r/politics • u/Positronic_Matrix • 17h ago
Possible Paywall Administration delays release of IRS data showing impact of GOP tax cuts
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/14/administration-delays-irs-data-gop-tax-cuts-01116807925
u/Positronic_Matrix 17h ago
It is believed that the Trump administration is delaying IRS data, as the full numbers undermine its political narrative that the Republican tax cuts benefit working- and middle-class Americans.
Suppression of the detailed figures would likely reveal that the distribution of tax benefits is significantly less favorable to ordinary taxpayers than the administration's public statements might suggest. These missing IRS tables break down deductions, credits, income and tax liability by income level, allowing independent researchers to assess who actually benefits. The administration has promoted favorable preliminary statistics, which some state are misleading, as those figures do not provide a comprehensive picture.
357
u/OhGodSoManyQuestions 16h ago
If the data are really damning, we should expect that we may never see them.
279
u/Ozymandias12 16h ago
Of course the data is damning. We have 50 years of evidence that Republican tax cuts just siphon wealth from the middle class to the top 1 percent.
46
u/OfficialDCShepard District Of Columbia 15h ago
And so the decay of regularized economic data we rely on to make any kind of decisions that started with the firings at the Bureau of Labor Statistics last year continues…
77
15
3
u/roastbeeftacohat 14h ago
the data too dry be actually damming. "turns out everything I said about the economy was a lie" is sadly not a damning admission due to merc law.
14
•
u/imoldgreige 7h ago
They’re so out of touch they really think that simply withholding data will shield the average working American from any suspicion that life is too expensive to live
3
1.0k
u/Northern_Ontario 17h ago
Hint: It's super bad.
124
u/SweetFairry 17h ago
When has it not ever been bad
45
u/Northern_Ontario 16h ago
Jimmy Carter?
8
u/edfitz83 15h ago
79-80 were 11 to 13% inflation.
15
u/justaddwhiskey 14h ago
Bad monetary policy and oil supply disruptions will do that to ya.
7
u/TimSylvester_ 11h ago
Good thing we don't have any of that going around!
•
u/elralpho 6h ago
Do you think the Federal Reserve's current strategy to aim for low but positive inflation is bad monetary policy?
2
32
23
u/rtc100 16h ago
hint its super bad until the orange turd gets someone to fix it.
13
u/TaterForming 15h ago
I'm sure Jr. and the paste eater are on it!
Though paste eater might be asking "How many i's are in the number 2?"
2
u/Walkingstardust Florida 15h ago
To be fair, he only eats paste when he's dipping his crayons in it.
2
2
u/tifumostdays 14h ago
I can't recall who the paste eater is and it's quite embarrassing how many options there are! RFK? Vance?
3
1
u/1iIiii11IIiI1i1i11iI 12h ago
I know, I'll ask AI! It really was a big help on that r's in strawberries mystery.
6
u/edfitz83 15h ago
The new press lady seems open to total fabrication.
5
2
u/hooligan045 12h ago
Just like the last time they did this shit, and the time before that, and the time before that.
1
199
u/TheLizardKing89 California 16h ago
If the data was good, they’d be shouting it from the rooftops. It must be absolutely awful.
122
u/masterchefguy 17h ago
Just like the Trump-Epstein Files, it must paint a very bad image of the current leader.
94
u/SpinalVinyl 16h ago
I still haven’t gotten my federal tax returns! Filed in April!!! I’ve been getting a letter every 60 days saying they are under review, last one in September said “we still weren’t in the system!” WTF!? I’ve been doing my taxes for 25 years and this has never happened before. Jesus Christ!
47
u/TacoSalad452 16h ago
Last time I got something like that, I called to find out what was going on, and the person told me that was the code for "you need to talk to us about am error" and they were "just about" to mail me the official notification. Might be worth reaching out to them
21
u/altcoinage 15h ago
Happened to me once. Was in limbo almost a year. Find your state’s tax advocacy office. They sorted my thing in like 2 months.
16
u/Dr_PainTrain 14h ago
Taxpayer advocate is your next step if they aren’t requesting more info from you.
5
u/sychosomat 13h ago
As others suggested, definitely call in. On the positive side, if you are owed a return, you are generating interest until you get it, the money isn’t just sitting there at least.
3
u/VeryVito North Carolina 11h ago
Of course, there's little chance that interest is outpacing inflation at the moment, but still...
•
u/throwaway_31415 6h ago
Good luck getting someone to talk to. I’m in the same boat and their phone system basically makes it impossible to talk to anyone. Even if you do find a way to escape their voice detection prison it just gets routed to an automated message saying they’re too busy and to try again tomorrow.
1
u/TimSylvester_ 11h ago
I got a letter from the IRS last week. Said I have a balance due from 2018. Ok, let's see about this.
Demand for payment, total amount $1000.
Failure to pay, $500.
Interest, $800.
Wait a minute... $500 + $800 > $1000... what was the original amount I failed to pay?
-$300.
Those dumb shits are trying to fine me $500 for failing to pay them -$300, eight fucking years ago, and want me to pay another $800 in interest fees on top of it.
-$300!
How the god damned fuck do I pay them -$300!?
•
u/meme-si-borogoves 1h ago
Contact your Congressman and ask for help. (Mine’s not resolved yet, but at least they are responsive and promising follow-up.)
Also, by any chance did you have a 1099-R? Folks on r/IRS indicated millions of returns this year are caught by an overly broad, broken fraud filter with no fix date.
87
u/smmccullough 16h ago
It never trickles down
18
u/TheONEbeforeTWO 16h ago
Money doesn’t have the same viscosity of shit when trickling down. Somehow shit finds its way to the bottom.
