BUDGET/IRS/TAXES: “The Internal Revenue Service, after years of budget cuts, will have its hands full implementing the new tax law, according to the agency’s in-house public advocate.
The tax agency needs to update forms, create new definitions, write regulations and field questions from taxpayers, which tend to increase when Congress passes new laws. That will be challenging for the IRS, which is planning to answer just 60% of taxpayer calls during the tax-filing season and has cut its training budget by 75% since 2009, said Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate…
It’s far from clear, however, whether Congress will provide the IRS with additional money to implement the new tax system.
Since Republicans took over the House of Representatives in January 2011, they have clamped down on the agency’s funding, a trend that accelerated after a 2013 inspector general’s report found the IRS had used inappropriate criteria in giving scrutiny to some conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status… The IRS currently lacks a full-time commissioner and a permanent chief counsel, or top lawyer. Those are the only two politically appointed positions at the agency.
President Donald Trump hasn’t nominated anyone to replace commissioner John Koskinen, whose term expired in November, or former chief counsel William Wilkins, who left in January 2017.”
-Richard Rubin, “IRS Needs Funding for GOP Tax Overhaul, Report Says,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 10, 2018 10:19am