Trump’s Pledge to Protect The Billionaire Class: A Threat To The Whole Concept Of Tax Fairness

Would You Like To See Giuliani Couch Surfing?

Trump broke most of his 2016 campaign pledges when he was in the White House but if he gets in this time, there’s one promise you can count on his keeping— slashing the IRS budget aimed at auditing billionaires and multimillionaires. For Trump— and the Republican Party in general— that’s nothing short of scared. Why? Well, yesterday the IRS announced that it had collected a billion dollars from super-rich tax scofflaws. It must be infuriating Republicans but the new initiative paid for from funds from the Inflation Reduction Act allowed the IRS to pursue high income earners who avoided paying taxes and to claw back over a billion dollars from them.

Remember, every single Republican, including the handful who still claim to be mainstream, voted against it. (The only Democrat to vote NO, was Maine Blue Dog Jared Golden, the MAGA Democrat from Lewiston. It passed 220-213. The GOP— and Golden— should be held accountable by the voters. (NOTE: Golden plans to run for governor, likely as an independent.)

The IRS in 2023 launched a new initiative to pursue high-income, high-wealth individuals who have failed to pay recognized tax debt, with dozens of senior employees assigned to these cases. This campaign is concentrated among taxpayers with more than $1 million in income and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt.

“President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is increasing tax fairness and ensuring that all wealthy taxpayers pay the taxes they owe, just like working families do,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. “A new initiative to collect overdue taxes from a small group of wealthy taxpayers is already a major success, yielding more than $1 billion in revenue so far.”

In an initial success, the IRS announced last year that it had collected $38 million from more than 175 high-income, high-wealth individuals. The IRS then expanded this effort last fall to 1,600 additional high-income, high-wealth individuals. The IRS has assigned more than 1,500 of these 1,600 cases to senior employees, with more than $1 billion collected to date.

Prior to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, more than a decade of budget cuts prevented the IRS from keeping pace with increasing complexity and ensuring that wealthy taxpayers, large corporations, and complex partnerships pay taxes owed under current law. The effort to pursue high-income, high-wealth individuals who have failed to pay past-due tax debt is one of several initiatives the IRS has launched to improve tax fairness and reduce the deficit. In the past two years, the IRS has launched: 

• A new initiative to crack down on abuse of corporate jets for personal travel. 

• A campaign to collect taxes owed by 125,000 high-income, high-wealth earners who have not filed taxes in years. 

• Audits of 76 of the largest partnerships with average assets of $10 billion that represent a cross section of industries including hedge funds, real estate investment partnerships, publicly traded partnerships, and large law firms.

• Audits of the 60 largest corporate taxpayers, with average assets of $24 billion.  

• And a new regulatory initiative to close a major tax loophole exploited by large, complex partnerships that could raise more than $50 billion in revenue over 10 years. 

In addition to enhancing tax fairness, these initiatives will narrow the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid, reducing the deficit. New Treasury and IRS analysis shows these investments in high-end enforcement, technology, and data resulting in $851 billion in additional revenue over the next decade if the investments in the Inflation Reduction Act are continued as President Biden has proposed. 

These enforcement initiatives are consistent with Secretary Yellen’s commitment to not increase audit rates relative to current levels for Americans making less than $400,000 a year. 

If you’re already a DWT reader, I don’t have to tell you that a vote for Trump is a vote to let billionaires and multimillionaires off the hook, while everyday Americans continue to shoulder the tax burden; it’s the Republican way. Voting to defeat Republicans is a vote towards tax fairness.

This week, the judge in the Giuliani bankruptcy case, Sean Lane’s, indicated he’s likely to dismiss Giuliani’s absurd case, a decision that would be a significant victory for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two Georgia election workers he repeatedly slandered and who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him last year. You probably recall that Giuliani’s baseless, vicious claims of election fraud, amplified by Trump, led to a torrent of threats against them, forcing them to flee their homes.

A dismissal would require Giuliani to liquidate his assets—including multimillion-dollar homes— and start paying off his debts, including to Freeman and Moss. Giuliani’s repeated attempts to use bankruptcy to shield himself from financial consequences highlight a disturbing pattern of evading accountability, reminiscent of Trump’s own approach to wealth and justice and— again— the Republican way.

As progressives push for tax fairness, it’s crucial to remember the broader fight for accountability. Giuliani’s case underscores the importance of holding powerful individuals to the same standards as everyone else. It’s time for the wealthy to face the real-world consequences of their actions, ensuring justice for all and closing the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid.

By defending the IRS’s efforts to collect from the super-rich and supporting decisions that enforce accountability, the country can move towards a more just and equitable society. It’s way past time to stand firm against greed-driven conservatives who seek to undermine our democratic principles and ensure that justice is not a privilege for the wealthy, but a right for all.