Amid tax relief promises from Harris and Trump, US recovers $1.3 billion from wealthy taxpayers
The government's collections follow close on the heels of incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris proposing to raise the capital gains tax rate for those earning $1 million or more to 28%, instead of the 39.6% rate proposed by President Joe Biden in his fiscal 2025 budget.
Harris has, however, also talked of a pushing for a $50,000 tax deduction for new small businesses, 10 times the current tax break.
These proposals come atop of current efforts to collect unpaid taxes.
Between 2010 and 2018, the audit rate for millionaires fell by 80 percent, according to excerpts from a speech that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is due to deliver in Texas, reports AFP.
«In 2019, the top one percent of Americans was estimated to owe over one-fifth of unpaid taxes, leaving ordinary Americans to shoulder the burden,» Yellen notes in her speech.
Tax policy has come into focus as November's presidential election draws close.
«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,» Yellen added in prepared remarks, referring to former president Donald Trump's administration.
On Friday, the US Treasury said that since officials launched an initiative in late 2023 to pursue high-income individuals who failed to pay their recognized tax debt, nearly 80 percent of 1,600 millionaires have since made a payment. This meant a recovery of over $1.1 billion.
Another effort launched in early 2024 to go after high-earners who had not
