Why the US could see a 10% drop in income tax revenue this year

Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, The Washington Post writes. 

A growing number of people and businesses are spurning filing their taxes or paying their already-owed taxes, tax experts are warning. 

Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a more than 10% drop in tax receipts this year, as compared to last year. That’s an estimated $500 billion lost in federal revenues—the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year.

“The idea of doing that in one year, it’s hard to grapple with how meaningful of a shift that represents,” says Natasha Sarin, president of the Yale Budget Lab and a former senior Biden administration tax official.

What’s behind the drop? Officials are blaming changing taxpayer behavior coupled with President Donald Trump’s rapid demolition of parts of the IRS. 

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