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IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

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Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#231

Post by sokoloff »

arcticbull wrote: post #229
sokoloff wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gifts between individuals under $15K/yr have no tax consequences.

And if I'm not mistaken the amount over $15K counts solely to reduce your $11,400,000 lifetime exclusion, and only once you exceed that number do you actually have to pay taxes. [1] [1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/taxes/gift-tax-rate/

That's also correct. Further, if a married couple (or other joint owner/tenant) let someone stay with them, they can each gift the annual gift amount to the free "tenant".

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#232

Post by jddj »

isoskeles wrote: post #149
moksly wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comparison is a little flawed. IRS staff are a net surplus for the government, and its quite silly to get rid of someone who makes money. We did it in Denmark during our new public management period. It cost us billions in tax evasion and fraud, and at one point someone did the math. Turned out our tax-agents cost 500.000 danish kroner a year, but they gave the state a net positive of 1.5-10 million Danish krone…

Well then, we should make the entire government and every single person in the country an IRS employee so we’ll have infinite money by that logic. How do you factor in for the point where these agents having diminishing returns? Is it when the agency brings in as much as they cost? If so, why is that the reasonable place to employ to? The purpose of the IRS is to collect taxes to fund other agencies that don’t direct…

The reach for hyperbole isn't really warranted.

At the moment the IRS brings in $5.2 for every $1 spent, that's $3.2 of extra revenue per $1. But their budget is being cut.

We don't need to reach to see that wherever the line is where we break even, we're not there yet.

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#233

Post by dlp211 »

humanrebar wrote: post #184
Spooky23 wrote: post #82

The GOP direction has been to break the IRS since the 90s. None of the administrations were willing or able to take a stand against it, and this administration is actively trying to break the executive branch overall. A good friend was a specialist in a few tax evasion schemes used by real estate developers and a few other more obscure areas with similar methods. Basically, there were about 50 people nationally doing…

To be fair, large portions of the GOP (current presidents nothwithstanding) has also been advocating for simplified tax schemes that would make a smaller IRS more than capable enough for the job.

Show me the bills that they have brought to committee/the floor that actually simplify the tax code to make auditing & enforcement simpler. Don't confuse rhetoric with action.

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#234

Post by pcurve »

cm2012 wrote: post #181
gok wrote: post #174

Reading the actual study [1], the headline is a bit deceptive. The study looked at audits between 2000 and 2010, a period during which funding to the IRS increased, and found that generally more funding for audits led to more money recovered from audits (duh). But that $34.3B figure is over 10 years, so it's a tiny fraction of a percent of overall federal revenue, and it's not offset by the amount of more money the I…

The latest IRS changes prioritize low income over high income audit targets: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsand...

" IRS audited 6.66% of returns from filers with more than $10 million in adjusted gross income in fiscal year 2018, down from 14.52% in 2017 and even further down from 29.3% in 2011"

Wow, they used to audit 1/3rd of all filers in $10 mil/year bracket? I guess at that level, there aren't too many people with W2 form.

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#235

Post by dlp211 »

adventist wrote: post #59
davinic wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last week I saw a person on Facebook sharing an anecdote patterned after the "welfare queen" trope and arguing against food stamps. I noticed from her Facebook page that she owned a ranching operation, so I searched her name in the EWG Farm Subsidy Database and saw that she and her husband had received $18k in subsidies in 2018, and nearly $250k since 1995.

I'm against people living off of food stamps also, and if there is a subsidy out there for the taking, then i'm going to take it. I agree that government should not be involved in either of those things, but promoting certain kinds of businesses might be worth the subsidy for some people.

Thanks for wanting to make sure I didn't have dinner on my table as a child while my mom took care of my brother with leukemia.

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#236

Post by f5thesystem »

thoughtexprmnt wrote: post #221
joelx wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a high net worth business owner, I know a lot of wealthy people. They will simply follow prevailing trends on tax... If most of their peers are avoiding or just not paying tax, they will do the same. It is incredibly important that tax laws be strictly enforced or wealthy people will simply not pay. Pretty much only form letters should be used for low income people.

I'm sure that strategy of "simply not paying" works great, right up until the day it doesn't and you find yourself facing huge fines and prison.

The trick is to die before that day comes.

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#237

Post by dlp211 »

abtinf wrote: post #21
numakerg wrote: post #4

Just one of the many sectors where budget cuts are going turn into huge losses down the line. The consequences of cutting healthcare and education are (going) to be much worse.

When have healthcare or education ever been cut? Edit: A lot of downvotes, but no examples. Such cuts are always talked about as if though they have factually happened. To my knowledge, I’ve never actually seen such a cut in the United States at the federal, state, or local level. Sometimes, there have been attempts to limit the rate of spending growth, but those seem to always fail too.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/most-americans-dont-r...

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#238

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

HNcantBtrustd wrote: post #79
pmoriarty wrote: post #25

And yet some people manage to whip themselves in to a righteous frenzy over someone collecting welfare or immigrants getting a microscopic bit of state aid. Such people really need to get a sense of proportion. The destitute, despised, downtrodden guy who slaves away to support their family by mowing your lawn, picking apples for you, driving you somewhere, or serving you your burger is not your enemy.

> not my enemy But we have an adversial relationship. If they are successful, they take our money, and get it for nothing. So if they win, I lose. Compared to a company, who's trying to create new useful products and services. Everyone wins with this interaction. There is multithousand year old history on the effect of subsidies. They hurt at least as much as they help.

> There is multithousand year old history on the effect of subsidies. They hurt at least as much as they help.

Citation needed.

I assume you're cool with all government subsidies stopping then? No more farmer bailouts, or fossil fuel subsidies? No more emergency relief? Next time wall street tanks, it tanks hard?

Re: IRS budget cuts cost $34.3B in lost revenue from big business

#239

Post by silexia »

f5thesystem wrote: post #236
thoughtexprmnt wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure that strategy of "simply not paying" works great, right up until the day it doesn't and you find yourself facing huge fines and prison.

The trick is to die before that day comes.

Check the New York times reporting on Fred Trump and Donald Trump. It is clear to elites that just outright breaking tax law has no repercussions. More and more wealthy people are understanding this, and will not pay or will underpay taxes.

It's critical that taxes be enforced uniformly and in every case.

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