The Treasury Department wants you to know that it knows the Internal Revenue Service is not that good.
To mark the deadline for filing a federal tax return on Monday, the Treasury announced Long statement I regret the plight of the IRS, which is administered by the Department.
“Today is a turning point in what has been the most difficult period for the agency in recent history,” Natasha Sarin, Treasury adviser for fiscal policy and enforcement, wrote on the agency’s website, blaming “The chronic funding that has starved the IRS to death. ” The tools it needs to serve Americans.
The IRS was still lagging behind in millions of tax returns last year, thanks to outdated technology that forces agency staff to manually file records. New tax laws have given the agency new responsibilities, such as the distribution of the child tax credit to families with minor children.
“The IRS knew that when it entered this season, it didn’t have the manpower or technology to serve Americans the way they should: to answer the phones when calling taxpayers, to help them access all credits and benefits. “They have a right to make sure every taxpayer is paid quickly,” Sarin wrote.
But poor customer service isn’t just caused by bad bureaucracy, it’s caused by political choices made by Congress in recent years, which adds to the burden on the IRS while reducing the agency’s hunger for additional funding. The IRS budget is now 20% lower than in 2010 after the inflation adjustment. According to the Center for Budget and Policy PrioritiesAnd the agency has 20,000 fewer employees.
“Today’s deadline is a change in what has been the most difficult period of agency presentation in recent history.”
– Natasha Sarin, Treasury Advisor for Tax Policy and Implementation
Of course, the tax return will still be a hassle for most people, even if the IRS has more staff and better IT. Most Americans have the right to file taxes online for free, but almost no one uses the “free files” program. Instead, the IRS essentially outsourced the tax return process to private companies like Intuit, which can pay hundreds of dollars for even relatively simple payments. Measures that would allow the IRS to strengthen free or filing options Automatically fill out tax forms that you won’t evaporate, even if the agency already has full payroll information for most Americans with regular payroll jobs.
Democrats have sought to provide substantial funding to the IRS to help the agency bridge the “tax gap,” the difference between U.S. federal income taxes and their voluntary payment. The annual gap is estimated at hundreds of billions; Democrats wanted to use more revenue to help pay for ambitious social spending, but the law stuck.
Republicans, meanwhile, have been cursing the IRS for years and oppose additional funding. They made questionable statements during the Barack Obama administration, for example, that the agency unfairly evaluated conservative nonprofits.
Senator Mike Krapo (Idaho) – the Republican -backed Senate Treasury Secretary who oversees fiscal policy – said at a hearing last week that the IRS budget is at least its historical average (despite falling since 2010 ) Worsening.
“I’m still worried about a big increase in funding that will increase audits of small and medium-sized Americans instead of prioritizing taxpayer services,” Krapo said.
Source: Huffpost
