IRS must assist taxpayers

Reading (Pa.) Eagle: IRS Commissioner John A. Koskinen blamed $1.2 billion in budget cuts since 2010 and another $1.2 billion spent implementing the Affordable Care Act for a cut in taxpayer services that meant millions of callers during the recent filing period were unable to get the help they needed.

But during the same time period, according to a House Ways and Means Committee report, the agency continued to pay bonuses to employees, including $60 million last year alone.

It is absolutely unacceptable to reward workers with bonuses when more than 8 million taxpayers had their calls disconnected by the IRS phone system, and 60 percent of those whose calls were not dropped were unable to talk to a person. And those who did get through had to wait on hold for an average of 30 minutes...

Koskinen contended that the budget cuts were an effort by Republicans in Congress to starve the IRS of funds so that it would not be able to implement Obamacare, as the law requires.

He said the agency requested a total of $600 million over the past two years for computer upgrades to deal with the new laws.