IRS, union say it needs more workers to do the job right

http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/budget-cuts-have-left-the-irs-a-little-thin-1.1307731

APRIL 13, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015, 6:52 AM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN

As the April 15 tax filing deadline approaches, the head of the Internal Revenue Service and the union for its workers agree on one thing: Five years of budget cuts have left the agency struggling to do its job.

Congress has cut the IRS budget by a total of $1.2 billion since fiscal 2011, to the current $10.9 billion. That led to a four-year hiring freeze, which slashed the workforce from more than 108,000 workers to about 90,000, according to the National Treasury Employees Union. In New Jersey, about 980 people work for the IRS, down more than 21 percent from 2011, the union said.

"I believe that the underfunding of the agency is the most critical challenge facing the IRS today," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a speech last week in Washington. "This is not just about the agency. It's about the entire tax system."

"Taxpayers are suffering and the economy is hurting as a result of these ill-advised cuts," Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said last week. "Enforcing the world's most complex tax code is a massive undertaking. To do it right, the IRS requires an appropriate level of staffing."

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