Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens Criticizes $20B Freeze on IRS Enforcement Funding in Latest Spending Bill
December 18, 2024
“It’s clear Congressional Republicans are paving the way for the Trump Administration to make it open season for tax cheats.”
Yesterday, Congress released the text of the latest short-term funding bill, which includes a freeze on an additional $20 billion in IRS funding. Groundwork Collaborative Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted with the following statement:
“The IRS has collected $4.7 billion in back taxes from wealthy tax cheats thanks to funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. But since its passage, Republicans have clawed back nearly half of the enforcement budget to make it easier for the ultra-wealthy to get away with not paying their share.
“It’s clear Congressional Republicans are paving the way for the Trump Administration to make it open season for tax cheats.”
Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with one of Groundwork’s experts about the IRS funding fight.
BACKGROUND
- The Inflation Reduction Act IRA provided $45.6 billion to the IRS for enforcement, but almost half—over $21 billion—has already been formally rescinded by Congress.
- An additional $20.2 billion of that enforcement funding has been stuck in limbo for the duration of the current CR—not yet rescinded but not accessible to the agency either. As a result, $41.8 billion or 92% of the IRS IRA funding for cracking down on rich tax cheats is currently either rescinded or frozen.
- The IRS announced last week that, thanks to additional funding for enforcement, it had recovered $4.7 billion in back taxes and proceeds from a variety of crimes, including “$1.3 billion from high-income taxpayers who did not pay overdue tax debts, $2.9 billion related to IRS Criminal Investigation work into crimes like drug trafficking and terrorist financing, and $475 million in proceeds from criminal and civil cases that came from to whistleblower information.”
- The Congressional Budget Office estimates that additional cuts to IRS funding would reduce its total revenue collection by nearly $66 billion dollars over the next decade. Every $1 spent auditing high-income earners yields more than $22 in revenue.
