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IRS Boss Vows to Go After 1,600 Millionaire Tax Cheats

The agency received additional funding from the Biden administration and new AI technology to fuel their new efforts.

The IRS is preparing to chase down wealthy tax cheats, targeting roughly 1,600 millionaires and 75 large businesses that owe hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel made the announcement after receiving an increase in federal funding from the Biden administration and adopting new AI technology. “The IRS will have dozens of revenue officers focused on these high-end collection cases in fiscal year 2024,” he said. The additional funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed in August 2022, but House Republicans have threatened budget cuts. In 2021, a group of economic researchers found that the top 1 percent of American earners avoid reporting over 20 percent of their earnings to the IRS. But Grover Norquist, who leads the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, told the Associated Press the IRS would also be able to hunt down middle-income earners and “go after anyone they wish to target for political purposes.”