Following Hunter Biden’s guilty plea to tax fraud charges involving more than $1.4 million in overdue taxes, President Joe Biden pardoned his son on Sunday. Following Biden’s efforts to combat tax evasion, which included growing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the Inflation Reduction Act, this action has drawn criticism.
- The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $78 billion to the IRS for enforcement measures targeting wealthy taxpayers and reducing the tax gap.
- Hunter Biden admitted to spending large sums on personal luxuries while failing to pay substantial tax bills, facing a potential 17-year prison sentence before the pardon.
- The median sentence for tax fraud in 2023 was 16 months, for amounts significantly smaller than Hunter s unpaid taxes.
- Biden justified the pardon by alleging Hunter was selectively prosecuted because of his family ties.
- Despite earlier statements denying plans to pardon his son, Biden s decision has raised questions about his administration s commitment to enforcing tax laws equally.
Biden Pushed Crackdown On Those Avoiding Paying IRS Before Pardoning Tax-Evading Son
Following his efforts to combat tax evasion during his administration, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter’s tax fraud charges on Sunday.
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act includes $78 billion to hire 87,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workers in an attempt to decrease the tax gap—the difference between what taxpayers pay and what they owe—and prevent wealthier taxpayers from avoiding taxes. Hunter Biden, the son of the lame duck commander-in-chief, was just pardoned for some of the same crimes that the IRS expansion was intended to prevent.
As noted in a White House statement promoting the IRS expansion in February 2024, “the vast majority of [working] families do not contribute to the tax gap because they pay what they owe.” The wealthiest households should have done the same long ago.
After failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes and filing false tax returns, Hunter Biden entered a guilty plea to six misdemeanor and three felony tax charges in California in September. Prosecutors said he used a large portion of the money for an extravagant lifestyle that included luxury hotels, rental properties, escorts and girlfriends, and drugs. Hunter was facing a maximum sentence of 17 years in jail prior to his father’s release; the sentencing hearing was set for December 16.
Biden argued that Hunter was unfairly and selectively prosecuted because he is [Biden’s] son, despite his previous attempts to curb tax fraud and his son’s guilty plea. In contrast, those convicted of tax fraud in fiscal year 2023 received median sentences of 16 months and $358,827, which is far less than the minimum $1.4 million that Hunter first failed to pay taxes on.
As part of its tax evasion campaign, the Biden administration also mandated that Americans who receive payments over $600 through third-party platforms like Venmo and Cash App notify the IRS of the proceeds. The goal of the program is not to close the tax gap for high earnings, but rather to explicitly target Americans who work part-time, own small enterprises, and engage in side hustles.
Biden and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made several promises that the president would not pardon Hunter before the pardon was granted.
I promised to follow the jury’s verdict, and I will. In a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden stated, “And I will not pardon him.” This came after a Delaware jury found Hunter Biden guilty of three crimes related to the purchase of a Colt.38-caliber handgun.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the White House.
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