IRS Fraud Costs Taxpayers Up to $304B a Year, DOJ Official Says | The States

The Trump administration announced the Justice Department’s first nationwide tax fraud surge, and HHS is ending subsidies for 189,000 Affordable Care Act enrollments. Also on The States: campaign finance filings for Democratic Socialists of America candidates, and California’s climate law turning 20.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Colin McDonald said the DOJ surge brought prosecutorial actions against 76 defendants in 45 days, with more than $490 million in intended losses. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said CMS is terminating subsidies tied to duplicate and deceased enrollments, which the agency estimates will save more than $1.5 billion a year. Enrollees have 30 days to dispute a termination.

A Center Square investigation compares large and small donations to DSA-endorsed and aligned candidates. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raises about 90% from small donors. Abdul El-Sayed and several other DSA-aligned candidates raise roughly equal amounts from large and small donors. The investigation also examines funding behind Justice Democrats and the Working Families PAC.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gov. Gavin Newsom marked 20 years of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, crediting it with emissions cuts and economic growth. Pacific Research Institute economist Wayne Winegarden counters that Californians pay much higher energy costs and that other states cut emissions without California’s approach.

Plus: an OCC report on debanking at nine major banks, a 3.6% Social Security COLA for 2027, Illinois’ SNAP error rate, and a $837 million Port of Philadelphia expansion.

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