The Hill reports about something (on of my fave topics) that I've been screaming and howling about for years, the annual festival of gigantic theft for tax cheaters that congress requires by law:
IRS ‘tax gap’ widens to $688 billion in 2021: reportThe gap between taxes owed and paid to the government is wider than originally estimated, according to a new report released Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service.
The projected gross “tax gap,” the difference between the total taxes owed to the IRS and how much is collected on time, jumped to $688 billion for tax year 2021, the agency projects. That’s about $138 billion higher than revised projections for the three-year period ending in 2019.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by Democrats last August, included an additional $80 billion in funding for the IRS to beef up its enforcement efforts.
Republicans have opposed the new IRS funding, and they made a bill that would reverse most of that funding their first legislative priority when the party retook the House in January.
Republicans love tax cheating by rich people and big corporations because (i) most of the cheaters are rich, like many or most Congressional Republicans, and (ii) the authoritarian radical right GOP hates, hates, hates government and taxes.
Based on detailed analyses from tax years 2001 and 2006, my estimate of the current tax gap (tax cheating) is at least about $800 billion, not $688 billion.
But something has changed at the IRS. The prior tax gap estimates I can recall were at about ~$480 billion, which I believed was to low to be credible. Someone has pressured the IRS to be more honest about this. Radical right Republicans hate release of info like this, so the pressure for transparency and honesty cannot be coming from them.
Anecdote: Years ago when it was obvious that IRS tax gap estimates were too low, I wrote to the IRS information office that answers taxpayer questions. I was told that they did not answer taxpayer questions. I took that to mean the IRS was telling me I was an idiot taxpayer and I should shut up, pay my taxes and go pound sand. By then, the radical right had cowed the IRS into silence because the radical right hates the IRS and wants it to go away.
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The New Republic writes about Mary's latest commentary regarding her poisonous uncle:
The stakes of the 2024 election could not be clearer, says Mary Trump: It’s “a choice between democracy and fascism.”
They identify not with Donald’s strength … but they identify with his weakness,” Trump said, arguing that his supporters know to some extent that he’s a fraud. In fact, they like that about him. “They identify with the fact that he gets away with everything.”
“To me, one of the biggest scams was this myth that Donald was this successful businessman … that he was a champion of the working man,” she said. “By the way, that’s not something he ever says. Somebody else made that up about him.”
Trump said that Donald’s portrayal in the media as a working-class hero is founded on a misunderstanding—he grew up privileged in Manhattan, after all—and that he then exploited it. “He just then flew his stupid private jet from rally to rally, and I guess that was enough to convince people that he really cared about them,” she said.
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War update
Impending humanitarian crisis alert: Israel says 1.1M residents must leave north Gaza Strip but the U.N. says that’s impossible
Airburst burning white phosphorous rains down
Israel is using white phosphorous bombs - the material ignites on contact with air and leaves horrible burns sort of like napalm (Israel denies it is using this weapon). WaPo writes:
Human Rights Watch confirmed in a statement released Thursday that white phosphorus was used over the Gaza City port on Wednesday, after interviewing two witnesses who noted the stifling smell of white phosphorus. The organization also analyzed video of the event and identified airburst 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles were used in the strike. They condemned the use of the chemical, which can severely burn people and set fire to civilian structures, in such a densely populated area.
WaPo: With exits to Israel and Egypt shut, the retaliatory military operations have effectively turned the narrow 25-mile long Gaza Strip into a kill box.
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A WaPo opinion by Dana Milbank comments:
House Republicans collapse into anarchyWar in Israel. War in Ukraine. The federal government shutting down in 35 days. These are uncertain times.
But there is one eternal truth, one unwavering constant to steady us when all else is in flux: Every time the House Republican majority tries to govern, it’s guaranteed to turn into a goat rodeo.
Milbank writes a long, long opinion that recites the amazing lunacy of what the radical right GOP has degenerated into in the House. He explains his goat rodeo reference like this: Rep. Harriet Hageman (Wyo.), the Trump-backed slayer of Liz Cheney, walked into the caucus meeting wearing a big smile and carrying a lasso. Was she planning to rope some goats? She didn’t say.
Carrying a lasso? What a lunatic. OMG, we're all gonna die. Run away!!
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