Wyden Statement Following Treasury, IRS Briefing on Tax-Filing Season

WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released the following statement after a bipartisan briefing on the tax-filing season:

“Deputy Secretary Adeyemo, Commissioner Rettig, and other top Treasury and IRS officials today briefed the bipartisan membership of the Finance Committee on tax-filing season and efforts to transition away from ID.me.

Officials were clear about the challenges facing the IRS, including decades-old technology, and detailed the necessity of Congress providing adequate resources.

While IRS employees have done outstanding work over the pandemic to process returns, send relief payments, and roll out monthly Child Tax Credit payments, they are severely under-resourced and understaffed.

The IRS Commissioner again noted that the agency is completely overmatched when it comes to policing partnership schemes. Additional resources must be paired with closing loopholes in this area, and my bill to close partnership loopholes is a critical piece of this puzzle. This proposal is directed at the very top because 70 percent of partnership income goes to the top 1 percent, and no mom and pop partnership has an army of accountants and lawyers working round the clock to shift debt around.

The decade-long Republican campaign to gut the IRS and shield wealthy tax cheats has had dire consequences for working folks who play by the rules. Rebuilding this agency so it can both ensure taxpayers pay taxes already owed and better serve hard working taxpayers is a top priority.”

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