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I find it crazy that the IRS is so underfunded and every year for some reason elected officials / citizens keep pushing this narrative of "The IRS is evil!". Ho

I find it crazy that the IRS is so underfunded and every year for some reason elected officials / citizens keep pushing this narrative of "The IRS is evil!". How is keeping department continuously underfunded going to lead to any sort of improvement? Imagine if roads are full of potholes; are you just going to cut the budget of the Department of Transportation to fix the problem? The only ones who benefit from this state of affairs seem to be people who have no intentions of filing taxes or can afford to hire other people to do it. Meanwhile the average Joe has to deal with hour long wait times, online services that do not work, month long correspondence chains that lead nowhere. Obviously business like Quicken, HR Block, etc make a lot of money off this inefficiency since they can offer a service charge to save you the headache. It is a shame because in my experience as an accountant some local/state department of revenues are really well run and super convenient. It is also a shame because a lot of talented people work in the IRS forensics department which in my opinion is one of the coolest jobs out there.

craftyguy 8y ago
> How is keeping department continuously underfunded going to lead to any sort of improvement? It doesn't, and they know that. A classic tactic is to underfund a thing you don't like, then point to it failing as an excuse for killing it outright.
- simongr3dal 8y ago
  This also happens very often in software. A feature gets a crippled UI that makes at awkward and hard to use or even discover. Then a few months later the feature is removed because stats are showing it doesn't get used.
- gred 8y ago
  > A classic tactic is to underfund a thing you don't like, then point to it failing as an excuse for killing it outright. I've seen this assertion made online a few times, but have never seen any actual examples. Are there examples that you're aware of at the federal level? Or maybe a couple at the state level? Just curious...
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    The most recent, high profile example would be conservatives handing out egregious tax cuts which are going to be used to balloon the federal deficit and argue that Social Security and Medicare will need to be cut "because they can't be paid for". https://www.google.com/search?q=conservatives+starving+government https://www.google.com/search?q=conservatives+starving+gover... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast
  - _jal 8y ago
    There is a currently-running attempt to do just this with the ACA. Various politicians keep ranting about how it is failing, and have made various changes attempting to speed that alleged failure along, and yet it stubbornly keeps working, more or less, and increasing in popularity.
    - geggam 8y ago
      A poor choice is better than no choice.
  - mturmon 8y ago
    The US Postal Service. Free public education. Obamacare. Easy voting. Social Security.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      And let's not forget the most recent addition to the party, the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
  - enraged_camel 8y ago
    >>I've seen this assertion made online a few times, but have never seen any actual examples. You don't need examples when you can hear it straight out of the horse's mouth: "I'm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." -Grover Norquist, founder and president of conservative anti-tax organization Americans for Tax Reform
Matticus_Rex 8y ago
No one who is saying that the IRS is evil is saying that they're not doing a good enough job. They're making a claim about the value of the job itself.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Nasrudith 8y ago
In addition to selfish interests aligned against the IRS their past approach created a PR problem - they operate on bullying, dread, and provide poor customer service so naturally many who deal with them hate them. Dysfunctional for everyone but it is their chickens coming home to roost. I believe Machiavelli had some things to say about the downsides of ruling through fear. The same thing has happened to (other) law enforcement creating downward spirals of trust in high crime areas. The solution in both of those cases is making reforms to restore trustworthiness and successful pursuit of heroic causes to get people to fund them more. Sadly said option is seldom taken.

craftyguy 8y ago

> How is keeping department continuously underfunded going to lead to any sort of improvement? It doesn't, and they know that. A classic tactic is to underfund a thing you don't like, then point to it failing as an excuse for killing it outright.

simongr3dal 8y ago
This also happens very often in software. A feature gets a crippled UI that makes at awkward and hard to use or even discover. Then a few months later the feature is removed because stats are showing it doesn't get used.
gred 8y ago
> A classic tactic is to underfund a thing you don't like, then point to it failing as an excuse for killing it outright. I've seen this assertion made online a few times, but have never seen any actual examples. Are there examples that you're aware of at the federal level? Or maybe a couple at the state level? Just curious...
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  The most recent, high profile example would be conservatives handing out egregious tax cuts which are going to be used to balloon the federal deficit and argue that Social Security and Medicare will need to be cut "because they can't be paid for". https://www.google.com/search?q=conservatives+starving+government https://www.google.com/search?q=conservatives+starving+gover... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast
- _jal 8y ago
  There is a currently-running attempt to do just this with the ACA. Various politicians keep ranting about how it is failing, and have made various changes attempting to speed that alleged failure along, and yet it stubbornly keeps working, more or less, and increasing in popularity.
  - geggam 8y ago
    A poor choice is better than no choice.
- mturmon 8y ago
  The US Postal Service. Free public education. Obamacare. Easy voting. Social Security.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    And let's not forget the most recent addition to the party, the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
- enraged_camel 8y ago
  >>I've seen this assertion made online a few times, but have never seen any actual examples. You don't need examples when you can hear it straight out of the horse's mouth: "I'm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." -Grover Norquist, founder and president of conservative anti-tax organization Americans for Tax Reform

Matticus_Rex 8y ago

No one who is saying that the IRS is evil is saying that they're not doing a good enough job. They're making a claim about the value of the job itself.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Nasrudith 8y ago

In addition to selfish interests aligned against the IRS their past approach created a PR problem - they operate on bullying, dread, and provide poor customer service so naturally many who deal with them hate them. Dysfunctional for everyone but it is their chickens coming home to roost. I believe Machiavelli had some things to say about the downsides of ruling through fear. The same thing has happened to (other) law enforcement creating downward spirals of trust in high crime areas. The solution in both of those cases is making reforms to restore trustworthiness and successful pursuit of heroic causes to get people to fund them more. Sadly said option is seldom taken.