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The Senate Appropriations Committee’s proposed funding level for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) falls far short of what the agency needs next year to fulfill its mission, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today.

The Appropriations Committee approved a funding bill for fiscal year (FY) 2016 today, under which the IRS would receive $10.47 billion, or $470 million less than this year’s level and $2.45 billion less than the White House’s budget request.

“This bill will result in the continued erosion of the IRS’ ability to accomplish its mission,” NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley said. “NTEU urges Congress to provide an appropriate level of funding for the IRS, which collects 93 percent of the federal government’s revenue.”

President Kelley praised Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) for her support of increased funding.

Mikulski, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said cutting IRS funding by $470 million “jeopardizes the federal government’s ability to pay for itself” and will continue to hurt taxpayer services.

“It also means tax cheats can get away with billions because audit rates are the lowest in decades,” Sen. Mikulski warned.

President Kelley also thanked Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), ranking member of the Appropriations panel’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, for introducing an amendment that would have given the IRS more money to improve taxpayer services and curb identity theft. The amendment also called for increased funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

“We applaud Senator Coons for recognizing the importance of giving these critically important agencies the resources they need to adequately serve taxpayers. We are disappointed that his proposal fell short of gaining majority support among Appropriations Committee members,” Kelley said.

The IRS has suffered a total of $1.2 billion in budget cuts in the past five years and is on target to lose 16,000 fulltime employees by the end of this fiscal year. The agency has been on a virtual hiring freeze since 2010 and has struggled to serve taxpayers and crack down on the growing problem of identity theft.

A report released this month by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson underscored ongoing problems facing taxpayers who turn to the IRS for help, attributing it to chronic budget cuts.

NTEU is not alone in pressing Congress to increase IRS funding. The IRS Oversight Board, the IRS Advisory Council, the Government Accountability Office, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and others have warned that chronic IRS budget cuts are hurting the agency’s ability to service taxpayers and collect vital revenue.

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