The report is the Service is looking for 10,000 or so new hires ….
The Republicans probably aren’t a bit happy with this , since they have been ‘knee capping ‘ the Internal Revenue from back in the Bush days when the agency went after conservative non profits doing political stuff…
The Biden admin feels that increased staff at the IRS will catch up problems from the pandemic staff hits and increased call’s for the government to crack down on tax cheating by the rich( Like Trump?) and some businesses and boost the US government tax revenue….
Biden could use some haedlines about gettting more money from rich people ….
What’s happening in Kansas City provides a window into the problems plaguing the I.R.S., which is mired in a political and logistical mess that has frustrated taxpayers, angered lawmakers and put a key source of funding for President Biden’s economic agenda in jeopardy.
Officials have warned of another rocky tax filing season ahead, saying it could be a “very frustrating tax season for both tax payers and tax professionals.” Democrats have pointed to the tumult as evidence that the agency needs more funding. Mr. Biden has called for investing $80 billion in the agency over a decade to help crack down on tax cheats, estimating that would raise $400 billion in tax revenue.
But tax-averse Republicans, who have spent years cutting the agency’s budget, have seized on the I.R.S.’s problems as proof it should not be given more money or responsibility, with at least one lawmaker calling for the tax collector to be abolished.
Much of the agency’s current woes can be traced to those budget cuts, which have eroded the agency’s ability to function at a critical moment. Staffing shortages and antiquated technology have collided with a pandemic that kept much of the agency’s work force at home while the I.R.S. was turned into an economic relief spigot responsible for churning out checks and other stimulus payments to millions of Americans.
The agency’s work force of about 75,000 is the same size as it was in 1970. Its enforcement staff has fallen by over 30 percent since 2010, and audits of millionaires have declined by more than 70 percent. And its budget has declined by nearly 20 percent, when accounting for inflation, during the last decade.
At the same time, the tax code has become more byzantine, and the number of individuals filing tax returns has grown by about 7 percent, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The federal government has had to wrestle with well-financed corporations using complex tax avoidance maneuvers and the rise of digital currencies, which have made transactions more opaque and harder to tax….