George responded that if there were more revenue officers, there would be greater collection.
“With 1,600 fewer federal revenue officers from 2010 to 2016,” George said, “we validated that each revenue officer would have been able to bring in roughly $2 million each, which results in $3 billion less revenue annually as a result of the reduction in revenue officers.”
Neal acknowledged that problem, but criticized the agency for failing to strategically use the resources it has.
Since 2010, enforcement staff levels at the IRS have decreased some 40% with the lack of budget increases, hiring freezes and attrition. “Short of replacing this staff, you can only do so much with what you have,” said James R. McTigue, director of tax issues at the GAO, to lawmakers. “If you want to increase the collection rate, which has fallen dramatically since 2010, you have to increase staff.”
ProPublica just published an in-depth look at the IRS’s failings when it comes to taking on uber-rich tax scofflaws: “The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn’t Go Well.”
Over a decade ago, the IRS released a plan to create a “global high wealth team” whose marching orders were to go after taxpayers earning $10 million or more. The team was never created, and no strategy targeting wealthy taxpayers was implemented, George admitted.
As a backdrop to the hearing, the New York Times released President Trump’s IRS tax returns late last week showing he paid little or no taxes between 1984 and 1994.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D., Texas) said: “Of course, it doesn’t help when President Trump, who was shown to have paid no taxes for years, tells the population [in a tweet] that, ‘You always want to show losses for real estate purposes. Almost all real estate developers did. It was sport.’”
“This committee has done its best to ensure that the IRS lacks ability to be a success,” Doggett added.
The IRS’s current budget is $11.5 billion; in real dollars that has dropped by almost $3 billion since 2010, Democrats said.