UltimateTax isn’t just about selling professional tax software. We care about the tax industry as a whole! Here is some cringe worthy news that could affect us all next year.
The House has officially passed the bill to cut the IRS budget again for FY 16. The proposed budget is $10.1 billion, which is $2.8 billion below what the Obama administration proposed and $838 million less than the current budget.
Colleen M. Kelley, President of The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) expressed their disappointment stating “This is a draconian budget bill that will make it extraordinarily difficult for the IRS to provide taxpayer assistance and meet its overriding mission of enforcing the tax code. NTEU will urge Congress to reject this spending plan.”
The NTEU also claims that the FY 15 budget had “already impaired the IRS ability to provide taxpayers with the assistance they need and fairly enforce the tax laws enacted by congress. The bill would further erode the IRS’ ability to combat identity fraud, collect more tax revenue and improve taxpayer services.”
Wasn’t John Koskinen just congratulating the IRS for a job well done this year? Maybe he was congratulating them on the billions of dollars they allowed to be paid out fraudulently while hard working, tax paying victims had to go without the money that they earned and paid in all year long!
The way I see it, the IRS should have put safeguards in place to protect taxpayers years ago. After billions and billions of dollars have been unlawfully paid out over the last several years, why is the IRS now suddenly deciding that something needs to be done and putting their foot down? I think if the initiative would have been taken for FY 15 then it would be justified to increase their budget and celebrate a job well done.
