Independent contractors have loosely had the same $600 threshold for a long time (you’re supposed to report all income, but the payer is required to send the contractor a 1099 when the income is $600 or more). As far as I can tell, the new $600 rule is kind of just connecting the dots and making it harder to ignore the tax responsibility when the money is transferred through apps like Venmo. I agree it’s not a great thing to focus on when the wealthy are not paying their fair share of taxes, but it’s also not a huge change.