With tax day come and gone, the Internal Revenue Service is on track to collect less revenue this year than last. Former IRS employees blame cuts by billionaire Elon Musk and Republicans for the decline in revenue, which stands to expand the federal deficit ahead of a debt ceiling deadline this summer.
New weekly filing data from the IRS, released Friday, shows that the agency has received 1.7% fewer total tax returns compared to the same time period last year. The IRS notes a few reasons why the agency might be seeing fewer filings this year, including that multiple states are in a state of emergency and have had the tax deadline for their residents moved to May; other people may have filed for an extension as well.
