Why we can’t get the rich to pay taxes – The Republicans

If you haven’t listened to the podcast “Why Is This Happening” by Chris Hayes, you should.  This episode on the wealthy and taxes is fascinating and infuriating.  If you wondered why people like Paul Manafort were able to flagrantly avoid paying taxes on millions, this podcast helps explain.

Hayes interviews Jesse Eisinger, author of The Chickenshit Club, about changes in enforcement in the IRS especially in the last 10 years.  Briefly, the Republicans conducted an all out assault on the budget and the enforcement abilities of the IRS along with a public smear campaign.  The result is that IRS enforcement and audits are done much less on wealthy people and more on the working poor.  Audits on corporations and wealthy people are complicated and take much more resources than audits on those making around $20,000 a year.

We have to ask ourselves some serious questions when we consider the proposals popular among the Democratic candidates to more fairly tax the wealthy.  Taxing them will solve nothing if we can’t enforce the law.