Posted on 02/17/2015 2:07:04 PM PST by Taxman
Thousands of new Internal Revenue Service employees will not be shouldering the regulatory burden Obamacare rules have heaped onto the tax agency, despite IRS claims that it needed massive additional funding to hire such support staff.
Only 483 of the 9,245 new hires President Obama is seeking for the IRS in his 2016 budget proposal would be assigned to work on Obamacare programs, according to a budget summary published by the federal tax agency.
As the agency tasked with enforcing Obamacare’s individual mandate provision, the IRS must for the first time this year assess a fine against people who were eligible for the government-funded health insurance but declined to enroll.
The 11.29 percent increase in the IRS workforce would bring it to a total of 91,486, compared to its current 81,279 employee workforce, if Congress approves it as requested.
The huge requested increase in the IRS workforce was just one of multiple hikes in the tax agency's spending being sought by Obama. The request includes an 18.43 percent increase for the IRS investigations budget, 9.96 percent for exams and collections and a 13 percent boost in IRS regulatory spending.
Other spending increases sought by the agency for 2016 include 49.87 percent for information services, 30.75 percent for business systems modernization, 30.36 percent for operations support, 17.38 percent for infrastructure and 11.39 percent for shared services and support.
Most of the new hires requested by the IRS would focus on the agency’s effort to crack down on tax delinquency and fraud or ways to improve internal operations, according to President Obama's budget proposal for the federal tax agency for 2016.
Some of the new hires not hired directly for Obamacare-related work would be doing chores indirectly related to the health care program. For example, nearly 3,000 new employees would handle problems and questions from taxpayers — many of which will arise from confusing Obamacare rules.
The IRS made its push for $300 million worth of new “taxpayer services” staff even as the number of returns filed using only its website skyrocketed in the early days of this year’s tax season.
Although IRS Commissioner John Koskinen warned that customer service would plummet and people would not receive their refunds in a timely manner this year due to the $346 million cut in the agency’s 2015 budget, increasing reliance on IRS.gov for information and filing has actually allowed it to hand out more refunds this year than the same time last year, according to an IRS update made public Thursday.
Next year’s budget includes an additional $23 million to enforce tax rules for non-profits.
“It will enhance the streamlined application process for exempt organizations seeking tax-exempt status,” the budget request said of the non-profit initiative, which includes a proposal to hire 159 new staff to the tax-exempt team.
The agency’s tax-exempt division formerly headed by Lois Lerner continues to be the subject of intense congressional scrutiny as a result of the illegal targeting and harassment of conservative and Tea Party non-profit applicants in the 2010 and 2012 campaigns.
Lerner was cited for contempt of Congress by the House after refusing to answer questions from congressional investigators regarding her role in the illegal targeting. Officials in the Obama White House and the IRS have dragged their feet on providing documents sought by Congress, according to critics.
Overall, IRS officials requested nearly a nearly $2 billion budget hike in its 2016 direct appropriation proposal, for a total of $12.9 billion, compared to $10.9 billion for 2015.
OK, FairTaxers, as noted above, Ophonybama has insulted us once again.
Can anyone locate and post a graph of number IRS employees by year?
Didn’t they hire 15,000 attorneys and accountants for Obamacare when it was first implemented?
The IRS vacation bashes were experiencing a low turn out so they need more partiers for the next ones
Obama is PAYING OFF THE IRS for illegally suppressing the Republican vote ahead of the 2012 presidential election. Simple as that.
That’s crazy and Congress should tell em to “Make Do” with current systems and employees.
I swear, in the private sector we use less people each year to do just about anything as technology enables greater productivity.
The most un-American, most punitive agency in the feral gubbamint and the dems want to expand it’s size/scope.
Damn, why can’t the unwarshed masses see the democrats for what they truly are?
We should ABOLISH the IRS. Any gubbamint agency that operates as “guilty until proven innocent” model should not be allowed in our republic.
The American people should be outraged the IRS was used as a political tool to intimidate/strike fear in those with dissenting views from the opposition party.
Good grief folks! Are we still a free country? What has happened during the last 6 1/2 years should trouble each and every American. Breathtaking loss of liberty.
Will there be a line item in that budget for swastika arm bands for their brown shirt uniforms? Inquiring taxpayer minds want to know.
Maybe if they incarcerate all current employees...
I understand that IRS sustained a significant number of computer failures in recent years — lots of hard drives to replace!
This is a direct assault on the American middle class and there will be two classes of people once 0bama is done. The wealthy bankers, Wall St, Hollywood and tort attorneys. And the rest of us, busted. Just like Venezuela.
I could get behind that.
... and yet, nothing but steady, unbroken silence from the ball-less wimps that make up the other wing of the Central Oligarchy Party.
http://armstrongeconomics.com/2015/02/17/taxes-ready-to-create-the-next-economic-decline/
"Between FATCA and Obamacare which starts to fine people this year who cannot afford health insurance (lower classes), we are looking at a massive tax increase for 2016 and beefed-up enforcement. People have to comprehend that you do not have to raise taxes, all you have to do is reinterpret laws that already exist and then you go enforce them. This shifts the burden to the taxpayer who is not likely to fair very well before a federal court.Obama is adding 9,245 new hires to the IRS. Those in government cannot get it through their head that the higher the taxes go, the less disposable income remains, and that reduces the velocity of money which produces recession. The socialists pretend taxing the rich will be fair. But the spending from the “rich” (household income $250,000), stimulates the economy and creates the appearance of the boom. Raising taxes on them and even handing it to the lower classes will not result in their guaranteed spending. If they lack the confidence in the economy because they do not see the “rich” out and about, they will not spend either. Government do not get this aspect of human nature. It is the herd instinct.
As the economy then turns down from the lack of spending, tax revenue declines. It becomes a self-defeating mechanism. Government CONSUMES wealth, it cannot produce wealth. That is why we call them PUBLIC SERVANTS. Any servant you hire costs you money. They produce noting as a contribution to your wealth.
A national sales tax would resolve every single problem we have with the IRS and would save untold amounts of money.
Request DENIED.
Irrelevant. Obama’s budget has zero chance of being enacted. Even Democrats will vote unanimously against it.
Thank you all for your responses to this thread.
We need to continue to build momentum for the FairTax as THE solution to many of the problems the USA faces.
Keeping the anti-American activities of the Ophonybama administration in the headlines helps our cause.
I agree, denydenydeny, that the IRS budget is a “dream sheet” budget, but you JUST KNOW the GOPes will fund some of this nonsense, because that is what they do! They sureashell will not starve the beast!
I think you misunderstand how it works...
Both parties have had control of all branches of government in turn. Nothing changed.
They prefer a system where they can dole out favors to get reflected.
There is no momentum for change. During the next election, the RINOS wing will make enough conservative mating noises to get the support of the majority here... Then it is back to business as usual.
I just don’t kid myself by believing their lies any more.
Give the irs more money?
How about you put their mookabooking leaders in prison and either eliminate the irs or cut their budget by about 85 percent.
Damned criminals.
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