Remember when Sen. Joe Manchin turned his back on those who had supported him against the far-left onslaught by voting to pass the so-called Inflation Reduction Act? And remember when that boondoggle bill contained over $80 billion in new funding for the IRS?

At the time, we were all assured that the funding would go to good use, expanding the enforcement ability of the IRS, raking in billions upon billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from (in my best Bernie Sanders voice) the "millionaires and billionaires."

If you're wondering how that turned out, we've got some hard numbers that give a pretty good idea. Ironically, the Associated Press thought it was worthy of bragging about, but a critical look tells a far different story. 

The IRS says it has collected an additional $360 million in overdue taxes from delinquent millionaires as the agency’s leadership tries to promote the latest work it has done to modernize the agency with Inflation Reduction Act funding that Republicans are threatening to chip away. 

Leadership from the federal tax collector held a call with reporters Thursday to give updates on how the agency has used a portion of the tens of billions of dollars allocated to the agency through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022. 

At first blush, $360 million might sound like a lot. That is until you consider the federal government collects somewhere around $4.45 trillion a year in tax receipts. Then one might consider that $360 million doesn't even register when it comes to total spending. 

Of the $80 billion allocated to the IRS, some $20 billion of it has already been rescinded. That still leaves $6 billion a year to be spent over the next decade. So let's do some math here. Assuming the $360 million collected over the last year-and-a-half is a sustainable mark, that comes out to $240 million a year. Over 10 years, that comes out to $2.4 billion. 

Now, I'm no math genius, but that seems like a pretty crappy investment, does it not? In fact, at the current pace, it would take 250 years for this new infusion of funding into the IRS to break even. If my math is off a bit, you'll have to forgive me, but you get the point. We'll all be long dead by the time the IRS collects enough in delinquent taxes from millionaires and billionaires to make a dent.

The rebuttal will be that the IRS needed the money to modernize and improve customer service. I can assure you from personal experience the customer service is still trash. Regardless, the new IRS funding was sold on the basis that it would lead to masses of money being garnered from increased enforcement against the wealthiest American, but as many suggested at the time, there simply aren't enough "millionaires and billionaires" out there not paying their taxes to make a noticeable difference. 

This situation is the epitome of the U.S. federal government and its inefficiencies. We allocated $80 billion to an agency so it could recoup a tiny fraction of a percent of that per year, and keep in mind that my critique assumes the IRS never receives another funding increase either. We all know that isn't going to happen, so the spread will get even wider. It's an absolute joke. In any other setting, everyone involved in this nonsense would be fired.