IRS says it collected $360 million more from rich tax cheats as its funding is threatened yet again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS says it has collected an additional $360 million in overdue taxes from delinquent millionaires as the agency’s leadership tries to promote the latest work it has done to modernize the agency with Inflation Reduction Act funding that Republicans are threatening to chip away.

Leadership from the federal tax collector held a call with reporters Thursday to give updates on how the agency has used a portion of the tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022.

Along with the $122 million collected from delinquent millionaires last October, now nearly half a billion dollars in back taxes from rich tax cheats has been recouped, IRS leaders say.

The announcement comes as the IRS braces for a more severe round of funding cuts.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«Other news» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Other news </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> For IRS, backlogs and identity theft problems remain, but there is ‘cautious optimism’ watchdog says </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> IRS announces Jan. 29 as the start of 2024’s tax season </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> TheIRSwill waive $1 billion in penalties for people and firms owing back taxes for 2020 or 2021 </bsp-custom-headline> </bsp-list-loadmore>

The agency cuts previously agreed upon by the White House and congressional Republicans in the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress last year — which included $20