The IRS Should Do More to Nab Wealthy Tax Dodgers
With greater resources, the agency could recover $175 billion a year.
Contains loopholes.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergPresident Joe Biden has big, ambitious plans that will continue to ring up unwieldy bills for the federal government. His administration will have to fund a significant — but still undetermined — portion of those bills by raising taxes on affluent Americans. And that won’t go well unless Biden’s team can get ahead of well-heeled taxpayers who are inclined to outfox the system.
As Bloomberg News reported this week, the Internal Revenue Service has spent years underestimating how much income those artful dodgers have masked to avoid paying taxes. The money has been stashed in complex structures, often offshore bank accounts or private business partnerships, shortchanging Uncle Sam by about $175 billion a year.