Five former IRS commissioners: Biden's proposal would create a fairer tax system
Opinion by Lawrence B. Gibbs, Fred T. Goldberg, Margaret M. Richardson, Charles O. Rossotti and John Koskinen
As former IRS commissioners, we know the challenges of administering the tax system, which has grown in size and complexity, particularly in recent years.
Yet, during the past decade, budget cuts have substantially diminished the IRS workforce. In real terms, the IRS budget is smaller than it was in 2010, and it has 21,000 fewer employees. The IRS has fewer auditors today than at any time since World War II. Moreover, the agency has struggled to keep pace as complicated tax structures, such as partnerships and pass-throughs, have grown in popularity. Workforce attrition has been most pronounced among agents who examine these complicated tax filings: Thirty-five percent fewer revenue agents handle these returns today than a decade ago.
While the IRS has been starved for resources, its responsibilities have grown. Since 2010, the agency has been tasked with administering significant provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the IRS has delivered three rounds of federal direct payments to hundreds of millions of taxpayers. It is gearing up to accomplish another historic first: delivering periodic advance payments of an expanded child tax credit.
Between a decreased budget and increased responsibilities, something had to give. Unfortunately, that something has been taxpayer service. The National Taxpayer Advocate recently reported that just 24 percent of calls to the IRS are answered; at the onset of the covid-19 crisis, the IRS was unable to answer taxpayer questions for months. There has also been a substantial decline in enforcement scrutiny of high-earners and large corporations with complex returns: Audit rates for millionaires have fallen more than 70 percent since 2011; audits of large corporations decreased from essentially 100 percent a decade ago to less than 50 percent, according to the most recent IRS estimates.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-former-irs-commissioners-bidens-proposal-would-create-a-fairer-tax-system/2021/05/04/c4ee8346-acfc-11eb-ab4c-986555a1c511_story.html