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Wyden: Fund Extension of ACA Premium Assistance with Increased IRS Enforcement

South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson said last month he was really mad about the IRS being understaffed and underfunded. So maybe he’ll get on board with Oregon Senator Ron Wyden’s suggestion that we buff up the IRS so it can catch tax cheats and fund an extension of extra Affordable Care Act subsidies:

Wyden, while stopping short of explicitly saying he was pushing to link the ideas, noted that additional funding for the IRS to increase enforcement against “wealthy tax cheats” could raise $120 billion.

“Our work on IRS enforcement and generating over $100 billion on wealthy tax cheats finally paying their fair share, if you do something like that you can generate resources,” Wyden said.

Wyden did not give a specific number of years he wants for an ObamaCare extension, but, asked if he wanted to make the subsidies permanent, he replied that he wants an extension “as long as I possibly can get it” [Peter Sullivan, “Democratic Finance Chair Floats Longer ObamaCare Extension, IRS Enforcement,” The Hill, 2022.07.26].

Last September, the Congressional Budget Office said investing an additional $80 billion over ten years in the IRS would snare an additional $200 billion in tax revenue. Get on that bandwagon, Dusty! Every dollars we spend hiring more IRS agents will pay for itself and produce another $1.50 for good public works!

5 Comments

  1. P. Aitch 2022-07-26 14:29

    A Vote For Trump Is A Vote For Defunding IRS
    Now that’s a popular political plank with lower middle-class Republicans innit?

  2. Mark Anderson 2022-07-26 16:53

    P Aitch, just a couple of years ago our senator Rubio asked if the Republican party shouldn’t do something to help their poor rural base. The answer has been a resounding Nahhhh. Why bother the fools in love with hate. It’s the Thiel party now, just keeping them stroked.

  3. Jake 2022-07-26 17:19

    Under-funding the IRS has been has been the goal of the GOP for many years. They don’t want the recipients of the trump tax cuts to be scrutinized for graft and corruption and cheating. Meanwhile, moan and complain loudly about the budget deficit growing, because the government takes in less and less money but costs increase!

  4. larry kurtz 2022-07-26 17:25

    You’re nefarious, Mr. Heidelberger. Republicans are all about avarice, gluttony, lust and exploitation so enabling We the People to crawl into their colons with flashlights is probably not in the stars.

  5. Arlo Blundt 2022-07-26 17:38

    Republicans have always applauded tax avoidance and various tax avoidance schemes. People in South Dakota are still going to jail for refusing to pay income taxes and participating in frauds based on hair brained right wing theories similar to the nonsense Posse Commitadis business. The last one I saw in the paper was a farmer-cattle feeder from Mount Vernon.

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