3
u/Upbeat_Mirror5045 15h ago
I think it’s more of a density/slipperiness issue, but yeah, it seems just the shit gets down here.
4
u/TWIT_TWAT 16h ago edited 16h ago
It trickles down in the form of billionaire piss. Republicans collect, distill and sell the piss under the brand name Librul Tears.
26
u/Hunter-Gatherer_ 15h ago
Because the only people who benefited from the Big Beautiful Bullshit were the upper and ultra wealthy class.
53
u/MrMeeseeks33 15h ago
Our tax system is so dumb. We have to file for something the government knows we make to make sure we are being honest? But don’t worry about those that hide money or the billionaires that don’t have to pay their fair share. Someone make it make sense
29
u/king-of-all-corn 14h ago
Well Biden administration did a lot to address that and then trump decided turbo tax needed some help so he took away free filing
7
u/VeryVito North Carolina 11h ago
Well that can't be right. I've heard Biden only did all the bad things, and only Trump can do the gooder things. /s
13
u/PrometheusLiberatus 15h ago
Greedy people wrote the rules and took advantage of them in ways that are impossible for normal people.
8
u/DescretoBurrito Colorado 13h ago
We have to file for something the government knows we make to make sure we are being honest?
To be fair, the Government doesn't have all the info. If your employer is doing withholding via a W-4, then they know your gross income and withholding. But if you're self employed they don't know any of that. The government also does not know what credits you qualify for, and what deductions and if itemizing is better for you than the standard deduction. The government uses deductions and credits to influence behavior, like encouraging people to buy electric vehicles through the EV tax credit.
And the withholding isn't perfect, you'll never get it to and exact match for your tax due. If you're getting a refund it means your withholding is too high (more money coming out of each paycheck than you owe), and you have to get it returned to you via the refund process.
2
u/Cutthebullsheet 11h ago
You're correct. I'm Canadian but our tax system is very similar and it's so annoying to see ignorant echoed talking points like the one you're replying to just repeated all the time.
1
u/MrMeeseeks33 13h ago
Thank you for this explanation. Great point on self employed people and W-4s as well.
1
u/No-Garbage6027 10h ago
Ehhhh, kinda… A lot of information is transferred, but it’s all on the income side and not expenses. So the moment you can claim a deduction not reported to the IRS, a self-report return is needed. For the majority of US filers use std deduction and only work a W-2. There’s no reason those (millions) returns can’t just come with a reconciliation summary and a check or payment instructions.
3
u/JRockPSU I voted 12h ago
For a lot of people some income might not be reported to the IRS (e.g. you’re a small business owner). They also don’t know about any deductions you might be eligible to take (you’re a teacher and spend money on classroom supplies. Or you bought an energy efficient water heater last year. Or had a lot of deductible medical bills, or gambling losses). Sure a lot of people have one job and a simple return that can do a 1040EZ but a lot don’t and need to tell the IRS their info.
As to your second point - the IRS isn’t funded enough to be able to afford the manpower to go after the mega rich. And even if they were, this administration would just shut those investigations down anyways (as the mega rich are puppeteering our leaders).
2
u/ShoppingAcademic8033 13h ago
The government frequently does not know, especially if you aren’t W-2 or have investments
1
u/civil_politician 13h ago
This is probably only true for cash, if you put it in a bank it feels like every little thing happening in your account is reportable
9
u/dabug911 15h ago
They need time to come up with spin, and change the numbers, or whatever they plan to do. Won't com eout before election probably.
17
u/Fearless-Babey 16h ago
They told us the rich would pay for it. The IRS data would show the opposite. So they’re sitting on it until after November.
8
u/AlexRyang 16h ago
With how negative (in general) this was being perceived pretty far across the political spectrum (at least far left to center right), I would say this is indicative that the numbers are far worse than what they expected.
9
7
6
u/Live_life_today 11h ago
$80 Trillion siphoned from the low and middle classes to the top 1% over the past decades. Systematic theft imposed by the US government.
6
u/blackmobius 10h ago
We all know that if it was good news, it would be promptly released and used to prove how great trump is.
Them delaying it tells you all you needed to know.
The dems were right about everything
12
4
u/Riskyfour 16h ago
Lol, ya, I bet you do wanna delay that don't ya big boy. How we gonna blame biden for this one?
6
6
u/LegendaryOutlaw 10h ago edited 7h ago
I don't know if its funny or sad that this administration has to try and hide every report and silence every government department, because they all show how objectively bad Trump is doing across every metric of performance.
They're like the kid who has to hide every report card from his parents. Then they get caught and blame the teacher, the school, the principal, anyone but themselves. And yet they never bother to you know...actually do their schoolwork, so they don't get terrible report cards.
5
u/blingybangbang 10h ago
Seems incredibly wrong that the government can delay disclosing data about YOUR money, or policies that affect it. Any tax information should be the most easily accessible info possible.
3
u/1000thusername Massachusetts 16h ago
I bet I can devise an executive summary:
Those who can afford the least paid the most relative to their incomes, and vice versa.
3
3
u/bbills91 12h ago
Who is surprised. I bet that had the data shown that the GOP tax cuts helped any American not worth at least 7 figures, they would have released it yesterday. Nothing says transparency like hiding the data as this admin has done time and time again
3
•
3
2
2
2
2
3
3
•
u/AutoModerator 17h ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.
In general, please be courteous to others. Argue the merits of ideas, don't attack other posters or commenters. Hate speech, any suggestion or support of physical harm, or other rule violations can result in a temporary or a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
Sub-thread Information
If the post flair on this post indicates the wrong paywall status, please report this Automoderator comment with a custom report of “incorrect flair”.
Announcement
r/Politics is actively looking for new moderators. If you have an interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.