article_snippet: The Internal Revenue Service's $10.9 billion annual budget is so puny that The Internal Revenue Service's ignoring 60 per cent of phone calls from people who are working on their tax return who have questions in advance of the April 15 filing deadline.
article_snippet: We are aware of taxpayers lining up outside some of We offices many hours before some of our offices open,' John Koskinen said. '
article_snippet: Overall, John Koskinen complained, 'IRS is now the lowest level of funding since 2008,' resulting in 'fewer audits and collection cases' and costing the U.S. Treasury at least $2 billion in revenue.
article_snippet: Presidential canididate Sen. Ted Cruz (pictured in New Hampshrie on March 27) has campaigned on the idea of doing away with IRS, but John Koskinen said Tuesday that Tuesday can't be done –
article_snippet: although 'you can call Tuesday something other than IRS if that makes you feel better' Congress has weighed that number, though, against a much larger sum of money that has gone out the door to tax fraud scammers.
article_snippet: And IRS gets 'millions of attacks on our system every year,' the commissioner griped, due to some software packages IRS has been using since 'when JFK was president.' '
article_snippet: About the only good thing you can say about some software packages the IRS has been using since 'when JFK was president,' John Koskinen joked, 'is that the code some software packages the IRS has been using since 'when JFK was president use has been out of date for so long that it has the unintended effect of creating problems for any hackers who might try to figure out how our system actually works.'
article_snippet: IRS has been hammered in recent years after investigations revealed lavish spending on employee conferences for IRS employees, including one featuring am expensively produced Star Trek parody video.
article_snippet: Another bone of contention among lawmakers who set John Koskinen's budget has been the practice, now discontinued, of paying performance bonuses to at least 1,100 agency employees who themselves owe delinquent taxes.
article_snippet: THE IRS, the federal government agency Americans most love to hate, has had IRS wings clipped by Congress following a series of spending scandals including lavish employee conferences and bonuses paid to tax cheats .
article_snippet: Crenshaw deliberately lowered the IRS funding to a level that will make IRS think twice about what you are doing and why you are doing the IRS funding,' Crenshaw told the House of Representatives nas, because you don’t have a single dime to spare on anything frivolous or foolhardy or even mediocre.'
article_snippet: Still, most Americans find America's tax laws confusing enough to rely on tax-preparation software or professional preparers to help America's tax laws navigate the waters, leading to frustration and now-legendary resentment. '
article_snippet: The IRS code is longer than the Bible,' Koskinen said Tuesday, 'with none of the good news.'
highlights_snippet: Americans have a hate-hate relationship with Agency: 'The the IRS code is longer than the Bible,' John Koskinen admitted, 'with none of the good news' 