IRS Budget Cuts Continue to Erode Service

Posted on March 03, 2015

The number of IRS automated collection system employees has dropped 30% since 2010.

As a result, case inventories outpaced closures, cases took longer to close and fewer enforcement actions were taken. The number of liens and levies has dropped by more than half from 2010 to 2013.

In 2010, the IRS issued 2.94 million levies and 550,000 tax liens. However, the IRS only issued 1.22 million levies and 200,000 tax liens in 2013. Worse yet, taxpayer delinquent accounts increased from a low of $30.36 billion at the end of 2012 to $43.92 billion in 2013. Unassigned cases also grew by 35%, taking nearly 62 weeks to resolve.

The IRS states that budget cuts and the redirection of resources to other priorities such as identity theft are the reason for the poor statistics.

The IRS believes that budget cuts hurt tax collection which, in turn, threatens the nation’s revenue collection. Do you favor a weak IRS if it threatens the nation’s revenue collection?