IRS Expects to Collect $561 Billion from Scofflaws and Tax Cheats

$561 billion

“The IRS is poised to take in hundreds of billions of dollars more in overdue and unpaid taxes than previously anticipated, according to new analysis released Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the IRS,” the AP reports. “Tax revenues are expected to rise by as much as $561 billion from 2024 to 2034, thanks to stepped-up enforcement made possible with money from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, which became law in August 2022.”

Graham Wants Candidate Tax Returns — in 2020

I think that prospectively what I’ll do is, any candidate running in 2020 needs to release their tax returns. You just make it a law.

— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), saying he wants all presidential candidates to be required by law to release their tax returns, starting in 2020, Politico reports. He then explained that the law would apply to Trump, “if he’s a candidate for president” in 2020.

Trump’s Taxes Represent Something Deeper

The problem with Trump’s tax history is that it’s emblematic of something larger, a missing plank at the foundation of his campaign. I suspect he knows this too, which is why he so doggedly refused to release his returns, technically defensible as they are. … Simply put, there doesn’t seem to be any record anywhere of Trump having considered the public interest above his own. This isn’t me ripping into the guy for being rich or bombastic; it’s a genuine assessment of his record as a citizen and a celebrity. If there’s some evidence of Trump having served anyone but himself, ever, for more than one night at some red carpet benefit, I’d like to see it. … This is new in presidential politics. Going back to George Washington, American presidents have more or less fulfilled the ideal of citizen soldiers.”

Matt Bai

Most Americans Think It’s ‘Selfish,’ ‘Unpatriotic’ Not to Pay Taxes

67%

Of Americans said it is “selfish” for a presidential candidate to pay no taxes, while 61% said it is “unpatriotic,” according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. “At the same time, the results showed some respect for a candidate who can figure out how to reduce their tax bill. Some 46% of Americans, including 35% of Democrats and 62% of Republicans, thought a presidential candidate who pays no taxes is ‘smart.’”

Trump Laundered Income Through His Charity

$2.3 million

Amount that Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has received from companies that owed money to Trump or one of his businesses, but were instructed to pay Trump’s tax-exempt foundation instead, the Washington Post reports. “In cases where he diverted his own income to his foundation, tax experts said, Trump would still likely be required to pay taxes on the income. Trump has refused to release his personal tax returns.”

Trump has a History of Not Paying Federal Income Tax

0

Amount Donald Trump had paid the federal government in taxes the last time information from his income-tax returns was made public, the Washington Post reports. “The disclosure, in a 1981 report by New Jersey gambling regulators, revealed that the wealthy Manhattan investor had for at least two years in the late 1970s taken advantage of a tax-code provision popular with developers that allowed him to report negative income.”