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IRS says it has recovered $1.3 billion in unpaid taxes from rich Americans
The IRS said Friday that it has recovered $1.3 billion in unpaid taxes from high-income Americans who had either failed to file their returns or who hadn’t fully paid what they owed.
The announcement, made jointly with the U.S. Treasury Department, is aimed at highlighting the agency’s ramped-up enforcement efforts against tax cheats, which have been funded under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
That IRS funding has proved controversial, with some Republican lawmakers falsely claiming the money would be used to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to “to audit Walmart shoppers.”
Instead, the IRS says the money is being invested in improved customer service following years of snarls during the pandemic, as well as to increase the number of audits on people with more than $1 million in annual income and more than $250,000 in tax debts.
125,000 high earners haven’t paid taxes in years
The initiative is designed “to crack down on tax evasion so that high earners pay what they owe,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in prepared remarks released ahead of a scheduled speech in Austin, Texas, on Friday. “For too long, this hadn’t been happening. Between 2010 and 2018, the audit rate for millionaires fell by 80%.”
She added, “And during the previous administration, as audit rates on high-income taxpayers fell, the share of audits on taxpayers with incomes under $200,000 increased. In 2019, the top 1% of Americans was estimated to owe over one-fifth of unpaid taxes, leaving ordinary Americans to shoulder the burden.”
Yellen said the IRS is pursuing 125,000 wealthy taxpayers who haven’t filed taxes in years. With stronger enforcement, about 21,000 of those taxpayers have filed their returns over the last six months, paying $172 million in taxes, she added.
Those 21,000 taxpayers who have filed their taxes were the first to respond after the IRS reached out to alert them that they needed to file, according to a senior Treasury official who spoke on a conference call with reporters. The IRS is likely to recoup hundreds of millions more in new tax revenue from the remaining 104,000 people who still need to file, he said.
The agency is ready to use its enforcement authority to go after the remaining individuals who haven’t yet filed, the official noted.
Since the crackdown roughly 80% of 1,600 millionaires with overdue taxes have paid up, providing an additional $1.1 billion in taxes, the Treasury said. That represents an increase of $100 million since July, when the IRS noted it had recovered $1 billion from this group of taxpayers.
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A picture is emerging of the suspect who officials say pointed a high-powered rifle at former president Donald Trump on a Florida golf course Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was armed with an AK-47-style rifle and was 300-500 yards away from Trump when members of the former president’s Secret Service detail spotted him, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. Routh was a few holes ahead of where the president was golfing at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, officials said.
Members of the Secret Service detail opened fire at Routh, according to law enforcement officials. It’s not clear if Routh fired any shots. Bradshaw said a witness saw a man jumping out of the bushes and fleeing in a black Nissan. The car was pulled over and the driver detained and identified as the suspect. Law enforcement found the rifle, a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile and a GoPro camera in the bushes at the scene.
The FBI and U.S. Secret Service are investigating the incident, which the FBI said “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”
As the investigation continues, here’s what we know about Routh:
Stephany Matat / AP
A decades-long criminal history
Routh’s most recent address is listed in Hawaii, but he spent most of his life in North Carolina, according to property records. Routh owned Camp Box Honolulu, a shed-building company, according to his LinkedIn profile. The account also says that he studied at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and graduated in 1998.
Records show his problems with the law go back to the 1990s and include less serious charges, like writing bad checks. But in 2002, he was charged with a felony — possession of a weapon of mass destruction — according to North Carolina Department of Corrections records.
Between 2002 and 2010, Routh was also charged with a number of misdemeanors, including a hit-and-run accident, resisting arrest and a concealed weapons violation, records show.
Suspect criticized Trump online
Routh voted Democratic in the 2024 primary election in North Carolina, and he voted in person, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. He appears to be registered as an unaffiliated voter.
His X account, which has now been suspended, included a number of posts about Trump.
“@realDonaldTrump While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving,” he wrote in a June 2020 post. “I will be glad when you gone.”
He also referenced the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump in multiple posts, suggesting that President Biden and Vice President Harris should visit the injured and attend the funeral of the Pennsylvania rally-goer who was killed.
A Facebook account under Routh’s name was no longer online on Sunday evening.
Ukraine supporter
Routh was passionate about fighting for Ukraine, even traveling overseas to fight in the country’s war against Russia in 2022.
“I am coming to Ukraine from Hawaii to fight for your kids and families and democracy.. I will come and die for you,” he wrote on X.
In one post on LinkedIn, he shared a photo of himself in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
A CBS News review of Routh’s social media shows his pro-Ukraine views seeped into his public statements as well. He urged people, even those who didn’t have military skills, to take up arms for Ukraine. He was interviewed by several news organizations, including The New York Times and Semafor in 2023, and Newsweek Romania in 2022. He was quoted about his efforts to recruit volunteer fighters to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, though it wasn’t clear whether he had succeeded.
“This is about good versus evil,” he told Newsweek Romania.
contributed to this report.
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