
Yes, I am "just accepting" that. It seems to be an immutable law of fixed manpower, does it not? A group of people doing 3 jobs will always be more effective at each job than the same group attempting to do 9 jobs.
Sure, but why does the immutable law of fixed person-power apply to an agency that has sought billions to increase its ranks? Tax is the chief revenue source for the US government, why is it we can't hire more IRS employees?
Again, we're just discounting any action that could be used to overcome the hurdles to improvement but still demanding improvement. It isn't going to work out.
@andrew Hey, I'm all for getting the IRS more manpower.
I just don't see how that's remotely politically possible in the near future.
The IRS got $80b under the IRA to, in part, hire more employees. It was reduced by $1.4b by Congress in 2023 and another $20.2 in 2024.
You don't need to do the anti-tax folks' work for them, they can take care of themselves. Demand accountability.
@LouisIngenthron
I didn't suggest they were. You said they'd pay less attention to the ultra-rich because they've been tasked with auditing a broader pool of returns.
As above, you're just accepting as read that if you ask them to look at A and B, they'll pay less attention to A than if you only asked them to look at A.
I would consider separating what you think will happen from what you're demanding they do, and not rolling the former into the latter and undercutting your own interests.