Why Congress Should Demand An Audit Of Biden’s Taxes
The right should pose one simple request to the Biden administration: You want to audit other 'rich' people? Why not audit yourself first, Mr. President?
By Christopher Jacobs
July 13, 2021
A bipartisan Senate working group has proposed paying for new infrastructure spending in part by providing $40 billion to the Internal Revenue Service. But before Congress even considers the legislation, conservatives rightly skeptical of doling out new funds and authority to the IRS should pose one simple request to the Biden administration: You want to audit other “rich” people? Why not audit yourself first, Mr. President?
While the press has largely ignored it in favor of wall-to-wall coverage of his predecessor’s tax practices, Biden’s returns raise their own set of questions. If the current president declines this offer, Congress should take the matter out of his hands, and propose an amendment to the infrastructure bill requiring the IRS to audit the last four years of tax returns for Joe and Jill Biden.
‘Aggressive’ Use of Loophole Biden Now Wants to Close
As I previously noted, from 2017 through 2020, Joe Biden and his wife Jill characterized the vast majority of their income—more than $13.6 million worth—as profits from two S-corporations rather than wages. In so doing, the Bidens avoided paying nearly $517,000 in payroll taxes that fund Medicare and Obamacare.
While Biden’s budget proposed closing the S-corporation loophole that he and his wife so recently exploited, the tactic currently remains legal—up to a point. The IRS requires that individuals using S-corporations must pay themselves “reasonable compensation” in the form of wages, on which they must pay payroll taxes.
On that count, Joe Biden’s actions in particular raise serious questions. In 2017, Biden reported total income of more than $9.6 million, yet paid payroll taxes on $145,833—only 1.45 percent of his income. His 2018 return followed a similar pattern, in which he paid payroll taxes on just under 10 percent of his more than $3 million of total income.
Earlier this year, Joe Biden cited his taxes as evidence of his ethics, claiming he instructed his accountant that “The foul line is 15 feet away from the basket. Never get me closer than 17 feet, because it really is a matter of the public trust.”
But after reviewing his returns, tax experts called his actions into question. Two years ago, an analyst at the liberal Tax Policy Center called the Bidens’ behavior “pretty aggressive,” while another tax analyst said the Bidens used the S-corporations solely to avoid paying Medicare and Obamacare taxes.
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https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/13/why-congress-should-demand-an-audit-of-bidens-taxes/
