Biden’s Audit-the-Rich Target of $700 Billion Seen as Tall Order
- White House aims at wealthy and companies to fund economy plan
- IRS would need to staff up, audits can take years to resolve
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President Joe Biden’s plan to raise $700 billion over a decade from increased tax audits of the wealthy and corporations -- a major funding source for his economic-investment proposals -- will probably take years to bear fruit and faces skepticism that the figure is realistic.
The Biden administration has proposed a more than 10% funding increase for the Internal Revenue Service for the next fiscal year and an overall investment of $80 billion over the next 10 years to beef up the agency’s depleted auditing staff and outdated technology. Biden’s American Families Plan, released last week, highlighted the audit take as a principal way to pay for $1.8 trillion in initiatives including child care and education.