The federal debt ceiling crisis was averted but tax cheats benefited.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contained $79 billion for the Internal Revenue Service; $45 billion of it was to audit individuals or businesses making over $400,000 annually, to catch those not paying their taxes. Funding cuts for many years rendered the IRS largely unable to audit the wealthy. Currently, the amount in taxes owed but not paid totals nearly $7 trillion over a decade; three-fifths is held by top 10 percent of taxpayers, more than one-quarter by top 1 percent (Brookings Tax Policy Center).
House Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 spelled out their initial demands for raising the federal debt ceiling. That act shows their hypocrisy: they claim to want to cut federal spending, but their act would have eliminated the $45 billion targeting tax cheats that would more than pay for itself. The final debt ceiling deal cut $21.4 billion from that $45 billion.
Did House Republicans simply want to protect their huge donors, even if they’re tax cheats?
