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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Business
Gene Marks

$80bn for the IRS? Fund the US taxman, but not like this

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen at an IRS event earlier this month.
The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, at an IRS event earlier this month. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Ask any accountant and we’ll tell you that the Internal Revenue Service is woefully underfunded. Our clients complain about the long delays for refunds, the interminable waits for getting answers and the frustrations waiting for guidance on issues that affect their businesses.

But it’s not just accountants that are clamoring for more IRS funding. Most taxpayers I know will admit that the IRS needs a serious upgrade. So why the big brouhaha over the $80bn approved last year to hire more auditors and upgrade the agency’s pathetically outdated systems? The answer lies not in why it’s so badly needed. It’s in how badly it was sold to the American public.

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