The GOP-controlled House has voted to slash the budget for the Internal Revenue Service’s tax enforcement division by $1.2 billion, a 25 percent cut that would mean fewer audits of taxpayers and make it more likely that people who cheat on their taxes will get away with it.
The House approved the cuts by voice vote after little debate Monday night as it took up a $21 billion spending bill that sets the IRS budget.
The cuts reflect GOP outrage over the agency’s scrutiny of tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status and frustration over the agency’s failure to produce thousands of emails by Lois Lerner, the official formerly in charge of the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status.
“The use of a government agency to harass, target, intimidate and threaten lawful, honest citizens was the worst form of authoritarianism,” said Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., author of an amendment to cut the IRS tax enforcement budget by $353 million. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., followed up with an amendment to cut $788 million more. The underlying bill already contained a $72 million cut from last year’s $5 billion enforcement budget, bringing the total cut to $1.2 billion.
The Democratic floor leader on the funding bill, Rep. Jose Serrano of New York, opposed the amendments but opted against demanding a roll call vote.
“The answer is not to cut the IRS to bare bones, because our next problem is that the deficit will continue to grow because we won’t be able to do the proper collecting of tax dollars in this country,” Serrano said.
Budget cuts already are hurting the agency’s ability to police tax returns, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has said.
Taxpayers’ chances of getting audited are lower than they have been in years. And this year, the IRS will have fewer agents auditing returns than at any time since at least the 1980s.
One’s chances of getting audited vary greatly, based on income. The more you make, the more likely you are to get a letter from the IRS.
Only 0.9 percent of people making less than $200,000 were audited last year, according to IRS statistics. That’s the lowest rate since the IRS began publishing the statistic in 2006.
(For the rest of the article, click the link.)
The deficit is not growing because the IRS is not collecting enough taxes. It is because Congress refuses to reign in out-of-control unconstitutional spending.
The best solution to this whole corrupted IRS scandal is to totally revise our tax codes and create a small number of tax rates with minimal deductions that would simplify tax collection and the need for audits, etc. Going to a "fair" tax or something like that would reduce the size of the IRS by 80% and the need for expensive tax lawyers and CPA tax preparations for the majority of Americans. Getting politicians to agree to tax reform is the challenge that has been keeping it from happening as just last year there was legislation submitted in the House to revise our tax codes but never made it to consideration in the Senate.
How do we fix this? HB-25, the FairTax Act. An actual bill, filed in Congress RIGHT NOW with 75+ sponsors and co-sponsors. Pay taxes only on what you buy, not on what you make. Simple, clean, complete and FAIR!
Even the Tea Party economist can not get there fact correct
Let me say this in the most simple language you can understand
Deficits are created by spending more than you earn. Since the Marxism Government does not produce one dime to the GNP. The simple solution is the Fair Tax no more IRS even illegals would pay tax’s DUH!!
If we end the FED and the IRS we won't need income tax at all, except to pay for bozo care. End all of it. End welfare and sales tax can be cut. Let people be responsible for themselves.
Tax cheats, the biggest tax cheats in the U.S. are the IRS/Obama cabal & the P O S illegals.
Indeed, the Obama cabal is currently raking in RECORD HIGH tax revenues.
You'll have to end social security and medicare/medicaid because that is almost HALF the budget. $1.7 TRILLION dollars total. That would massively cut down the budget which would enable us to pay off this crazy debt over time. Now I want to shrink government to as small as it can possibly get so I'd also be cutting EVERYTHING massively. lol. But ss and mm is a start.
I think there will be a lot more “cheating”- although I hate to use that word. Is it considered “cheating” to withhold information from a rogue agency with a metaphorical gun to your head? The problem is that with the recent scandals the IRS have lost all “moral authority”. (Please don’t goggle when I use IRS and “moral authority” in the same sentence.) What I mean is that the system works because most people consider it their patriotic duty to pay their taxes. Fear is useful but cannot be relied on as an effective long-term strategy for consistent revenue raising. So what happens when the tax collecting agency starts acting like a criminal enterprise. Will people still consider it their patriotic duty to pay their taxes in full and without subterfuge?
Of course I meant don’t “giggle”.
Exactly, cutting taxes is not an expense any more than creating another government job and then taxing it is not revenue(it is a net loss). Get rid of the IRS completely, I'm ok with sales tax, get rid of income taxes.
What’s the difference? None of you faketriots want to pay taxes anyway.
OK, so show me the person who *wants* to pay taxes? Do you want to, or do you think it is your patriotic duty to pay taxes? Knowing what you know about the IRS, do you feel any different? Or are you ok with it because they’re only targeting people you disagree with?