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Obama budget boosts IRS spending
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02/13/12 09:05 PM ET
President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget looks to give a funding boost to the IRS, making the case that the agency would more than make up for the investment in improved tax collection.
The IRS would receive $12.8 billion under the White House budget, or around $950 million more than the tax collecting agency is scheduled to get during the current fiscal year. The agency received roughly $12.1 billion in fiscal 2011.
In all, the IRS takes up the lion’s share of the Treasury Department’s budget, for which the Obama administration requested $14 billion next year.
In pressing for increased IRS spending, the White House made a case that cutting the agency’s budget would cost the Treasury revenue, an idea that has also been pushed by IRS officials. The White House budget said it “recognizes the benefit to taxpayers of a strong tax enforcement program that can return $5 for each additional IRS dollar spent.”
In its budget, the administration also calls for continued updates to IRS technology.
“Driven by up-to-date and comprehensive tax data, this modernized platform will revolutionize the efficiency and effectiveness with which the IRS serves taxpayers,” the budget said.
But Republicans in Washington haven’t bought the argument that boosting the IRS budget would also enhance revenues. GOP lawmakers were also highly critical of the new budget, saying it was chock full of wasteful spending.
The IRS would receive $12.8 billion under the White House budget, or around $950 million more than the tax collecting agency is scheduled to get during the current fiscal year. The agency received roughly $12.1 billion in fiscal 2011.
In all, the IRS takes up the lion’s share of the Treasury Department’s budget, for which the Obama administration requested $14 billion next year.
In pressing for increased IRS spending, the White House made a case that cutting the agency’s budget would cost the Treasury revenue, an idea that has also been pushed by IRS officials. The White House budget said it “recognizes the benefit to taxpayers of a strong tax enforcement program that can return $5 for each additional IRS dollar spent.”
“Driven by up-to-date and comprehensive tax data, this modernized platform will revolutionize the efficiency and effectiveness with which the IRS serves taxpayers,” the budget said.
But Republicans in Washington haven’t bought the argument that boosting the IRS budget would also enhance revenues. GOP lawmakers were also highly critical of the new budget, saying it was chock full of wasteful spending.
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