The political support for underfunding the IRS comes from the complexity of the US tax code combined with the extraordinary powers of the IRS. It leaves the ave

The political support for underfunding the IRS comes from the complexity of the US tax code combined with the extraordinary powers of the IRS. It leaves the average taxpayer with the feeling that could be audited and even jailed at any time for non-compliance with some obscure rule. I am an Australian and I fear the IRS more than the ATO, not because I owe the IRS anything (I am not a US taxpayer), but because I have US customers. There is probably some obscure form or reporting requirement I have missed or filled in incorrectly that could make me the target of some arbitrary action by the IRS. You can see why foreign financial institutions just won’t have anything to do with US taxpayers.