This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Aug. 4 editorial, "Chaffetz plays politics with IRS workers," shows how recent actions by Congress are responsible for the problems facing the agency.
By cutting the IRS' budget by $900 million over the past six years, Congress has forced the IRS to cut its workforce by more than 20 percent, or nearly 23,000 people, nationwide—including 1,346 full- and part-time employees in Utah.
Utah taxpayers, like taxpayers across the country, are the ones who suffer from Congress' "punishing" the IRS, because they can't get their questions answered in order to comply with the complicated tax laws Congress writes.
There aren't enough IRS employees to answer taxpayers' questions, whether people call in or come to walk-in sites. Staffing shortages are chronic throughout the IRS even as the number of taxpayers keeps rising and tax scams grow.
IRS employees are dedicated and committed to serving the public. Congress needs to stop punishing them and the taxpayers they work so hard to help.
Anthony Reardon
President, National Treasury Employees Union
Washington, D.C