IRS slowdown isn’t due to budget cuts

Published 7:09 pm Saturday, January 17, 2015

In 2013, Democrats in the Obama administration took action to make the government shutdown more “painful” — in effect, throwing a hissy fit to punish taxpayers for Republicans’ resolve.

Parks were selectively closed, and even open-air memorials were barricaded to keep out elderly veterans and school groups. White House tours were canceled with no notice (again, hurting only schoolchildren who were scheduled to visit the home of the president and his family).

The administration is at it again. The IRS has announced that due to budget cuts Republicans made, it won’t be able to assist many taxpayers this tax season, or send out refunds within a reasonable amount of time.

“Got a question for the IRS? Good luck reaching someone by phone,” the Associated Press reports. “The tax agency says only half of the 100 million people expected to call this year will be able to reach a person. Callers who do get through may have to wait on hold for 30 minutes or more to talk to someone who will answer only the simplest questions. … The IRS will no longer help low-income taxpayers fill out their returns, and tax refunds could be delayed for people who file paper returns.”

It was the simpering, smirking IRS Commissioner John Koskinen who announced the agency will no longer do its job. Naturally, he blames Congress.

“In some ways the Congress appeared to be trying to do its best to keep us from being able to get operational this time,” Koskinen told the AP.

He even sent out an email to IRS employees warning of a shutdown of the agency.

“Unfortunately, this means at this time we need to plan for the possibility of a shutdown of IRS operations for two days later this fiscal year, which will involve furloughing employees on those days,” Koskinen wrote in the email. “Shutting down the IRS will be a last resort, but I want to be upfront with you about the problem.”

That’s ridiculous. We’re actually only talking about $346 million in cuts, from $10.9 billion — that’s about a 3 percent cut. Any competent manager can weather a 3 percent cut, with some minor tweaks.

His threat of a shutdown isn’t just penny wise and pound foolish; it’s penny foolish, too. The agency stands to lose $2 billion in revenues that will remain uncollected if he plans to curtail enforcement.

Perhaps it’s time to give some teeth to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which is front-and-center on the IRS agency website.

“Taxpayers have the right to know what they need to do to comply with the tax laws,” it reads in part. “Taxpayers have the right to receive prompt, courteous, and professional assistance in their dealings with the IRS, to be spoken to in a way they can easily understand, to receive clear and easily understandable communications from the IRS, and to speak to a supervisor about inadequate service.”

Koskinen’s threats to make taxpayers suffer this season are unacceptable. He should be held accountable for yet more agency abuse of citizens.