The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has proposed a list of revenue cuts and increases that could save $700 billion over the next decade. Some are as simple as closing loopholes in federal programs and ensuring Americans pay their taxes in full. Others are more complex.

“But any deficit reduction need not be controversial,” the report said. “Some of these policies already have broad bipartisan support, or at least should. »

Besides the cuts, the group proposed some options to increase revenue without raising taxes.

“On the revenue side, improving tax compliance allows policymakers to increase revenue without raising taxes,” according to the report. Every president from Reagan to Biden — including President Trump — has proposed increasing funding for the IRS and enacting other measures to reduce the “tax gap,” or the difference between taxes owed and taxes actually collected.

The Internal Revenue Service released its projections that the net tax gap after enforcement actions fell from $617 billion in 2021 to $606 billion in 2022.

The IRS projects that taxpayers owed $4.6 trillion in total taxes in 2022. Of that amount, about $3.9 trillion was paid on time and without penalty. Enforcement actions and payment delays resulted in an additional $90 billion in recoveries.

Most of the tax gap comes from personal income taxes, which accounted for 74% ($514 billion) of the gross tax gap in 2022. Of this amount, income underreporting accounted for 74 % of which came from underreported business income ($194). billion dollars) and non-commercial income ($87 billion).

The tax gap projections for tax years 2021 and 2022 translate to approximately 85% of taxes being paid voluntarily and on time.

The tax gap has been a persistent problem for decades.

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“The results highlight that a significant tax gap remains between taxes legally owed but not actually paid,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “While the new tax gap figures show that the increase essentially reflects growth in the economy as a whole, the scale of the gap also starkly illustrates the continued need for adequate financing for the ‘IRS.

Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Lawmakers appropriated approximately $80 billion to the IRS through the Inflation Reduction Act to expand operational support, modernize systems, improve customer service and improve tax enforcement.