There is an even simpler solution: Last year the IRS reported that in 2014-16 (the last period they analyzed), U.S. taxpayers payed only 85% of the taxes they owed. This is because the U.S. has a “voluntary” tax system where people self-report and, surprise, there is a lot of cheating. If the IRS enforcement budget were shored up to enable the IRS to collect this huge so-called “tax gap” from the cheaters, according to this article revenues would nearly match spending. That is, the article states that from 1972 to 2021, the government spent  20.8 percent of GDP while collecting only 17.3 percent.  If 17.3 of GDP is equal to 85% of taxes owed, then collecting 100% of taxes owed would raise revenue to 20.3 percent of GDP, which is nearly the spending amount. Problem solved.

There is an even simpler solution: Last year the IRS reported that in 2014-16 (the last period they analyzed), U.S. taxpayers payed only 85% of the taxes they owed. This is because the U.S. has a “voluntary” tax system where people self-report and, surprise, there is a lot of cheating. If the IRS enforcement budget were shored up to enable the IRS to collect this huge so-called “tax gap” from the cheaters, according to this article revenues would nearly match spending. That is, the article states that from 1972 to 2021, the government spent  20.8 percent of GDP while collecting only 17.3 percent.  If 17.3 of GDP is equal to 85% of taxes owed, then collecting 100% of taxes owed would raise revenue to 20.3 percent of GDP, which is nearly the spending amount. Problem solved.

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