IRS Sending Notices to Wealthy Americans Who Aren’t Filing Taxes

President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, securing billions in funding for the Internal Revenue Service to bolster its ability to go after corporations and the super-wealthy. Republicans haven’t been happy — likely because they’re well aware of how the one-percenters they cater to have been able to skirt paying their fair share.

It’s worse than people realize. The IRS announced on Thursday that it is sending around 125,000 notices to high-earning Americans who didn’t file a tax return in at least one year from 2017-2022, depriving the government of hundreds of millions of dollars. To be clear: These are not people who are exploiting loopholes or cutting corners to keep their taxes low; they’re people who are simply not paying taxes, and they’re all making over $400,000 annually, with around a fifth of them making more than $1 million.

“At this time of year when millions of hard-working people are doing the right thing paying their taxes, we cannot tolerate those with higher incomes failing to do a basic civic duty of filing a tax return,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. “The IRS is taking this step to address this most basic form of non-compliance, which includes many who are engaged in tax evasion.”

The move is part of a broader IRS effort to hold the wealthy accountable for cheating their way out of taxes. The agency announced last week, for example, that it is going to start auditing private jet use, looking into whether executives are using corporate jets for personal use and then writing it off as a tax deduction.

Republicans have been doing what they can to hamstring the IRS’ ability to go on the offensive. They convinced Democrats looking to avoid a default to agree to a debt limit bill last June that included $20 billion in cuts to the agency. The plan was to cut $10 billion this year and $10 billion next year, but Republicans persuaded Democrats looking to avoid a partial government shutdown in January to agree to a new spending bill that stripped all $20 billion from this year’s budget.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report earlier this week projecting that the $20 billion cut to the IRS’ budget will add $24 billion to the national deficit.

President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, securing billions in funding for the Internal Revenue Service to bolster its ability to go after corporations and the super-wealthy. Republicans haven’t been happy — likely because they’re well aware of how the one-percenters they cater to have been able to skirt paying their fair share.

It’s worse than people realize. The IRS announced on Thursday that it is sending around 125,000 notices to high-earning Americans who didn’t file a tax return in at least one year from 2017-2022, depriving the government of hundreds of millions of dollars. To be clear: These are not people who are exploiting loopholes or cutting corners to keep their taxes low; they’re people who are simply not paying taxes, and they’re all making over $400,000 annually, with around a fifth of them making more than $1 million.

“At this time of year when millions of hard-working people are doing the right thing paying their taxes, we cannot tolerate those with higher incomes failing to do a basic civic duty of filing a tax return,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. “The IRS is taking this step to address this most basic form of non-compliance, which includes many who are engaged in tax evasion.”

The move is part of a broader IRS effort to hold the wealthy accountable for cheating their way out of taxes. The agency announced last week, for example, that it is going to start auditing private jet use, looking into whether executives are using corporate jets for personal use and then writing it off as a tax deduction.

Republicans have been doing what they can to hamstring the IRS’ ability to go on the offensive. They convinced Democrats looking to avoid a default to agree to a debt limit bill last June that included $20 billion in cuts to the agency. The plan was to cut $10 billion this year and $10 billion next year, but Republicans persuaded Democrats looking to avoid a partial government shutdown in January to agree to a new spending bill that stripped all $20 billion from this year’s budget.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report earlier this week projecting that the $20 billion cut to the IRS’ budget will add $24 billion to the national deficit.