They didn't hire all of those new IRS agents for nothing. The Democrat-passed "Inflation Reduction Act" allocated funding for 80,000 IRS agents, including 33,000 new "enforcement officers." Now, the Biden-Harris administration is ready to put them to good use. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently bragged about using increased IRS enforcement as a means to bring down the massive budget deficit. Yellen told Fox Business Network they have given the IRS the "resources they need" to go after what's owed, but "isn't being collected."
Translation: Expect a lot more IRS audits if Kamala Harris wins the election. "Politicians in both parties are loathe to raise taxes, so they're trying to get money anyway they can instead of dealing with the fundamental problem, which is spending way too much money," says Mitch Kramer, financial planner and CEO of Fluent Financial. "It's a good way to go after people that they consider wealthy."
As for who they consider wealthy, that would be those making at least $400,000 a year. The administration has repeatedly insisted that the new IRS enforcement will not target those below that income threshold. However, that claim was already proven false, as a large portion of new audits have targeted those making far less than $400,000. "What they've done in the past is go after people below that (income) level, because those people don't have the resources to fight the IRS, so it's low-hanging fruit," says Kramer.
If you're concerned about being audited, Kramer recommends getting some help, and helping yourself. "It's important that you budget hiring a good CPA to file your taxes, especially if you're a business owner or do a lot of itemization," he tells KTRH.
"But also, do charitable donations as a way of reducing your tax burden," he continues. "Because I think we'd all agree that giving money to a charity or church is a much better use of fiscal resources than our federal government."
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