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Washington, D.C. –The leader of the union representing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workforce said today she strongly supports the call in the president’s budget proposal to increase IRS funding for fiscal year 2013 to $12.76 billion, an increase of nearly $945 million above the current level. The additional resources will provide the IRS with badly-needed funding to ensure taxpayers who experience long waits on the phone and at IRS offices get the help they need.

“The additional funding is critical to repair the damage of the harmful cuts during the past two years, which are resulting in a very difficult filing season, hampering the ability of IRS employees to respond to taxpayer inquiries,” said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley.

“As the IRS workload continues to rise and the tax code becomes increasingly complex, staffing levels at the agency are 20 percent below what they were 15 years ago,” said President Kelley. “IRS employees know taxpayers need assistance and want to help, but long hold times result in dropped calls when taxpayers give up in frustration.”

Without increases in funding, taxpayers will experience a noticeable degradation of service including difficulty seeking telephone assistance, delays in responses to letters including those seeking to resolve issues with taxes due, delayed responses to small business owners or individual taxpayers looking to set up payment plans and difficulties seeking answers on tax deductions and credits due under the tax codes.

The president’s budget proposes a $13.4 million increase in funding for taxpayer services over the current level to continue delivering services to taxpayers using a variety of in-person, telephone, and web-based methods to help taxpayers understand their obligations and pay taxes due in a timely manner. An additional $5.7 billion would be provided to support IRS enforcement activities, an increase of $402 million over the current level. The increased funding is designed to restore revenue lost from fiscal year 2012 reductions to examination and collection programs, and increase compliance by addressing offshore tax evasion.

Overall, the president’s proposal would support an increase of more than 4,000 employees from the current level.

The annual report of National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson released last month noted the most serious problem facing taxpayers is that the IRS is inadequately funded to fully perform its vital mission for the nation. In the area of taxpayer services, Olson said IRS is unable to answer three out of every 10 calls it receives from taxpayers seeking assistance to file their returns accurately and on time. NTEU also has received reports of long lines of taxpayers seeking assistance at the walk-in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) around the country.

“The IRS collects some 93 percent of all government revenues; it only makes sense to view IRS funding as an investment towards economic recovery, integrity in our tax system and a means to pay down the deficit,” said the NTEU leader.

The budget proposal “recognizes the benefit to taxpayers of a strong tax enforcement program that can return $5 for each additional IRS dollar spent.”

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