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Washington, D.C.—In conjunction with a key House committee hearing, the leader of the nation’s largest independent federal union again urged investment in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a way to continue helping taxpayers meet their tax obligations, improve overall enforcement of our nation’s tax laws and generate much-needed revenue for the U.S. Treasury.

The hearing takes place during the height of the tax filing season and the debate over the federal deficit, calling attention to the critical need to fund the IRS both to provide assistance to taxpayers and to bring in the vast majority of our country’s revenue.

In a statement submitted to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley reiterated her strong support for the administration’s fiscal year 2012 budget proposal calling for $13.2 billion in IRS funding— a $1.1 billion increase from fiscal 2010 levels. The subcommittee held a hearing today on IRS oversight.

“The administration’s budget request would provide critical increases for IRS enforcement and taxpayer service activities, and would allow the IRS to continue rebuilding its workforce, which remains well below mid-1990s levels,” President Kelley said. “By investing in demonstrably effective enforcement and taxpayer service programs, the administration’s request will allow the IRS to provide taxpayers with top quality service, enhance voluntary compliance, narrow the tax gap and reduce the deficit.”

In contrast to the administration’s request, Kelley added, the House has advanced cuts of some $600 million to the IRS budget, which would effectively force the IRS to return to its fiscal year 2008 operating levels and threaten between 7,000 and 8,000 employee positions nationwide. Currently, the IRS workforce is nearly 20 percent below mid-1990 levels—despite significant workload increases. The current 2011 filing season, which ends April 18, has already seen IRS employees process more than 73 million individual tax returns and issue nearly 65 million refunds totaling more than $193 billion.

In testimony before the subcommittee, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman reiterated NTEU’s argument, saying that harsh cuts to the IRS’s budget would have a "potentially devastating effect" on the agency’s ability to carry out its mission. Shulman specifically cited losses of up to $4 billion in government revenue in 2011 alone and greatly reduced taxpayer services in the form of unanswered calls and delayed correspondence and tax refunds as the result of steep budget cuts.

The NTEU leader also emphasized that enforcement efforts at the IRS often work in close concert with taxpayer service efforts to boost overall government revenue. Total IRS tax collections in fiscal year 2010 were $2.3 trillion, Kelley said, with agency enforcement efforts alone bringing in nearly $58 billion to the Treasury. “In fiscal year 2010, the IRS collected 93 percent of all government receipts, making it one of the most critical elements in addressing the nation’s financial deficit,” she added. “Every dollar invested in the IRS returns additional revenue to the Treasury.”

President Kelley pointed to several IRS programs by which services are delivered to taxpayers across the country. These include outreach and education programs; toll-free call centers; Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs); the Tax Counseling for the Elderly program; and nationwide open house events held annually during tax filing season.

These events offer extended hours (even Saturday service at some locations) and they allow individual taxpayers and small business owners to receive personal assistance from qualified IRS professionals when completing both state and federal tax returns. During the 2010 filing season, President Kelley said, the IRS held about 1,000 such open house events at more than 200 TACs and partner sites nationwide. “As a result, more than 31,400 taxpayers were served and more than 7,700 tax returns were prepared,” she said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including more than 90,000 at the IRS.