Toby Howell

So what happens, though, when you gut the IRS?

you collect less money as a country.

So according to a Yale Budget Lab analysis, the cuts to the workforce for the IRS saved an estimated $46 billion in federal spending.

But the fact that we have less enforcement when it comes to collecting taxes, that means it has reduced revenue collections by $643 billion.

These are just projections.

So when you

take in less money as a country, obviously your budget is going to suffer because of that.

So it is interesting to see maybe in the short term, you save a little money by reducing the size of the IRS, but in the long term, you're going to collect a lot less taxes.

And let's be clear, for the most part, you and I and normal Americans do pay their taxes.

Taxpayers as a group pay 85% of what they owe as they file when they're doing their returns.

That climbs up to 87% after audits and collections.

So again, that is pretty good.

If we ever got to 100% rate, that would usually require a level of government intrusion into your private life that most Americans will not stand for.

So I...

Again, these cuts don't affect everyone equally, though.

Wage earners are much more likely to pay what they owe because they have W-2s.

It's very easy to audit them.

Business owners, on the other hand, can get a little fast and loose with the rules, a little extra zero here, take a zero away there.

That is how you dodge taxes.

I'm not giving a playbook by any stretch right now.