IRS Comes Up Short $385 Billion In Collections--Could Wipe Out Much Of Deficit

The gap between what taxpayers owed the IRS and what was paid on time in 2006 was $385 billion. Multiply that by the five years since, and one year of the national deficit would be more than paid for.

The amount of the IRS gap means that 83.1% of those who should have paid taxes did. The balance did not pay at all or only paid them in part, in 2006.

The voluntary compliance rate — the percentage of total tax revenues paid on a timely basis — for tax year 2006 is estimated to be 83.1 percent. The voluntary compliance rate for 2006 is statistically unchanged from the most recent prior estimate of 83.7 percent calculated for tax year 2001.

The description of the bases on which the number is calculated includes

three components: non-filing, underreporting and underpayment.

Douglas A. McIntyre