Slashdot Mirror
IRS Warns of Downtime Risk As Congress Makes Cuts
dcblogs writes Successive budget cuts by Congress are forcing the Internal Revenue Service to delay system modernization that would improve its ability to prevent fraud. In telling of the problems ahead, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen almost sounded desperate in a recent memo to employees. The IRS is heavily dependent on technology, and the impact of the budget reduction to IT this year was put at $200 million. It will mean delays in replacing "aging IT systems" and "increasing the risk of downtime," Koskinen said. A new system to protect against ID theft will be delayed, and other IT cost-efficiency efforts curbed.The budget cuts have been so deep IRS employees are being warned of a possible shutdown for two days before this fiscal year ends in October. It would be a forced furlough for agency workers. The IRS employed 84,189 last year, down from 86,400 in 2013. When attrition is considered, the IRS says it lost between 16,000 and 17,000 employees since 2010. The agency has also been hit with a hiring freeze, and appears to be hiring very few people in IT compared to other agencies.
I was wondering how long it would take before the slashdot conservative majority brought out that conspiracy conjecture again. I see it took less than 20 comments and less than 15 minutes.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
You mean the leadership that's been in the tank for the Democrat Party? The same leadership that will no doubt blame a lack of IT budget for failing hard drives; the special ones that contain the most important email??!
Fair Tax baby! The IRS needs a massive restructuring, if not completely eliminated and replaced with something else along with tax system.
Life is not for the lazy.
I was wondering how long it would take before the slashdot conservative majority brought out that conspiracy conjecture again.
So, you're here to "correct the record" and explain why the IRS really didn't do it even though they admitted it? Clueless and hopeless.
The question isn't "did they do it," but how much are they covering up and how close does it get to the seats of Democratic party power?
IRS admits targeting conservatives for tax scrutiny in 2012 election
The IRS Scandal, Day 623
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
you idiot.
they didn't falsely attack private citizens.
they weren't an attack tool of the DNC.
they ddnt lie to congress.
the entire IRS "scandal" was manufactured from whole cloth.
There seems to be a very large gap between your understanding of events and the facts. Here is a modest start for you.
IRS admits targeting conservatives for tax scrutiny in 2012 election
The IRS Scandal, Day 623
Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner reportedly pleaded with her supervisor not to deeply inquire about whether the IRS had unfairly targeted Tea Party and conservative groups for tax-exempt status just ahead of the 2012 presidential election, according to new emails obtained by a government watchdog group.
Joseph H. Grant, former Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division deputy director, was specifically asked by Lerner to refrain from visiting the tax agency's Cincinnati office and keep from asking specific questions related to any Congressional inquiries, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit.
Lerner wanted to work for Obama activist group
Lois Lerner talked about working for Obama’s group Organizing for Action while she had official oversight over it
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Yes. It's that simple: Shortsighted moronic stupidity.
But this is the GOP playbook: break things so they don't work, then complain that they don't work, and break them some more.
Case in point: the IRS.
Now nobody particularly likes the taxman.
But the IRS is responsible for funding the rest of government.
So impairing the governments ability to actually pay for the things it does, is stupid.
Specifically, for every dollar spent on the IRS, government takes in 5-7 dollars.
So cutting the IRS, impairing it, preventing it from doing its job, WILL RESULT IN INCREASED DEFICITS.
Customer service wait times, ie help filling out forms, has already more than doubled due to lack of staffing to answer calls. Nearly 40% of
callers give up and hangup before even being helped. There's the issue of tax fraud that they are unable to prevent/investigate because of
lack of staffing, meaning some of the refunds they payout are fraudlent.
And again, there is the simple issue of, if you want government to actually pay for the things it does, someone needs to collect that
money. And making it harder for them to due that, is moronic. Sabotaging and impairing the government's ability to function in order to them
blame them for the dysfunction that you ahve caused is the height of hypocrisy. But again: its the standard GOP playbook.
Mr Bookman says it best:
I suppose they think that’s some kind of revenge for the IRS’ perceived persecution of conservatives, but the agency isn’t some
living, breathing entity that feels pain or retribution. It also won’t affect IRS employees all that much, because they’ll keep coming into work,
doing their job and going home at night, just like before.
However, enforcement will decline, tax cheaters will prosper and even be encouraged, honest taxpayers will get played for suckers,
revenue will fall, the deficit will rise and hundreds of thousands of Americans who call the IRS for information or assistance will be stuck on
the line for an eternity before hanging up, angry at what looks from their end to be an arrogant, unresponsive government that is
supposed to be helping them. Those taxpayers will mutter that no business would ever get away with treating its customers that way. They
will be right.
That’s because no business is run by people whose goal is to make customers hate that business. It’s dumb and it’s destructive, but
that’s what happens when we are governed by children.
So next time you complain about government spending money it doesn't have, remember that it was you that did it to yourself.
--
How Stupid Sequester Cuts To The IRS Could Result In A Bigger Deficit
http://thinkprogress.org/econo...
The IRS estimates that every dollar spent on enforcement brings in $4-$5 dollars of additional revenue. As Reuters’ David Cay
Johnston found, every hour spent on corporate tax enforcement bring in more than $9,000 in revenue.
GOP’s childish attack on IRS will hurt honest taxpayers
http://jaybookman.blog.ajc.com...
The IRS Oversight Board, a citizen panel created by a Republican Congress in 1998 to help “rein in” the agency, is even more
blunt about the impact of cuts imposed since 2010. IRS staffing is down 26 percent from two decades ago, and some 5,000 enforcement
agents have disappeared from its payroll just since 2010. That’s pretty dumb, since every dollar spent on enforcement is estimated to
produce $7 in additional revenue to help cut the deficit.
The board notes that account
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
They also targeted progressive groups, in fact more progressive groups than conservatives. Of course since the congresscritters specifically ordered the IRS to **ONLY** report on actions against conservative (well, really, radical right-wing rather than actual conservative) groups that's the only news that you saw on Glen Beck's show so you may not be aware of the reality.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin