Pursuing whistleblower allegations that a political appointee interfered with a Trump or Pence IRS audit. Staff for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and top panel Democrat Ron Wyden met with an IRS whistleblower who alleges that at least one political appointee at Treasury tried to interfere with an audit of President Trump or Vice President Mike Pence. The senators heard enough that the panel will schedule follow-up interviews to explore the allegations.
Another delay on Trump’s financial documents. A federal appeals court last week ruled that a House subpoena for the president’s financial records could be enforced as early as tomorrow. Trump’s attorneys asked the Supreme Court for more time to prepare his appeal. The justices stayed the subpoena until further order.
Summers and Sarin: Before a wealth tax, how about shrinking the tax gap? In their Washington Post op ed, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and University of Pennsylvania’s Natasha Sarin, cite a new analysis that concludes better IRS enforcement would raise more money than a wealth tax. They argue that “better-focused audits, raising IRS enforcement to previous peak levels, investing in information technology and broadening earnings reporting could raise more than $1 trillion in the next decade.” That revenue would come primarily from very high-income taxpayers and exceed the revenue raised by a top individual income tax rate of 70 percent.
And in Massachusetts: A little back tax collection from businesses is in order. Delinquent businesses owe the state over $160 million in taxes, and out-of-state vendors owe about $39 million of that. More than a dozen companies owe more than $1 million. The state’s budget is about $44 billion annually.
In the United Kingdom: Prime Minister Boris Johnson nixes corporate tax cut. Johnson has put a hold on further cuts to the corporate tax so that he can direct $7.8 billion to health and other priorities. Johnson faces an election on December 12 and needs to say how he’d pay for his plan to reverse cuts to public services and increase infrastructure investment.
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