Meanwhile, a report by the independent National Taxpayer Advocate raised similar concerns regarding the IRS, saying that taxpayers are likely to receive the worst levels of taxpayer service since at least 2001, when the IRS implemented its current performance measures.
It projected impacts including: The IRS is unlikely to answer even half the telephone calls it receives, and levels of service may average as low as 43 percent; taxpayers who manage to get through are expected to wait on hold for 30 minutes on average and considerably longer at peak times; and the IRS will answer far fewer tax-law questions than in past years.
However, that report cited in addition to budgetary restrictions missteps by the agency itself, including the scandal over its treatment of applications for tax-exemption status of organizations with political—especially conservative—references in their names. That has contributed to an erosion of public trust, it said.
The report further criticizes the IRS’s procedures for allocating the resources it does have, and criticizes Congress for failure to enact into law a taxpayer’s bill of rights.
