Warren proposes $31.5 billion bill to help IRS stop tax cheats

• Budget cuts in the last decade have caused staffing shortages and declines in audit rates, including for wealthy individuals and corporations, The Hill reports.
• A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the top 1% of Americans fail to report more than a fifth of their income on tax returns. They also account for over a third of all unpaid federal income tax.
• "This underreporting has helped drive the tax gap - the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid - to exceed an estimated $1 trillion annually," according to Warren's office.
• Warren's bill would more than double the agency's peak budget in 2010. The money could go toward taxpayer services and technology updates in addition to enforcement.

What she's saying: "For too long, the wealthiest Americans and big corporations have been able to use lawyers, accountants, and lobbyists to avoid paying their fair share — and budget cuts have hollowed out the IRS so it doesn't have the resources to go after wealthy tax cheats," Warren, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.