José E. Serrano: “The good news is that the whole bill is not on the IRS, so, eventually, we will move on to something else, and we won't…”

“The good news is that the whole bill is not on the IRS, so, eventually, we will move on to something else, and we won't see any more of these attacks. The IRS has already been cut overall by $341 million from last year's funding level. This will prevent the IRS from going after tax cheats--I know it is repetitious, but it is a fact--and from helping those who are attempting to obey the law. The Taxpayer Advocate has even said that the insufficient funding of the IRS is one of the most serious problems facing taxpayers. This underfunding will force the IRS to operate with 9,500 fewer staff, which means that less than 50 percent of taxpayers who reach out to the IRS for assistance on the telephone help line will be able to get it, and the waiting times for those who do get answers will rise to 35 minutes or longer. As many as 24 million taxpayers will be unable to reach the IRS for assistance, and that is unacceptable. The cuts in this bill will also result in $2 billion in uncollected revenue compared to what could have been collected at the requested level, thereby increasing the deficit by that amount.…”