March 24, 2021

What’s the tax gap, and how do we close it?

27 minutes

New research shows that the top 1% of Americans underreport their income by more than 20%, and the government could raise trillions more over time by collecting on it. No hikes — just enforcing the tax code as it stands. On today’s show, we’re diving into the tax gap. Samantha Jacoby of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities walks us through how the wealthiest Americans hide their money, the incentive structures that got us to this point and why 2021 is a great year to start addressing the problem.

Here are links to everything we talked about on the show today:

“High-Income Tax Avoidance Far Larger Than Thought, New Paper Estimates” from The Wall Street Journal

“How Biden Funds His Next Bill: Shrink the $7.5 Trillion Tax Gap” from former Make Me Smart guest Chye-Ching Huang in The New York Times

“How to Collect $1.4 Trillion in Unpaid Taxes” from The New York Times editorial board

“Biden Team Prepares $3 Trillion in New Spending for the Economy” from The New York Times

“An Unusually Optimistic Conversation With Bernie Sanders” from The New York Times

“The High Cost of Georgia’s Restrictive Voting Bills” from the New Yorker

...more