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Washington, D.C.—The picture for our nation’s tax compliance system is bleak. Without additional and sufficient resources, the declines in service and enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) experienced by taxpayers in recent years and caused by repeated budget cuts, sequestration and reduced staffing can be expected to continue in 2015.

That was one critical aspect of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report today to key congressional committees. GAO recounted the decline in IRS budgets by some $900 million since fiscal 2010 and the loss of 10,000 employees over that period. Funding is at the fiscal 2009 level, while the number of tax returns has continued to increase each year.

“Amidst these budget reductions,” GAO reported, “IRS’s performance has declined in enforcement and taxpayer services. IRS officials anticipate continued declines in fiscal year 2015.” The White House has proposed a 10.5 percent increase in the fiscal 2015 IRS budget.

The report was directed to bipartisan leaders of subcommittees of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

“The GAO report is a clear call for this vital agency to be provided with the resources it needs to educate and help taxpayers voluntarily meet their tax obligations, as well as to perform the necessary enforcement steps to ensure compliance with our nation’s tax laws,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley.

The GAO report recounted the problems taxpayers have encountered in recent years from IRS staffing shortages, including lengthy telephone wait times; long lines at Taxpayer Assistance Centers; an inability to get answers to anything other than basic tax law questions during the tax-filing season—and in the post-filing season, even the ability to get basic questions answered was affected; and other similar issues.

This week, the IRS released a Taxpayers Bill of Rights aimed at educating and increasing awareness among taxpayers about their rights. “One fundamental taxpayer right is the right to quality service, but the IRS cannot provide quality service if there is not sufficient personnel to answer the phones and staff the walk-in centers,” said President Kelley.

Taxpayers are not the only ones impacted by IRS staffing and resource issues. So are agency employees. In one key metric, GAO pointed out that the IRS has cut back its per-employee spending on training from $1,600 to $200 over the period from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2013. Training is a vital component of the work life of an IRS employee, since Congress continually makes changes to the tax code.

Pointing to a four-year hiring freeze outlined in the report, the NTEU leader stated, “Employees are frustrated that they are not able to provide the level of service taxpayers both expect and need.”

She added: “It is counterproductive in so many ways to shortchange the IRS,” which collects 93 percent of the revenue needed to fund the federal government and all the services it provides.

GAO also noted that under current law, the budget cuts mandated by sequestration will continue through fiscal 2021.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.