IRS collects $1 billion in back taxes starting in 2023

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported collecting at least $1 billion in back taxes since 2023. This is a new initiative by the Biden Administration to collect delinquent tax debt from high-income individuals.

"The IRS in 2023 launched a new initiative to pursue high-income, high-wealth individuals who have failed to pay recognized tax debt, with dozens of senior employees assigned to these cases. This campaign is concentrated among taxpayers with more than $1 million in income and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt," explained the Treasury Department in a statement published on its official website. 

The Secretary of the Treasury, Janet L. Yellen, defended the measure and maintained that the intention of Joe Biden's administration is to achieve what she described as "fiscal equity." She insisted that it is a plan focused primarily on high-income families.  

"President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is increasing tax fairness and ensuring that all wealthy taxpayers pay the taxes they owe, just like working families do," Yellen said. 

"A new initiative to collect overdue taxes from a small group of wealthy taxpayers is already a major success, yielding more than $1 billion in revenue so far," she added. 

The IRS announced last year that it had collected $38 million from more than 175 high-income individuals. 

"The IRS has assigned more than 1,500 of these 1,600 cases to senior employees, with more than $1 billion collected to date," the agency explained.