The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency.

IRS leaders said they collected $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income taxpayers in the past few months.

In one case, an individual had used money owed to the government to buy a Maserati and a Bentley, and roughly 100 high-income people tried to get favorable tax treatment through Puerto Rico without meeting certain tax requirements. Many of those cases are expected to face criminal investigation.

“It just shows you how much money is out there in delinquent taxes, and there are so many more cases for us to tackle,” said new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, just four months into the job. “There’s just a significant opportunity there.”

No comparable figures exist for how those high-dollar tax collections compared with previous years, said Jodie Reynolds, speaking for the agency. Rather, the new data reflect an initiative that started after the agency received a new funding stream through the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August by Democrats.

The new data collection “is an example of work we expect to continue to focus on with IRA funding,” she said.

Werfel, in a call with reporters on Thursday, also cited the federal tax collector’s enhanced ability to identify tax delinquents from resources provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The agency was in line for an $80 billion infusion under the law but that money is vulnerable to potential cutbacks. House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress this summer. The White House said the debt deal also has a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert that money to other non-defense programs.