Press Releases

SPRINGFIELD, MA – On the heels of a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) expressed his concern over the lack of fairness of tax administration raised in the report. In a letter to Department of the Treasury (Treasury) Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Neal called on the IRS to execute its work fairly and responsibly across income levels.

“As the IRS has admitted, it is more difficult and costly to examine the complex returns of a high-income taxpayer than a simple Form 1040 of a low-income taxpayer,” wrote Chairman Neal. “As a result, low-income taxpayers are audited at a disproportionately higher rate. This is unfair.”

The Chairman went on to note that, “Earlier today, TIGTA reported that nearly 880,000 high-income taxpayers had not complied with their tax filing requirements. These nonfilers account for 34% of high-income taxpayers, and their tax due with respect to this noncompliance is over $45 billion. Most of these high-income nonfilers were never selected for examination or remain in the collection inventory unlikely to be pursued.”
In conclusion, Chairman Neal requested that Secretary Mnuchin provide the Committee with the agency’s program and resource plans to address the high-income nonfiler issue identified by TIGTA no later than June 15, 2020.

The full text of the letter is available HERE.

###