A trillion dollars.

That’s how much the IRS estimates our nation is losing in unpaid taxes — largely from giant corporations and the super-wealthy — every year.

Just a reminder of what that looks like numerically: $1,000,000,000,000.

It’s enough to cover the entire annual budgets of these 42 states combined: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

• For years, Republicans in Congress have been chipping (and sledgehammering) away at the budget of the Internal Revenue Service.

• In fact, Republicans have slashed funding for tax enforcement so much that there are fewer auditors today than at any time since World War II.

• All of which makes it easier than ever for giant corporations and the super-wealthy to avoid paying their fair share to fund basic necessities all of us — including them — rely on.

• Now, as part of “negotiating” funding for infrastructure investments our country desperately needs, those same congressional Republicans are rejecting even modest increases to the IRS budget.

• Never mind that giving the IRS more resources would pay for itself many, many times over as the agency collects taxes from billionaires and Big Business that would have gone unpaid otherwise.

Tell Democrats in Congress:

Billionaires and Big Business should pay their damn taxes. But Republicans have been slashing the IRS’s budget for years. And now they’re rejecting even modest IRS funding increases that would pay for themselves over and over again? Give the IRS more resources to go after tax-dodging giant corporations and mega-wealthy individuals — even if your Republican colleagues choose to side with rich tax cheats.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. We’re also busy undoing all the damage Trump did. And, like so many nonprofits and small businesses, we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
 
 
Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 | Unsubscribe