Summary

The IRS anticipates a $500 billion revenue loss as taxpayers increasingly skip filings following cuts from Elon Musk under Trump.

The IRS, set to downsize by 20% by May 15, has seen increased online chatter about avoiding taxes, with individuals betting auditors won’t scrutinize accounts.

Experts warned that workforce reductions could cripple the agency’s efficiency.

Treasury officials predict a 10% drop in tax receipts compared to 2024.

Former IRS commissioners have criticized the cuts, warning of dysfunction and reduced collection capacity.

  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    Taxation is theft, so not paying them is fine by me. But if you’re going to do so, you probably shouldn’t be shouting about it on the internet.

      • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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        3 days ago

        We have few public services and the few that we have are being torn down as you read this comment, so they might be half right for the wrong reasons.

      • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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        3 days ago

        So you enjoy killing people. Got you. Because that’s what your tax money is used for. To fund wars halfway across the globe. For people you’ve never met and who have caused you no harm.

        • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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          3 days ago

          What a disingenuous take. Surely you can see how no one’s going to take that message seriously, and no one will be convinced?

          Taxes also pay for health care, roads, libraries, arts, and countless other things. Do you hate health care, roads, libraries, and art? I mean, maybe, but I wouldn’t be confident about guessing that based solely on your position on taxation.

          None of this is supporting your initial claim of “taxation is theft”

          • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            Oh yes, because the United States has such great healthcare that a CEO was shot in broad daylight on the streets of New York. But a couple of months ago. As for roads and libraries and such, that’s what state taxes are for. Mind you, I somewhat disagree with state taxation as well, but at least state taxation benefits you directly.

            • Madison420@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              You have an issue with capitalism not taxation and that’s ignoring the fact that if we reverted back to pre 1940 tax schemes we would be taking in more money and only the richest people in America would pay a dime.

              • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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                3 days ago

                Cut 99% of the government, and you could accomplish that. If nothing else, you could always eliminate the income tax and put consumption taxes on goods besides groceries and housing. An income tax disincentivizes making more income, but a consumption tax would disincentivize needless consumption.

                • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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                  3 days ago

                  Are you Elon Musk? Because “cut 99% of the government” is the kind of uninformed ass-pull I would epxect from him.

                  Consumption taxes on goods is extremely regressive. That will tremendously impact the poor.

                  You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

                  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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                    3 days ago

                    Oh yes, because eliminating groceries and housing from the consumption tax hurts the poor so badly because the poor need to buy five cars and ten yachts, etc.

            • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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              3 days ago

              That is irrelevant to your claim of “Taxation is theft”. Taxes pay for programs like medicare, medicaid, and social security, which are extremely popular.

              Pushing stuff down to the state level makes coordination difficult, some projects impossible, and again is irrelevant to your argument that taxation is theft

              • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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                3 days ago

                If taxes pay for Social Security, then why do I keep hearing that Social Security is bankrupt or will be by like 2031? If pushing taxation down to the state level makes a project impossible to do, then perhaps that project should not have been done to begin with.

                • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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                  3 days ago

                  Because conservatives have been trying to kill social security since its inception. It shouldn’t really be in any danger of insolvency, barring conservative sabotage. A trivial search finds many articles about this: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/retirement/social-security-bankrupt/

                  If pushing taxation down to the state level makes a project impossible to do, then perhaps that project should not have been done to begin with.

                  This is clearly pants on head stupid. Postal service. Interstate transit systems. Weather forecasting. Just off the top of my head.

                  And again, one more time, you haven’t backed up your initial claim that “Taxation is theft”.

                  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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                    3 days ago

                    Taxation is theft simply because you did not agree to it or you did not have a choice but to agree to it. The only difference between the IRS demanding taxes from you and a street criminal demanding part of your paycheck every month not to hurt you is that you see the IRS as legitimate where you see the street criminal as a criminal. But they are both criminals.

        • prototype_g2@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          So you enjoy killing people. Got you. Because that’s what your tax money is used for

          Not in my country. What? You forgot the USA wasn’t the only country in the world?

          It seems like you have a problem with capitalism, not with the concept of taxes.

        • naught101@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          That’s just an argument that the military budget should be dramatically reduced (absolutely agree!), not that taxation is a problem in general.

          • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            Can’t fund the military without taxation. If you told citizens to donate to support a war effort halfway across the globe that has no impact on their daily lives, they’d be absolutely certain to do it. /s. Now, coerce them with the threat of being thrown in a cage, or at the barrel of a gun, and that’s different.

            • naught101@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Yes, but you CAN have taxation without funding the military. You’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

              I don’t think taxation is the only way to do this, but you do need some kind of process for ensuring common social services and infrastructure exist and are maintained. Taxation is what we have now. How would you support those services without it?

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                3 days ago

                If you absolutely must have taxation, then have state taxation. Because I don’t see the state of Texas declaring war on Pakistan.

                • naught101@lemmy.world
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                  3 days ago

                  How would you fund federal services?

                  Seems to me the problem isn’t taxation, it’s the process for deciding how that government spending is distributed…

                  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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                    3 days ago

                    You can’t fix that problem. The fact that there is a big pile of money there means that greedy people will attempt to get their hands on it. No matter what. So the only way to fix that is to not have the big pile of money sitting there to begin with.

          • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            There are these things called homeschools or small community schools. Also, if you are a D-I-N-K type family, why should you have to pay for somebody else’s children?

            • ChexMax@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              Because as a dink, other people’s children will serve as your lawyers, nurses, firemen, governor’s, mailmen, cable guy whatever for at least half of your life. You contribute nothing to the next gen except those taxes. Other people are providing the workers, while you benefit from their unpaid labor of raising children. Only dumb dumbs don’t see the value in contributing to education, especially since a lot of they themselves benefited from that exact education or free access to libraries and other social services

            • T00l_shed@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              Homeschooling isn’t effective. Community schools need funding and a guaranteed level of education. Also yes, if you are a DINK you should

          • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            Parents should be allowed to homeschool their children, not send them to government-funded indoctrination camps. Also, if you are a D.I.N.K. family, why exactly should you have to pay for other people’s children?

    • GenosseFlosse@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      Lol, go and visit some country with a very low tax rate or no tax. need to visit a hospital? That’s a 3h drive across some unpaved road on the next big city. Want to cook your food? Go and collect some wood for your brick stove, because the city does not provide gas or power to your house. Need water or power? See gas. Want to read a book? Bad luck, there was no free school service in your village to learn how to read. House on fire or crime in the neighborhood? Well I have more bad news for you. Neighboring country does not like you and want to expand into your territory? I wonder what some hillbillies, preppers and tax free conservatives do against a modern army that has aircraft, amour or armed drones.

      • vga@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        Perhaps you oughta visit Switzerland some day. Their federal tax rate is 0.77%-11.5%, and canton tax rate varies between 6.5 - 18%. And they’re generally thought of as being one of the most advanced economies with the highest quality of living and health care.

        But sure, perhaps that’s not “very low”.

        • GenosseFlosse@feddit.org
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          2 days ago

          What are you talking about? There is more than one tax, on top of municipal or federal there are taxes for income, products and services, wealth, profit etc. - not just vat.

          And tax is not “taken away” from people, it goes back into the economy by building roads and bridges, social care for the elderly so they can afford rent and food, employment and contracts for people working in the region.

    • aramova@infosec.pub
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      3 days ago

      While I’m typically all for debate and reason, this take is objectively the most fucking moronic spew of nonsense every single time I come across it on par with the sovereign citizen batshit nonsense.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Not paying taxes is theft.

      The government is going to spend whatever it wants. They will get the money by printing it if they can’t get it from tax. This causes rampant inflation, which is the same as a flat tax.

      By not paying your share of taxes, you’re simply stealing from your neighbors.

        • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Oh my. Really, go open a history book. Look at what the gold standard did to limit our economy. Look up why Fort Knox existed at that time. Look how big it would have to be today, and understand there isn’t that much gold in the entire world.

          • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            There is enough gold in the world for everybody to have an equal amount. You can divide gold down to one one thousandth of an ounce of gold with current technology, which is plenty small enough to work with.

    • Hello_there@fedia.io
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      3 days ago

      Hey everyone. Look at this guy. He’s the one that ‘splits’ the bill with his friends without adding tax, tips, or drinks