Wyden Statement on IRS Funding Plan

Finance Chairman Says Plan for IRA Dollars Shows Commitment to Improving Taxpayer Services, Cracking Down on Wealthy Tax Cheats

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released a statement after the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a funding plan to allocate the dollars set aside to bolster the agency’s ability to hold wealthy tax cheats accountable.

“The plan released by the IRS and Treasury Department today shows a clear focus on the priorities Democrats have laid out for this funding from the beginning,” Wyden said.

“Republican budget cuts created a double standard for tax enforcement that put too much of the audit burden on working families and ushered in a golden age for wealthy tax cheats. Democrats passed additional funding for the IRS to fix the double standard, crack down on wealthy tax cheats and improve customer service for everybody else. Republicans have now spent months distorting the facts because they want to frighten workers and small businesses, repeal the funding, and help wealthy tax cheats continue getting away with breaking the law. This plan makes it clear that no taxpayer making less than $400,000 would be targeted for additional audits.

"The investments in service have been the first to go out, and they’re already helping to make this the smoothest tax filing season in many years, and that’s after spending less than 1 percent of the funding. The bulk of this funding, however, will go toward building up the IRS’s capacity to root out cheating by sophisticated, wealthy individuals and companies with highly complex structures. For example, only a fraction of a fraction of large partnerships get audited today, even among those that are highly profitable, and it’s because the IRS doesn’t have the manpower or the resources to properly examine whether these complex business structures are following the law. Similarly, wealthy individuals who can afford to hire armies of accountants and lawyers are able to stay ahead of the IRS and skip out on paying a fair share. That’s who Republicans are protecting by spreading their falsehoods about 87,000 armed IRS agents busting down people’s doors.

“The reality is, hardworking Americans who pay taxes out of every paycheck understand that they’re getting ripped off by wealthy tax cheats who are getting away with breaking the law. They want it to stop, and that’s what Democrats are working to accomplish.”

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