After giving the IRS its biggest budget boost in years, some lawmakers are turning to new efforts to deliver resources to the beleaguered agency in the middle of a tax filing season plagued by lengthy delays and a hefty backlog of unprocessed returns.
Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, are assembling a proposal focused on modernizing the IRS — a rare area of bipartisan agreement when it comes to the nation’s tax collectors — that could involve dedicated funding for the perennially cash-strapped agency. But Democrats’ other goals for bolstering the agency likely hinge on agreeing to a larger budget reconciliation package they can pass without GOP support.
“This is … clearly moving in the right direction,” Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said after the IRS got a 5.6 percent budget increase in the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending package. “We’ve got a lot to do. And we need new tech; we need more investigators; we need hiring authority.”
