IRS Funding under fire

IRS funding under fire! The House approved HR 5485, the “Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017,” which severely cuts funding for the IRS to $10.9 billion. This reflects a decrease of $236 million compared to fiscal year 2016. The bill must now be reconciled with a Senate version that proposes funding of $11.2 billion (same as 2016). President Obama’s advisers are urging him to veto the bill, saying it hinders “efforts to provide robust service to taxpayers, improve enforcement operations, and implement new statutory responsibilities.”

Well, well, this is interesting indeed. The IRS forced to squeak by on a mere 10.9 billion!

You know, I have a novel idea. How about we stop giving over $1,000,000 in bonuses to IRS employees who haven’t filed a return in several years and owe significant amounts of back taxes?

This CNN article nails it with a revealing headline.

The IRS was in damage control mode Tuesday after an audit revealed that it paid bonuses to employees who were in trouble over tax issues themselves.
More than $2.8 million, plus thousands of hours of paid time off, were doled out over two years to employees who had recently been disciplined for various types of misconduct, according to an audit report. About $1 million of that money was given as bonuses to 1,100 employees who were in trouble over tax-related issues. 

The tax problems include willful understatement of tax liabilities, late payments and under-reporting of income, according to the report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.  <<Read the entire article>>