"Earn Income, Pay Taxes" National Tax Service's Warning... US Waging War Against Violent Organizations [Song Seungseop's Financial Light]

US IRS Collects $1 Billion in Back Taxes in One Year
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Strict Measures Against Domestic and International Tax Evasion
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US Treasury Secretary: "Tax Collection Benefits Americans"

1,376,500,000,000 KRW.

The amount the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it collected last year from about 1,600 wealthy individuals reached a staggering 1 billion dollars. Converted to Korean won, it easily exceeds 1 trillion KRW. The average tax imposed per person was as high as 625,000 dollars. What is astonishing is that these individuals were precisely the tax delinquents who had not been paying their taxes. The IRS had suspected 125,000 millionaires who had omitted tax filings for several years, and last year, they began a full-scale pursuit, successfully collecting an astronomical amount of money in just one year.

To understand the strength of the U.S. IRS, one must go back hundreds of years. Since the founding of the country, taxes have been the most important issue for Americans. When Britain, which was colonially ruling America, imposed tariffs on imports in 1767, there was resistance to taxation in the Boston area. This led to war with Britain and eventually to American independence in 1776. At that time, the fundamental principle of “no taxation without representation” was established in America, and the IRS explains that their history began from this point.

George Washington, the first President, reviewing troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in 1795 at Fort Cumberland, Maryland, USA. Photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art

Since then, the U.S. has taken a very tough stance on taxes regardless of whether the taxpayer is domestic or foreign. In 1791, when a tax of 25 cents per gallon was imposed on whiskey in the U.S., a rebellion broke out. George Washington, the first president, and Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, gathered 12,950 soldiers and suppressed it by force. Citizens who resisted heard about the military deployment and proposed a tax adjustment plan, but Hamilton ignored it and ordered the troops to advance and suppress the rebellion.

In 1943, employees of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raided an illegal moonshiner's factory in Atlanta. Photo by Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Violent gangs, drug cartels, and gangs that terrified Americans were no exception. In the 18th century, the western U.S. was beyond the reach of central authority, but the IRS sent agents there and somehow collected taxes. Tax delinquents at the time resisted with gunfire. However, the agents did not retreat but engaged in gunfights while equally armed and collected the taxes. The historical context explains why IRS agents appear in dramas or games set in old America engaging in shootouts.

Mugshot of Al Capone, the legendary gang leader who once ruled the United States. Although Al Capone was never arrested for various acts of violence and drug trafficking, he was imprisoned for not paying taxes. Photo by Getty Images

The agency that first put the legendary gangster boss Al Capone, who was active in the U.S. mafia in the early 1900s, behind bars was also the IRS. Although Al Capone was suspected of various violent acts and drug trafficking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could not find evidence to arrest him. However, the IRS traced that Al Capone made money from bootlegging during the Prohibition era from 1920 to 1933. They imposed tens of thousands of dollars in fines for tax evasion and sentenced him to prison.

The guidelines of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) advise that taxes must be reported even when money is earned illegally, such as through drug trafficking. Photo by IRS website

The IRS’s obsession with tax collection continues to this day. During tax filing season, even astronauts outside the Earth’s atmosphere are subject to tax obligations. The famous anecdote involves Jack Swigert, an Apollo 13 crew member, who contacted the Houston control center from the moon, saying, “I couldn’t get an extension for tax filing,” asking for help. Also, the IRS guidelines include stolen goods, bribes, and illegal transactions as taxable income. Since income was earned, they kindly guide taxpayers to calculate the fair market value and pay taxes the following year.

IRS building of the United States Internal Revenue Service

Americans view the IRS with wary eyes due to its near-obsessive tax collection. The IRS is often cited as the most feared and least liked institution by Americans. In 2019, an American even carried out a suicide attack by crashing a small plane into an IRS-owned building. Despite this, the IRS does not change its stance because it believes that fair and equitable tax collection for everyone is fundamental to the nation and benefits all citizens.

According to major foreign media, Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, after releasing data showing that 1 billion dollars in taxes were collected from the wealthy in 2023, met with reporters and said, “Increasing tax fairness and collecting taxes from high-value delinquents are already yielding significant benefits for Americans.”