Tough on crime? Then unleash the tax police

Law and order advocates are demanding increased policing because bands of thieves have smashed and grabbed thousands of dollars from jewelry stores, but many of the same people have no problem hamstringing the IRS from recovering billions in unpaid taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service started income tax season Monday, but Commissioner Charles Rettig warned that the agency was buried in paper last year. The service relies on antiquated computers, too few staff and too many paper forms that should have been automated long ago.

“In many areas, we are unable to deliver the amount of service and enforcement that our taxpayers and tax system deserves and needs,” Rettig said in a statement. “This is frustrating for taxpayers, for IRS employees and for me.”

Typically, the IRS begins the year with about 1 million leftover returns to handle. This year, though, it had 6 million unprocessed 2020 returns as of Dec. 23.

The agency’s shambolic condition is by design, not incompetence. Republicans in Congress have underfunded the agency for decades, blocked attempts to improve enforcement and vilified agents for doing their jobs, which is to make sure everyone pays their fair share.

GOP lawmakers began their assault in 2010, when the IRS budget was $14 billion. By 2020, Congress had cut it to $12 billion, despite inflation and a growing population. The agency reduced the number of auditors by a third, down to 9,500, the same number the agency had in 1953.

In fiscal year 2010, the IRS completed 4,325 criminal investigations, but by 2021 that number dropped to 2,766, which was higher than the performance goal set by Congress.

The agency estimates corporations alone are underpaying $125 billion in taxes every year because they know the odds of getting audited are so low.

“Years of steady decrease in the number of special agents available to work cases (due to attrition and limited hiring) as well as (the criminal investigation division’s) focus on traditional tax case programs, continue to impact … overall performance,” the General Accounting Office said in its annual report.

Call me a misanthrope, but I suspect far more than 2,766 tax

By 2020, the number of IRS auditors was down to 9,500, the same number it had in 1953.

Associated Press file photo