According to a report, a key office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which advocates for taxpayers, said Thursday that the $79.6 million funding boost in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act(IRA) focuses too heavily on enforcement and audits but does little to help U.S taxpayers.
According to the Taxpayer Advocate Service report, for many decades the IRS has been in deficit. It was unable to increase its staff or update its technology. This has led to service delays and underfunding. The IRA was signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022. This gave the IRS a substantial budget boost for the next 10 years to allow it to hire more agents and expand its operations, facilities, and services.
Advocate Erin Collins reported that the IRA had “allocated funds in a way that does not address U.S. taxpayers’ needs, including individuals and families,” according to the report.
The report stated that $3.2 billion was allotted for Taxpayer Services, while $45.6 billion was spent on enforcement. This account for 90% of the budget. An additional $4.8 billion was allocated to modernize the agency’s critical technologies.
“The priority of tax administration now should be to improve taxpayer services, especially after the difficulties of the past few years,” Collins said. To do this, the IRS requires more funding for the Taxpayer Services account and the BSM account. Collins stated that the IRS must find the right balance between serving taxpayers, and following the law.
Collins wrote that “Our nation’s taxpayers should have a responsive, respectful tax administration that serves everyone fairly, isn’t overly burdensome to individuals, families and businesses and instills confidence in our tax system.”
