Policing Tax Evasion Could Save Billions, But Republicans Won't Fund Enforcement. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) admitted on Monday that the federal government is in serious need of extra revenue.
But since taking control of the House in January, Republican lawmakers have scuttled proposals that could reap billions in added government revenue by better policing tax evasion, saying government tax collectors should make better use of existing resources in this era of fiscal constraint. The U.S. government loses around $300 billion in revenue each year because of tax cheats, some of whom hide their earnings in offshore accounts or disguise them using complicated business structures, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Since 2001, tax evasion has cost as much as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts and the 2009 stimulus combined, according to the financial-services analysis firm The Motley Fool. Most outside economists agree. Yet instead of supporting increased enforcement, the GOP has been trying to cut IRS funding. Sen. But, Rep. Stupid Republican budget tricks - How the World Works. Jeffrey Sachs: How the Wall Street Journal Distorts the Truth About Taxes. The Wall Street Journal is the leading mouthpiece for cutting taxes for the rich.
The Journal editorial board is fully in the service of that cause. An editorial at the start of this week ("Where the Tax Money Is," April 18, 2011) is a vivid case in point. The Journal claims that IRS data prove the "fiscal futility of raising rates on the top 2%, or even the top 5% or 10% of taxpayers to close the deficit. " The IRS data in fact prove exactly the opposite of what the Journal claims. I direct readers to the "Summary of Latest Federal Income Tax Data" presented by the Tax Foundation, October 6, 2010, No. 249. Consider the top 1% of taxpayers. The Journal writes that it is impossible to get enough income out of the top 1% to close the deficit, and invites us to undertake the "thought experiment" of taxing all of the income this group.
With great bravado, the Journal claims that even the income of the top 10% of the taxpayers wouldn't close the deficit. The real point is obvious. Why is it so hard to raise taxes on the rich? - Barack Obama News. In his speech on the budget Wednesday afternoon, President Obama finally came out unequivocally in support of higher taxes for the rich. As many commenters have pointed out, taxing the rich is a no-brainer for progressives, the rare proposal that’s politically popular in addition to being good policy. So why has it taken so long for Democrats to make a push for increasing the highest marginal tax rates? And why is it that, as Jamelle Bouie writes, “vanishingly few elected Republicans are interested in anything approaching egalitarianism, but a non-trivial number of Democrats support deep spending cuts and oppose tax increases”? A study by Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels provides some insight.
Of course, it’s not exactly news that the rich are politically powerful, but even so, the estimates of just how much power they hold can be staggering. But the politics of tax increases are particularly fraught in a country as unequal as America. Trying to understand income inequality, the most profound change in American society in your lifetime. - By Timothy Noah.