By Daniel J. Pilla
Hint: It won’t be the top 1 percent.
One of the key elements of President Biden’s failed Build Back Better plan was to spend $80 billion over the next ten years on the Internal Revenue Service: a sum that would have nearly doubled the agency’s annual budget. While that plan eventually died, the goal to significantly beef up the IRS hasn’t died with it.
In 2023 the agency will spend about $14.1 billion on all functions. Of that, just $3.684 billion will be dedicated to taxpayer services, while $6.274 billion will be spent on enforcement. That includes audits, investigations, and collection actions. The agency will hire another 3,800 enforcement officers — auditors, in particular — which nears a 10 percent increase from 2021.
The Treasury Department claims that the increase in “robust” enforcement activity will not affect anyone earning less than $400,000 per year.
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