, Columnist
Don’t Raise Taxes. Collect the Billions Not Being Paid.
By filling in holes in reporting to the IRS and upgrading the agency’s technology, we can avoid punishing the taxpayers who follow the rules.
The right way to do this.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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When the Covid-19 crisis recedes, the federal government will still be left with a grand canyon of annual deficits averaging at least 40% of total tax revenue — before any new spending or tax-reduction programs. Regardless of what else we do about this challenge, now is the time for decisive action to collect the taxes already on the books effectively and fairly.
Last year the federal government failed to collect $574 billion in taxes that were legally due. That’s equal to all the income taxes that were paid by 90% of individual taxpayers.