The Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) has been the subject of heated debate and contention in recent years, with the agency’s commissioner, Daniel Werfel, at the center of it all. After overseeing the clearing of a backlog of thousands of tax filings and implementing measures to improve the agency’s efficiency and accessibility, Werfel is now facing scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers who accuse him of overreach and lawless behavior.
Werfel has been working to increase public trust in the I.R.S. and build a more modern and high-performing organization, as he promised during his Senate confirmation last year. However, his efforts have not been enough to satisfy Republicans, who are pushing to cut the agency’s budget and have accused Werfel of making the I.R.S. more intrusive and politically biased.
In response to the criticism, Werfel has defended the need for a well-funded I.R.S., emphasizing the importance of demonstrating the agency’s progress and improvement in tax operations. He has also addressed concerns about potential budget cuts and the impact they would have on the agency’s ability to enforce tax laws and modernize its technology.
Despite Werfel’s efforts to ease concerns and improve the agency’s operations, Republicans remain unconvinced. They have pointed to security breaches and delays in enforcing contentious tax policies as evidence of the I.R.S.’s shortcomings.
The ongoing attacks on the I.R.S. have prompted the Biden administration to speak out, stating that the efforts to weaken the agency are ultimately aimed at protecting wealthy taxpayers who evade paying what they owe. The Treasury Department estimates that the United States has a nearly $700 billion “tax gap” of uncollected revenue each year and argues that stronger enforcement of the tax code is crucial for reducing America’s reliance on borrowed money.
In addition to the news, it’s relevant to note that Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an advocacy group that promotes lower taxes, has been critical of the I.R.S., stating that they have shown no seriousness about being better at anything due to recent incidents.