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Americans Failed to Pay a Record $688 Billion in Taxes. The IRS Says That Will Change.

 

Americans didn’t pay an estimated $688 billion in taxes due on their 2021 returns—the largest shortfall ever. Audits and other enforcement will be stepped up to reduce the gap, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday. 

The number includes $542 billion due to underreported income, with the remainder of the shortfall owed by those who didn’t file returns when they should have or never paid their bills. The total gap is up more than $138 billion from estimates for tax years 2017 to 2019. 

Much of the increase is due to economic growth. The IRS said there has also been a shift from wage income, for which taxes are withheld, to gig economy jobs, for which there is a lower degree of compliance. Taxpayers’ overall compliance rate is projected to stay relatively steady at 86.3% for tax year 2021, after audits and other enforcement actions. 

The largest element of noncompliance, $182 billion, was attributable to undeclared business and farm income reported on Schedule C and F on individual returns. “This increase in the tax gap underscores the importance of increased IRS compliance efforts on key areas,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in a statement.

Key Chip Suppliers for Apples's Iphone15

 

Heat map of the Nasdaq 100's QQQ performance so far in 2023

 

Reddit will start paying you real money for good posts

 

Reddit announced a contributor program on Monday, which awards users actual, real money for their fake internet points. Now, eligible users will be able to convert their Reddit gold and karma into fiat currency (no, not crypto), which is disbursed once per month.

So far, the Reddit contributor program is limited to users in the United States (to start, at least) who are over the age of 18 and can verify their identity via Persona and Stripe. Accounts must have existed for over 30 days, and only safe for work posts can be monetized.

This feature was leaked about two months ago in Android Authority, when a reverse engineer found data about the program in an APK teardown.

A user’s Reddit karma (or number of upvotes received) dictates how much money they can earn. To withdraw money, redditors need to earn at least 10 gold within a 30-day period — if they don’t reach the threshold, the balance rolls over. For users with between 100 and 4,999 karma, they will receive $0.90 per 1 gold. Once you earn more than 5,000 karma, you can earn $1 per gold.

Twitter (now called X) launched a similar creator monetization program recently, where some creators can earn ad revenue based on the impressions their posts generate. But there are concerns that programs like this can incentivize spammy posting, or “engagement bait.”

Reddit is also changing its system for awarding gold. Users previously could buy coins, which could then be used to buy gold or other awards, which can be given out to high-quality posts. But Reddit sunsetted the awards and coins system to make gold more straightforward. Now, you can long-press the upvote icon in the app, or hover over it on desktop, to buy gold — prices start at $1.99 for one gold, and go up to $49.00 for 25 gold. So, if top users earn $1.00 per gold, this means that Reddit retains around 50% of the payment. While these features will start rolling out on the app, they won’t be available on web until later this year.

These revamped payment programs arrive at a time when Reddit is in tumult, as parts of its user base still remain hostile due to controversial API changes, which make it unaffordable for many developers to build on Reddit. Popular third-party apps like Apollo, Reddit is Fun, ReddPlanet and Sync have shut down after these changes.

Ark Invest: UiPath and Twilio over Nvidia as stocks to consider

Catherine Wood, CEO and CIO of investment management firm Ark Invest, has favored two less obvious stocks in the artificial intelligence universe.

Wood said that there are two “less obvious plays” to put eyes on. The companies are:

UiPath (PATH), based in New York – a company that builds end-to-end infrastructure that deploys and manages AI-powered automation for businesses.

Twilio (TWLO), based in San Francisco – a business-to-consumer communication platform with engagement functionalities for developers that is powered by Uber Technologies.

At an investor conference in Munich, covered by Bloomberg on Monday, Wood said, “We’re really focused on those companies that most people aren’t talking about right now. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is easy, but it’s also really expensive and very obvious.”

The chipmaker has seen shares surge more than 180% this year, according to Bloomberg, but Ark Innovation ETF Fund cut its holdings in the stock in January and did not participate in the $1 trillion valuation the company received.

Meta 2023 Event

$META is with 109% 1 year gain

 META Connect preview: Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) will hold its Meta Connect live event on September 27-28. The tech company will give consumers a preview of the Meta Quest 3 VR headset, which was formerly known as the Oculus Quest 3. Indications are that a new Qualcomm (QCOM) Snapdragon chip will make the Quest 3 headset the company's most powerful ever and improve the highest resolution display by close to 30%. The Quest 3 is expected to arrive with redesigned Touch Plus controllers and hand-tracking support. Meta Platforms is also expected to update on its AI plans. During the company's Q2 earnings, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta was building a number of new AI-powered products, some of which could act as assistants, coaches, and interact with businesses. The Meta Connect AI reveals could also include a formal announcement of new AI chatbots with different personalities, details around Meta's GenAI Agent opportunity, and use cases for Meta's GenAI Ad Tools & Features. While shares of Meta Platforms (META) turned lower during the Meta Connect event last year, several analysts have called it potential positive share price catalyst this time around the metaverse block.

Key events: Huawei will hold a product event for the media on September 25. Analysts will be looking for details on the latest Mate 60 Pro 5G smartphone and the chip used. The last Huaweu phone introduced used a chip made by China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International (OTCQX:SIUIF), which caused concern in the U.S. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said recently that the U.S. needed to get more information on the precise character and composition of the chip powering Mate 60 Pro. Workday's (NASDAQ:WDAY) four-day Workday Rising conference will begin on September 26. The two-day Code Conference hosted by Vox Media will run on September 26-27. Notable speakers include X CEO Linda Yaccarino, AMD (AMD) CEO Lisa Su, Roblox (RBLX) CEO David Baszucki, Warner Music (WMG) CEO Robert Kyncl, and General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra. In the energy sector, TotalEnergies (TTE) will hold its Investor Day event on September 27, with top management expected to update on strategy and the financial outlook. Shares of TotalEnergies have been volatile after prior investor day events. Check out Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch for a more detailed listing of upcoming events.