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A12 BUSINESS
Monday 17 July 2023

IRS says it collected $38M from more than 175 high-income tax

delinquents

By FATIMA HUSSEIN to show the value of the In- have more work to do,”
Associated Press flation Reduction Act fund- Werfel said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ing for taxpayers as appro- The IRS’s enforcement staff
IRS is showcasing its new priations season closes in, has shrunk by about one-
capability to aggressive- and to show the impact of third since 2010 and has
ly audit high-income tax its efforts to do more to au- been operating with out-
dodgers as it makes the dit high-income taxpayers. dated technology that the
case for sustained funding Last summer Treasury Sec- agency said it is gradually
and tries to avert budget retary Janet Yellen gave automating.
cuts sought by Republicans the IRS leadership instruc- In April, the agency re-
who want to gut the agen- tions not to increase audit leased a report outlining
cy. rates on people making how it would spend the
IRS leaders said they col- less than $400,000 a year money allotted through
lected $38 million in delin- annually, and to focus on the Inflation Reduction Act,
quent taxes from more than high-income taxpayers. such as bringing more pa-
175 high-income taxpayers The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in A team of academic econ- per-based systems online
in the past few months. Washington on March 22, 2013. Associated Press omists and IRS researchers and answering taxpayers’
In one case, an individual in 2021 found that the top phone calls promptly.
had used money owed to ist for how those high-dollar tify tax delinquents from 1% of U.S. income earners Other plans are more am-
the government to buy a tax collections compared resources provided by the fail to report more than 20% bitious, including exploring
Maserati and a Bentley, with previous years, said Inflation Reduction Act. of their earnings to the IRS. ways to create a govern-
and roughly 100 high-in- Jodie Reynolds, speaking The agency was in line for The IRS said its workers ment-operated electronic
come people tried to get for the agency. Rather, the an $80 billion infusion under answered 3 million more free-file tax return system,
favorable tax treatment new data reflect an initia- the law but that money is phone calls than in the which is currently being pi-
through Puerto Rico with- tive that started after the vulnerable to potential cut- last filing season, cut wait loted.
out meeting certain tax re- agency received a new backs. times to 3 minutes from 28 The idea of providing addi-
quirements. Many of those funding stream through House Republicans built and cleared the backlog tional money for the agen-
cases are expected to the Inflation Reduction Act a $1.4 billion reduction to of unprocessed 2022 tax re- cy has been politically con-
face criminal investigation. passed in August by Demo- the IRS into the debt ceiling turns that had no errors. It is troversial since 2013, when
“It just shows you how much crats. and budget cuts package opening new taxpayer as- the IRS under the Obama
money is out there in delin- The new data collection “is passed by Congress this sistance centers and hold- administration was found
quent taxes, and there are an example of work we ex- summer. The White House ing events to help people to scrutinize political groups
so many more cases for pect to continue to focus said the debt deal also has who live far from the agen- that applied for tax-exempt
us to tackle,” said new IRS on with IRA funding,” she a separate agreement to cy’s in-person offices. status.
Commissioner Daniel Wer- said. take $20 billion from the IRS “The mixed results here A Treasury Department
fel, just four months into the Werfel, in a call with report- over the next two years and of some taxpayers, still inspector general report
job. “There’s just a signifi- ers on Thursday, also cited divert that money to other frustrated, and some tax- found that both conser-
cant opportunity there.” the federal tax collector’s non-defense programs. payers seeing dramatic vative and liberal groups
No comparable figures ex- enhanced ability to iden- Now, the agency is trying improvements tells us we were chosen for scrutiny.q

Musk says Twitter is losing cash because advertising is down

cash flow before we have high-profile users who had with deep ties to the adver-
the luxury of anything else,” been banned were al- tising industry.
he concluded. lowed back on the site. But since then, Twitter has
Ever since he took over In April, Musk said most of upset some users by impos-
Twitter in a $44 billion deal the advertisers who left had ing new limits on how many
last fall, Musk has tried to returned and that the com- tweets they can view in a
reassure advertisers who pany might become cash- day, and some users com-
were concerned about the flow positive in the second plained that they were
ouster of top executives, quarter. locked out of the site. Musk
widespread layoffs and In May, he hired a new said the restrictions were
a different approach to CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an needed to prevent unau-
content moderation. Some NBCUniversal executive thorized scraping of poten-
tially valuable data.
Twitter got a new com-
A Twitter app icon on a mobile phone is displayed April 26, petitor this month when
2017, in Philadelphia. Facebook owner Meta
Associated Press launched a text-focused
By The Associated Press tweeted Saturday, “We’re app, Threads, and gained
Elon Musk says Twitter is still still negative cash flow, due tens of millions of sign-ups
losing cash because adver- to (about a) 50% drop in in a few days. Twitter re-
tising has dropped by half. advertising revenue plus sponded by threatening
In a reply to a tweet offer- heavy debt load.” legal action.q
ing business advice, Musk “Need to reach positive