Later this week, President Biden is expected to unveil a plan to give the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) an extra $80 billion and more authority to crack down on tax evasion among high-earners and large corporations.
Biden believes the ten-year funding measure will increase revenue for the government by $780 billion or more and that it will help “level the tax playing field between typical American workers and very high-earners,” according to a New York Times report.
Under the plan, the IRS would have increased power to conduct audits. New disclosure requirements would be put in place for people who own businesses that are not set up as corporations, as well as for high-income earners who could be shielding their income from the government in order to avoid taxation.
Boosting the IRS’ funding by $80 billion over a decade would represent an increase of two-thirds over the agency’s entire funding levels over the past decade. Economists and tax experts are lauding the plan as a way to potentially reverse years of lax IRS enforcement actions against large corporations and the rich.
“The plan is good news for honest filers and businesses, the budget, and the rule of law,” Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of the Tax Law Center at N.Y.U. Law, told the Times. “Stopping tax cheats from having an unfair advantage helps honest businesses to compete and thrive.”
The proposal is part of Biden’s American Families Plan and is expected to be released before his address to Congress on Wednesday.