Now this is good news that should bring all Americans together!
According to a new report, the number of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits has tumbled since Congress slashed the thieving agency’s budget.
A New York Times-ProPublica report discovered that the agency’s criminal division completed 795 cases of tax fraud, down 25 percent from 2010.
“Due to budget cuts, attrition and a shift in focus, there’s been a collapse in the commitment to take on tax fraud,” said Chuck Pine, who used to be the third-ranking criminal enforcement officer at the IRS and is now a managing director at BDO Consulting. “I believe there are thousands of individuals who have U.S. tax obligations and are not complying with U.S. tax laws.”
This comes as another report found that the IRS audited one in every 160 individual tax returns last year, the lowest number of audits since 2002. This is also the sixth straight year that the numbers have declined.
What’s even more good news, the IRS says, is that business owners are avoiding paying $125 billion in taxes each year.
By the way, if you want to blame President Donald Trump for the trend, here is an excerpt from the article:
“Here, too, the cuts to the IRS’s budget have had an impact. During the Obama administration, the IRS asked Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars to carry out the program, but received nothing. Since Trump took office, the revenue service has stopped asking.”
It’s likely that Trump would give the OK if asked – he has to cover his ballooning budget shortfalls somehow – but since he hasn’t been queried, this is another indirect win for his administration.
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