John,

Thanks to loopholes written into our tax code, often the wealthy and large corporations get away with paying effective tax rates lower than many working people. And while Joe Manchin has rejected making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share through a tax and investment plan, we think we may be able to get him to agree to increase IRS funding by $80 billion as President Biden has proposed.

Each year the richest 1% of Americans dodge $163 billion in taxes that they already owe.[1] This is because the IRS is understaffed and unable to effectively audit millionaires, billionaires and big corporations. In fact, audit rates on taxpayers with incomes over $1 million dropped 81% between 2011 and 2019 and the audit rate of large corporations dropped by half.[2][3]

Write to your senators and demand that even if they’re not going to make the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, they must at least pay what they already owe! Tell the Senate to fully fund the IRS to crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats.

For decades, congressional Republicans have systematically disinvested in the IRS to the point where there are fewer IRS employees today than at any time since the 1970s. In fact, one-third of the IRS’s enforcement employees were cut between 2010 and 2018―that’s 14,000 employees![4]

Click here to write to your senators right now and demand they fully fund the IRS with $80 billion over the next 10 years so they can crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats.

Thank you for taking action today.

Maura Quint
Campaign Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] “The Case for a Robust Attack on the Tax Gap,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, September 7, 2021
[2] “IRS Budget Cuts Let Wealthy Tax Cheats Get Away With It,” Center for American Progress, August 6, 2020
[3] “Has the IRS Hit Bottom?” ProPublica, June 30, 2020
[4] “Unrigging the Economy Will Require Enforcing the Tax Laws,” Center for American Progress, March 12, 2020

-- Frank's email --

John,

Last week Joe Manchin killed President Biden’s slimmed down $1 trillion tax and investment plan―which would have been paid for mostly by making the wealthy and corporations pay a fairer share of taxes. After saying for the last year that he wanted to roll back the Trump-GOP tax cuts on the rich and corporations, he suddenly got cold feet.

But we think there’s a way we can at least make millionaires and billionaires pay what they currently owe in taxes that Manchin will support and was contained in the president’s plan. It would be to increase funding for the IRS by $80 billion over the next 10 years so it has the people-power to significantly increase audits on the wealthy and big corporations.

Did you know that each year the richest 1% evades $163 billion in taxes?[1]

This is because, after decades of disinvestment by congressional Republicans, the IRS has fewer employees today than any time since the 1970s.[2] In fact, between 2010 and 2018, the IRS lost nearly one-third of its enforcement employees, or 14,000 workers.[3]

Tell the U.S. Senate to fully fund the IRS so it can crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats! Click here to write to your senators today.

That $163 billion in lost revenue each year means we have less money to invest in making healthcare more affordable for working people, and less to invest in proven programs like the Child Tax Credit that lifted millions of children out of poverty last year.

If we were to invest just $80 billion over 10 years in the IRS to crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats, that investment could result in $200 billion to $400 billion in new revenue that could go toward making healthcare more affordable and creating a clean energy economy to combat the climate crisis.[4]

Click here to write to your senators and demand they increase IRS funding by $80 billion so it can crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats!

Even if Sen. Manchin will not provide the last vote needed in the Senate to directly increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, we are hopeful we can get him to agree to beef up IRS funding to make the richest 1% and big corporations pay what they already owe!

Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] “The Case for a Robust Attack on the Tax Gap,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, September 7, 2021
[2] “Filing Season Preview,” Internal Revenue Service, January 21, 2022 (unpublished data)
[3] “Unrigging the Economy Will Require Enforcing the Tax Laws,” Center for American Progress, March 12, 2020
[4] “Revenue From BBB’s IRS Enforcement Funding Would Support Investments,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Nov. 17, 2021; and “The Substantial Revenue-Raising Potential of Tax Compliance Efforts,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 29, 2021