On July 14, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reduce the IRS’ budget, and a part of the cut affects the agency’s enforcement funding. The overall budget will be lowered by $1.14 billion.
According to Bloomberg, the budget cuts will leave the IRS with $9.8 billion for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, 13 percent shy of the current year’s funding and 21 percent short of what was requested. Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Bill Huizenga of Michigan introduced the amendments that were part of a spending bill. Gosar and Huizenga proposed $353 million and $788 million cuts, respectively, to the IRS’ enforcement budget.
The National Taxpayer Advocate, the union representing IRS staff and the IRS oversight board requested more funds to aid in the enforcement of new tax information reporting obligations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and officials at the agency have said that each dollar spent yields a $6 return. President Barack Obama appears to support that assertion by the IRS, as his administration said he would veto the bill if it passed.
