IRS REELS UNDER TAX REVOLT

Revenuers Running in Red

By James P. Tucker Jr.

The Internal Revenue Service is reeling under the tax rebellion, as unpaid taxes reach $300 billion,according to outraged tax collectors.

Do-It-Yourself Tax Cuts: The Crisis in U.S. Tax Enforcement by economist Max Sawicky found the tax rebellion “encompasses

about 15 percent of all taxes owed to the government— or about one dollar of every six owed in individual

and corporate taxes.”

Unfortunately, Sawicky views this news as bad.

Most of the unpaid taxes—at least $250 billion of the total $300 billion—results from taxpayers either underreporting income or claiming too many deductions, he

said. About $30 billion of the unpaid total is from nonfiling and another $32 billion results from underpayment.

Individuals in the so-called tax honesty movement account for the lion’s share, the report found. Underreporting of individual income accounts for $150

billion to $187 billion in unpaid taxes, while another $30 billion is from underreported corporate income, $66 billion to $71 billion from payroll taxes, and $4 billion

from death and excise taxes.

“The tax enforcement system has become so dysfunctional that it is now its own worst enemy,” Sawicky said.

Many Americans “are dealing themselves a do-it-yourself tax cut.”

Sawicky and others called for more funding for IRS enforcement efforts.