Sen. Ted Cruz blasts Biden's 'abuse of power by politicizing the IRS' and calls for agency to be ABOLISHED

SENATOR Ted Cruz has slammed Joe Biden for "grotesquely abusing his power and politicizing the IRS" as he called for the federal agency to be abolished.

An FBI probe is underway into the leak that revealed billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk paid little or nothing in income tax between 2014-18.

The Republican senator told Fox News that he wants the IRS to be "abolished" and "shut down".

He said: "When it comes to the IRS, this is an abuse of power. It's a grotesque abuse of power. It's the politicization of the IRS."

Cruz alleged that the Biden Administration is "politicizing" the federal agency.

He warned that Americans should be concerned about the privacy of their tax filings following the leak.

Cruz said: "If you're sitting at home and you're thinking 'well, that just those super-rich billionaires what do I worry about that?', listen if the privacy of their tax filings isn't protected, your privacy isn't either (sic).

"Whoever leaked this illegally should be prosecuted and should go to jail."


The GOP senator suggested that Americans should fill out their taxes on a postcard and the IRS should be abolished.

He said: "Get rid of that abusive, politicized institution. Shut them down."

Cruz's damning indictment comes after a report revealed that the 25 richest Americans were able to use loopholes to avoid paying income tax, according to IRS data.

The data, obtained by ProPublica, showed that the nation's richest people paid just $13.6billion in federal income taxes on $401billion of wealth.

Warren Buffet, the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, paid a rate of 0.1 percent on the $24.3billion he accumulated between 2014-18.

Amazon's Bezos paid around 0.98 percent in tax during the same time period.

The report shows how the ultra-wealthy are able to avoid taxes due to not only tax code loopholes but because the US focuses on taxing labor rather than wealth.

Assets like shares in their companies, pricey homes, and other investments are not technically considered "taxable income."

From 2014 to 2018, the 25 wealthiest Americans paid an average of 15.8 percent in personal federal income taxes.

Over the same time period, their wealth grew by over $400billion.

ProPublica did not say how it obtained the tax information, but did say the documents were provided "in raw form, with no conditions or conclusions."

The leak has intensified calls for Biden to create a "wealth tax".

Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted: "Our tax system is rigged for billionaires who don't make their fortunes through income, like working families do.

"The evidence is abundantly clear: it is time for a #WealthTax in America to make the ultra-rich finally pay their fair share."

ProPublica claims to have tax records going back more than 15 years that show the amount the nation's billionaires have paid.

In both 2007 and 2011, Bezos didn't pay a penny in federal income taxes, the outlet reported.

In 2018, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk also managed to not pay any federal income taxes.

Billionaire investor George Soros managed to pay nothing for three years in a row, according to the report.

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