Summary

The IRS announced it has recovered $4.7 billion in back taxes and criminal proceeds since receiving $80 billion in funding through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

This includes $1.3 billion from wealthy tax dodgers and $2.9 billion from criminal investigations.

Despite these gains, the IRS faces funding cuts: $1.4 billion was rescinded earlier, and $20 billion is frozen or redirected under recent budget deals.

Republicans, under a new majority, aim to further reduce IRS funding and renew Trump-era tax cuts. Trump has nominated Billy Long as the next IRS commissioner, drawing criticism from Democrats.

  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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    13 days ago

    New headline: Thugs managed to steal $4.7 billion that they would previously have been unable to steal.

    Taxation is theft.

      • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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        13 days ago

        But you don’t understand, see, he didn’t consent to being taxed, therefore it’s theft.

        Be kind to them, they were kidnapped and imprisoned for many years since birth. The earlier years involved many forms of humiliating torture.

    • Crazyslinkz@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Why?

      Roads, schools, fire department,…

      The large one defense budget (possible theft here)…

      Why do you think “taxation is theft”?

        • chingadera@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          I bet it’s that the think they will one day own the benefits of a civilized society, and want to preemptively pull the ladder up while making money off the backs of everyone else. You know, like a parasite.

    • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Taxes are the subscription fee one pays to live in a society. Don’t like that? Go live somewhere else.

      • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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        13 days ago

        There is no land on this planet that has not been claimed by government goons, so there is nowhere else to go.

        Edit: Okay, that is not quite true. But for the most part, it is. The only exception I’m totally aware of at the moment is Gornyasiga, which became Liberland. Now that I find to be an interesting project and something that seems like it would be interesting to participate in.

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
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          All of Antarctica, though that’s been designated entirely for science by international treaty.

          Plenty of land is claimed but uncontrolled. Just get some like-minded people together and set up camp. I’m sure it’ll go fine.

          • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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            13 days ago

            Oh yes, I read a book about that and it was quite funny actually. The Free State Project is actually something I am interested in and have considered moving for myself, but it’s still in the United States, which is under the tyranny of the federal government, so it might not be worth it. Unless they succeed in actually seceding from the Union.

        • yeahiknow3@lemmings.world
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          13 days ago

          Let me know after you move to a region with no taxes. I’ll come kill you and take all your stuff since there’s no justice system.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        Only one argument here- the police don’t protect anyone, they protect rich people’s property. It’s been proven in court that they have no duty to “protect and serve” the people. If you get robbed right now, right this second, and call the police, they will come and take a statement from you, asking the value of the missing money and items, print it on a sheet of paper and file it in a drawer (or on a computer system).

      • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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        13 days ago

        It sure doesn’t seem to be working because it’s still costing more and more all the time. So they’re printing it faster than they’re taking it away. But that’s not surprising since the government doesn’t tax itself.

        • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          What in the world are you talking about? The government doesn’t exist to profit, it’s not a corporation despite shitty people’s ideas that it should be run like one. Why would its revenue, which is all spent, be taxed? Are you saying taxes should be taxed? Where would the tax on government revenue even go?

        • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
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          10 days ago

          It sure doesn’t seem to be working because it’s still costing more and more all the time. So they’re printing it faster than they’re taking it away.

          Precisely.

          The government can either fix this by raising taxes or by reducing the rate at which it allows the banking industry to print money, and neither option is politically viable for obvious reasons.

          But that’s not surprising since the government doesn’t tax itself.

          This comment leads me to believe that you have some fundamental misapprehension as to how money and/or governments work.

          Governments create money so they can pay people to do things. If a government tried to tax its own payments then it’d just be paying itself with dollars that never had a chance to circulate through the economy. Even in concept, this is a waste of time and energy. The only real effect would be artificially inflated numbers for government expenses and tax receipts, the total amount of economic activity enabled by those dollars and the total amount of currency removed from circulation would be zero.

          The purpose of taxation is to take excess currency out of the economy, and you just can’t do that by moving money from one government office to another.

    • Seasm0ke@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Take it a step further. Private exploitation is still exploitation. Creating an ancap world without public monopoly on force will not remove exploitation or force from the world. Property is theft.