Issac Saul, in this week's Tangle newsletter - Senate passes Democrats' “Inflation Reduction Act”:
[…] The image of a super-IRS going after wealthy corporations and rich billionaires who skirt tax laws is not the reality. Instead, the IRS usually spends its money where it is most efficient: Auditing the middle class and the most economically vulnerable taxpayers who can't afford teams of lawyers. According to The Washington Post, More than 4 in 10 of its audits in 2021 targeted recipients of the earned income tax credit, one of the country’s main anti-poverty measures.
[…] The bill is a climate change and health care bill with very clear direct tax hikes on profitable corporations to offset the spending. It will almost certainly reduce emissions and, in the long term, bring more green energy onto the grid. Health insurance and drug prices for Medicare recipients and people on the ACA will probably come down. They may go up for others, depending on how private insurers react. Some of the new revenue will come from increased IRS enforcement, which could hit middle and lower-income people hardest. And, of course, corporations are liable to pass on tax hikes with increased prices or layoffs, along with stock shares falling.
I was relieved to hear about this bill, but it’s still up to the IRS & private companies to follow through on some of the intended impacts. They can either shoulder the costs for the greater good, or pass the costs on to more vulnerable people and continue our country’s obsession with profits over people.
I’d like to see names and statements from the people who are making these kinds of decisions.