Congress demands end to IRS incompetence, taxpayer neglect

Folks rightfully dislike taxation without representation, but right now taxation with representation is being hamstrung. I hear time and time again from people across the Ozarks that they simply do not trust the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Of course, memories of the agency’s targeting scandal still ring fresh in taxpayers’ minds. More recently, however, their day-to-day modus operandi is drawing comparable concerns. Long story short, the IRS has a prioritization problem that stems from apparent “brother-in-lawing.” Employee bonuses are taking priority over taxpayer assistance and the user fees they collect are being spent freely without congressional oversight. Employees that were justly fired are being rehired without repercussion, and thousands of remaining employees are delinquent on their own taxes.

Meanwhile, taxpayers are being left with inadequate customer service and increasing threats of fraud. At the height of this tax filing season, the IRS answered only 15.6 percent of the calls they received. For as much money as they send the IRS, Americans deserve to know that they’re being afforded the highest level of service, accountability, and transparency.

First and foremost, an employee’s rightful termination should deem them unfit to work at the IRS – or any public agency – permanently. Firing them as a public relations stunt, just to turn around and rehire them, hits directly at the American public’s outrage when the IRS’s deliberate harassment of conservative groups was exposed before the 2012 election. Political gamesmanship has no place within an agency responsible for overseeing tax collection.

Tell Congress: Pass the Fair Tax Act of 2015! Sign the petition.