The IRS Scandal, Day 1274: Koskinen Says It Is Time To 'Move Beyond' The Scandal And Restore The IRS's Budget

Bloomberg BNA, We Can’t Afford’ More IRS Budget Cuts, Koskinen Proclaims:

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is fired up about what he sees as crippling budget reductions, and he isn’t being shy about showing it.

Koskinen spent nearly 10 minutes today laying out the massive risks of future budget cuts to the agency, and describing his plan to remind members of Congress during future appropriations processes just what could happen if the IRS doesn’t receive an injection of funds. Agency funding is down $900 million since 2010. ...

Members of Congress—who will likely tackle a massive, year-end funding package in December—need to understand that a starving IRS can’t provide the government with the money it needs to function, Koskinen said. The agency is down 5,000 revenue agents and criminal investigators from six years ago, he said, and it can give back anywhere from four to 10 times the amount of money it’s given in terms of additional revenues.

Koskinen also had strong words for the members of Congress who are continuing to punish the agency for the years-old scandal involving scrutiny of groups applying for tax exemptions. Fury from some Republican lawmakers has continued since. Several members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus say Koskinen, who wasn’t at the IRS at the time, deserves to be impeached over the matter, and they almost succeeded in bringing the issue to a House floor vote earlier this fall.

“My hope is at some point we can move beyond some of the problems of the past. The whole c4 issue and the IG’s report was three and a half years ago, and my hope is over time we’ll be able to convince people that we’ve taken all the recommendations anyone has made in the investigative area, and from the Senate Finance Committee, and we are committed to ensuring the mistakes never happen again. They shouldn’t have happened, I think it was a bad mistake, and it unfairly treated a whole set of organizations that got put up in long delays,” he said.

“My hope is as we move beyond that we can then have a more direct discussion about the resource needs of the agency.”

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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1272: Why The IRS Scandal Still Matters To Republicans And Democrats (Nov. 1, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1259: George Will — Trump Is Right That Elections Are Rigged, And The IRS Is Exhibit A (Oct. 19, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1256: The IRS Spent $12 Million For Microsoft Cloud-Based Email Archive That Was Incompatible With Its On-Premises Email System And Never Used (Oct. 16, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1251: Bill O'Reilly Calls For A Special Prosecutor (Oct. 11, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1250 (Oct. 10, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1248 (Oct. 8, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1247 (Oct. 7, 2017)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1245 (Oct. 5, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1244 (Oct. 4, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1242 (Oct. 2, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1241 (Oct. 1, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1240 (Sept. 30, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1239 (Sept. 29, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1238 (Sept. 28, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1236 (Sept. 26, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1235 (Sept. 25, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1234 (Sept. 24, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1231 (Sept. 21, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1230 (Sept. 20, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1216 (Sept. 6, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1212 (Sept. 2, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1211 (Sept. 1, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1210 (Aug. 31, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1209 (Aug. 30, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1207 (Aug. 28, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1206 (Aug. 27, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1205 (Aug. 26, 2016)
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• The IRS Scandal, Day 1203 (Aug. 24, 2016) 
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1202 (Aug. 23, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1201 (Aug. 22, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1101-1200 (May 14, 2016 - Aug. 21, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1001-1100 (Feb. 4, 2016 - May 13, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 901-1000 (Oct. 27, 2015 - Feb. 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 201