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The IRS Is Targeting the Poorest Americans
美国国税局正瞄准美国最贫困的人群
Senate Republicans recently killed a proposed increase in funding for the IRS that would have helped pay for the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill. The beneficiaries of that omission will be wealthy taxpayers, who regularly manage to stay just beyond the law’s reach with their tax-avoidance strategies. This is all too familiar. As my research shows, rich white Americans tend to get tax rules designed for their benefit. Quashing the funding that could have helped the IRS more aggressively pursue elite tax fraud is yet another example.
美国参议院共和党人最近否决了一项提高国税局(IRS)预算的提案，该提案本可以帮拜登政府支付该国基础设施建设的花销。IRS预算削减的受益者会是纳税的富豪们，他们常通过各种避税策略设法绕开法律禁区。这种操作实在太常见了。正如我的研究中所显示的那样，美国白人富豪往往使税收体系更偏向他们。另一个例子是撤销本可以帮助美国国税局更加大力地追查富人税务欺诈行为的资金。
Without increased funding, the IRS will continue targeting low-income taxpayers for audits, particularly those claiming the earned-income tax credit. The EITC is a wage subsidy available to low-income workers. The typical EITC recipient makes less than $20,000 annually. In 2018, according to the IRS, the EITC lifted about 3 million children out of poverty.
如果不提高IRS预算，美国国税局将继续针对低收入纳税人实施更高的审计率，特别是那些享受劳动所得税抵免政策的人。劳动所得税抵免(EITC)是对低收入人员的工资补贴。通常获得劳动所得税抵免的人员年收入不到2万美元。根据美国国税局的数据，2018年，所得税抵免让大约300万儿童摆脱了贫困。
But EITC calculations are extremely complicated, with a high error rate, in part because in 1998, Congress decided to increase audit funding instead of making the EITC simpler—a move that gained the support of then-President Bill Clinton, who viewed the increased audits as the price to be paid in order to keep the EITC. Today, EITC claimants are audited at a rate roughly equal to the top-earning Americans (1.4 percent versus 1.6 percent). The dollar amount of low-income Americans’ tax liability is negligible when compared with those making millions.
但劳动所得税抵免(EITC)计算非常复杂，出错率高，部分原因是在1998年，美国国会决定提高审计经费，而不是简化所得税抵免的计算，此举得到了当时总统比尔·克林顿的支持，他认为提高的审计经费是为了保证所得税抵免所付出的代价。如今，所得税抵免申报者的审计率大致和美国最高收入人群差不多（1.4%和1.6%）。与那些收入高达百万美元的富人相比，美国低收入人群的纳税金额是微不足道的。
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