from Hacker News

IRS Collects $1B in Back Taxes from Millionaires

by tldrthelaw on 7/11/24, 6:40 PM with 92 comments

  • by exabrial on 7/11/24, 9:06 PM

    The problem isn't tax revenue.

    The problem is the federal government spends $1billion dollars every 1.46 hours.

    We collect an _absurd_ amount of taxes. Far Far Far Far too much. The vast majority of it is wasted.

    Collecting more isn't going to solve the problem and it never has.

  • by ddoolin on 7/11/24, 9:06 PM

    This is why Republicans are trying to defund the IRS.

  • by tonetegeatinst on 7/11/24, 9:50 PM

    One interesting thing is that the us government can.leverage its national debt....or so it claims.....as this is why we are apparently not freaking out over the debt crisis. The government has learned to use debt as a measure of "progress" like sure technically every us citizen is responsible for that debt but when every vote gets to decide on a handful of people.... Millions could disagree with the representative and yet they still are responsible.

    Like imagine if the average person could just decide they arnt going to be able to cover interest on the debt they have, yet they still could print tons of money. Money that's only backed by their word, and the debt gets used in your local town negotiations as a weapon.

  • by mylastattempt on 7/11/24, 11:57 PM

    This only affects the IRS's cashflow, it's a matter of collecting as the title states. No new policies or tax laws are responsible for this $1B. Just working harder or more focussed at collecting. A good thing, for sure, but not something new or newsworthy for HN if you ask me.

  • by anon373839 on 7/11/24, 11:04 PM

    > The cuts were couched as preventions against the IRS “targeting hardworking Americans”—but enforcement actions in general have focused on individuals making $400,000 or more

    Is the assumption here that if one’s skills are worth $400k, one isn’t hardworking?

  • by mythrwy on 7/11/24, 10:18 PM

    The federal treasury also spent 140 billion paying just interest on the national debt in June alone (nearly 900 billion year to date).

    So, this isn't even a drop in the bucket.