**Listen for details on how to win tickets to our live WITHpod recording with Stacey Abrams!** Why is it so hard to raise taxes on the rich? From freshmen firebrands to Presidential hopefuls, taxing the wealthy has become the Congressional conversation du jour of 2019 that has no signs of slowing down. But before even getting into the policy debates and the ideological disputes, there’s one important and fundamental question that has to be answered: Do we have an IRS that has the capacity to do such a thing? ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger has done stellar reporting to uncover the scandalous hidden story of the ways the Republican Party, corporate interests, and big donors have all succeeded in gutting the IRS of its ability to do the one thing it exists to do: collect taxes to fund the United States government. Email us at WITHpod@gmail.com Tweet using #WITHpod Read more at nbcnews.com/whyisthishappening RELATED READING How the IRS was Gutted The Chickenshit Club by Jesse Eisinger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices