Paul L. Caron
Dean





Wednesday, May 4, 2016

The IRS Scandal, Day 1091

IRS Logo 2Forbes:  Members Of Congress Push To Shut Down IRS Forever, by Kelly Phillips Erb:

Shut down the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

That’s the recommendation from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) to House Republicans. The proposal to shutter the IRS, together with other policy initiatives, were submitted by RSC Chairman Bill Flores (R-TX) to House Republican task forces for consideration.

As part of its proposal on tax reform, the RSC slammed the IRS, writing:

In its current form, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is at best an inefficient behemoth weighing down our economy. At its worst, the IRS has shown a capacity for outright corruption and political targeting.

The proposal went on to claim:

Under the Obama Administration, the IRS has illegally targeted conservatives. It has channeled millions of taxpayer dollars away from taxpayer assistance for employee bonuses. It has allowed taxpayer information to be compromised in a data breach. The IRS has even intentionally leaked confidential taxpayer information. Despite these facts, the president’s budget actually calls for increasing spending on the IRS by $1 billion.

The solution? “[T]he complete elimination of the IRS.” ...

That’s not to say that the news is all good. The IRS has been plagued by scandal. The tax exempt organization scandal, in particular, has left a bad taste in the mouths of many taxpayers. Concerns over security weaknesses and technology failures have made taxpayers understandably wary.

In response, Congress has hammered the federal agency by slashing the budget. In 2015, seven former IRS commissioners signed onto a joint letter to Congress speaking out against further reductions, noting “[o]ver the last fifty years, none of us has ever witnessed anything like what has happened to the IRS appropriations over the last five years and the impact these appropriations reductions are having on our tax system.” That same year, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson noted that “the budget environment of the last five years has brought about a devastating erosion of taxpayer service, harming taxpayers individually and collectively.” ...

And interestingly, for all that Congress wants to complain that IRS is spending too much money and has too much power, Congress keeps handing over responsibilities to the agency. Obamacare? Up to IRS to administer. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (called FATCA)? The IRS administers that, too. That new passport law? IRS. Even as Congress decries the agency, they’re the very ones guaranteeing the need for its existence.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/05/the-irs-scandal-day-1090-1.html

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