House Subcommittee Passes IRS Funding Bill
The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee this week passed a bill that would appropriate $11.4 billion to IRS for FY 2009.
The bill would grant IRS budget authority to spend $5.1 billion on enforcement, $2.2 on taxpayer services, and $3.8 billion on operations.
The total is about $40 million more than the president’s request for the agency. The bill will next be considered by the full House Appropriations Committee before it goes to the House floor.
Closing the Tax Gap: An estimated $290 billion in taxes owed go unpaid every year. The IRS Oversight Board noted in a recent report that “the tax gap is an injustice to compliant taxpayers who ultimately are bearing the financial burden of those who do not pay what they owe, whether intentionally or not.” • Enforcement: $5.1 billion, $337 million above 2008 and matching the President’s request, to catch tax cheats through audits, collection efforts, and technology improvements.
—- As you can see from the above, over $5,000,000,000 (Five Billion), allocated for IRS enforcement. Enforcement will encompass aggressive collection efforts for collecting back taxes, and additional tax audits to ensure compliance and catch tax cheats.