Pressure, pressure, pressure.
The Internal Revenue Service feels it and, as a result of that, so, too, do high numbers of filers seeking to interact with agency representatives regarding tax-related questions and concerns.
The American tax system is, by any standard, complex, and many filers need all the help they can get to understand its variances and intricacies.
For years, reformists and critics have argued that the statutory laws governing Unites States taxation need paring down. The Internal Revenue Code is akin to a metropolitan phone book in its length, being replete with provisions, forms, worksheets and detailed instructions.
Many people find it simply overwhelming.
And now it promises to be even more so, as noted in one media article discussing recent IRS developments, with 46 new provisions relating to the Affordable Care Act having been added.
That legislation is better known as Obamacare. New laws regarding health care now affect tax filings, and the IRS states it needs money to hire more than 480 new employees to help filers deal with Obamacare.
And that request is tiny compared to the totality of what the IRS says it urgently needs.
To wit: The agency is asking for a $2 billion jump in its budget for the next fiscal year. It states that the spike in funds is desperately needed to make the agency more responsive to taxpayers, to provide for better enforcement and to simply be staffed adequately with representatives who can help filers with the tremendous complexities inherent in American tax law.
Being ready for that task will require hiring about 9,000 new workers, says the IRS.
Source: The Daily Signal, “IRS seeks 9,000 new employees as it prepares to enforce Obamacare,” Melissa Quinn, Feb. 5, 2015
