Ross: Will an influx of new IRS agents audit the middle class, or the billionaires?

87,000 new cops!

One of my frequent listener correspondents found it preposterous that the Biden Administration is adding 80,000 new IRS employees to go after the billionaires who do not pay their fair share.

Another lie, he said. Those auditors are clearly going after the middle class.

So, I checked into it, and the first thing I found is that the Biden bill does not hire 80,000 additional IRS employees. It hires 87,000 additional IRS employees!

If it’s any consolation – about 50,000 of them will replace the 50,000 who’ve left over the last five years — which is why the IRS can’t answer its phones, and only audits about one-quarter of one percent of all returns, leaving about $400 billion in legally-owed taxes uncollected every year.

But yes – the bottom line is the IRS wants the 87,000 employees to get people to pay what they owe.

It’s called funding the cops. Which everybody supports, unless it’s funding the cops who might catch them.

The IRS has promised not to increase audits of middle-class households making less than $400,000 per year. However, I understand what my listener is worried about, so I’m not going to take any chances — just in case it turns out they are targeting the middle class.

I’m going to report all my income. As for deductions, my rule is, “If in doubt, leave it out.” In fact, I’ve been known not to report even slam dunk deductions, so if I do get audited, I can say – look at that! You guys actually owe me money!

If, on the other hand, a taxpayer deducts his entire mortgage payment because he’s been working from the dining room all year, and he’s been collecting his pay in crypto-currency while not reporting it, and he signs the return “Q-anon,” and then sketches a confederate flag with a red Sharpie – well, yes, one of those 87,000 new employees might notice.

And it’ll be about time.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross