A4 · Pillar A · Revenue Optimization
IRS modernization and tax-gap enforcement
Sustained multi-year investment in IRS information technology, audit capacity for high-income and complex-entity returns, partnership and pass-through compliance, and international infrastructure. Structured as a stable multi-year appropriation with performance metrics. Audit-rate increases apply above $400,000 AGI.
- 10-year fiscal
- +$500BRevenue
- Implementation
- Years 1–5
- Middle class
- Neutral to positive
- Planetary
- Neutral
$300B–$700B · High confidence
Middle-class audit rates remain unchanged. The gap is concentrated at the top.
No material climate effect.
Global precedent
The Australian Tax Office Tax Avoidance Taskforce and HMRC modernization both show documented returns in the range of 5:1 to 9:1 over multi-year horizons. The IRS-published gross tax gap is $696 billion annually for tax year 2022.
Lead mechanism
IRS; Treasury; House and Senate Appropriations.
Bipartisan framing
Conservative case
Enforces existing law and reduces the unfair burden on compliant taxpayers.
Progressive case
Addresses the documented two-tier system in which wage earners face high compliance and high-income filers face low effective enforcement.
Figures in this framework are illustrative directional estimates derived from publicly available data and conventional Congressional Budget Office budget-window logic. They are not official CBO scores. Any provision adopted from this framework would require formal CBO scoring before legislative consideration. This document is a policy white paper, not an introduced bill.