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HATE THE IRS? WHAT THEY’RE DOING TO YOUR PHONE CALLS MIGHT MAKE YOU HATE THEM MORE

The IRS has targeted conservatives, there’s no doubt about it. So plenty of people are upset about that.
But now if you make a phone call into the IRS during the busy tax season they’ll probably ignore your call. This time it isn’t a partisan issue.
Apparently, the IRS is underfunded. So as they receive calls to help with filing, they’re going to be ignoring 60% or more of those calls — even though there are more than 87,000 people working for the IRS.
Imagine if a business ignored 60% of its calls. That business wouldn’t be around for very long, would it?
No matter, the IRS doesn’t have to provide good service or any service at all. They could sit around playing Monopoly all day and still get paid.
And while the agency is underfunded, do you think that will stop them from performing tax audits? No, it won’t. Audits will continue even if they can’t help you file your taxes.
The Washington Times reports:
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Tuesday that service at his agency has gotten so bad that they are ignoring more than 60 percent of taxpayers’ phone calls during this tax season.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Mr. Koskinen pleaded with more money, saying a budget boost would help them staff their overwhelmed customer service lines. He also said it would help reverse staffing cuts in their compliance division, where he said the government will lose $2 billion this year in money it would otherwise have been able to collect if it had better staffing.
Congress has cut or held the agency’s funding static for several years now, with lawmakers deeming the agency recalcitrant in solving problems, and unrepentant for having targeted tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny.
The poor customer service is growing worse at the agency. Just a couple of weeks ago Mr. Koskinen had said they were answering 43 percent of phone calls, so dropping below 40 percent suggests things have deteriorated as the April 15 tax deadline nears.
It’s extremely maddening that we’re taxed so much. It becomes even more maddening when you know the IRS isn’t even available to help the people who are trying to fulfill their lawful duty and pay their taxes.
In all things tax related, the more confusing it is to file taxes, the better it is for the IRS. That way they can catch you on a technicality and charge you interest and penalties.
So if you’re confused about why the IRS can’t fulfill their duties, it’s likely they set it up to be that way. There will be no tax filing help for you… but there might be an audit later.