[photonthug]

> fund IRS investigations to ensure the taxes are actually collected.

Even people who want to tax the rich are skeptical about empowering / funding the IRS because there are many studies showing that the IRS disproportionately audits the poor.

If that’s true, then why would more funding help new enforcement against the rich rather than multiplying the current problem? Generally cash/support fixes material resource issues but cannot fix policy issues

[ianburrell]

IRS enforces against the poor because it is easier and they have been directed that way. It is possible to increase enforcement, direct where that enforcement goes, and change the law so that it is easier to enforce against the rich. Another would be simplify the law for to make audits for poor unnecessary and leave rich fewer places to hide.

We have gotten used to Congress being dysfunctional and not passing laws that we think the current laws are some unchangeable state.

[photonthug]

Sounds like we agree then that it’s important to change policy first before dumping more resources on a malfunctioning org and hoping for the best. But parent mentions “funding investigations” as a cure.. my point is just that there’s no indication that this makes things better, and might actually make them worse.

[mkatx]

I do agree that changing policy is a separate, yet complimentary, step. But maybe the poor are disproportionately audited because the IRS doesn't have the funding to effectively target the rich and succeed? Maybe with better funding, they could successfully extract more tax dollars from the rich, incearsing the ROI of funding the agency?

I don't think further funding the agency is a completely nutty idea. Although if you truly believe the agency is broken, and that being broken isn't related to their funding, then I could understand your perspective. I lean more towards the idea that at least some, maybe even most, of the issues they have might be due to a lack of funding. That makes more sense to me than most of the criticisms I've heard of the IRS, which seem to mostly be on partisan idealism framed as otherwise.