Monday, April 11, 2011
Republicans protect their tax cheating friends
As Leona Helmsley so sweetly put it, when speaking of the wealthy,"We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes..." And thanks to the efforts of the Republican/Teabaggers in their budget negotiations, many more wealthy people will be able to say that.
As part of the budget deal hashed out on Friday evening, lawmakers agreed that no additional federal funds would be used to hire new IRS agents.And yet the Republican/Teabaggers continue to be portrayed as fiscally responsible and truly worried about the deficit. Anybody want to buy a bridge? No? Howzabout the Eiffel Tower?
Then on Monday, the Government Accountability Office publicly released a study showing that, as of the end of fiscal year 2010, roughly $330 billion in federal taxes had never been paid -- an amount that, if collected, would represent nearly nine times the amount of savings as the budget itself.
The dual developments aren’t shocking. Despite evidence that a single dollar spent on enforcing the tax code could result in up to ten dollars in revenue, politicians, naturally, are reluctant to align themselves with tax collectors. And yet, the sacrificing of funds for IRS agents in the continuing resolution deal underscores a particular problem that seems bound to confront fiscally conscious lawmakers.
“Cutting back on IRS enforcement could easily cost the treasury much more in revenue than it saves,” said Chuck Marr, Director of Federal Tax Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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