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Washington, D.C.—The number of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees has fallen sharply in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico since 2011, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today, citing new IRS data.

The data show that full-time and seasonal staff at the agency fell from 108,460 in fiscal year (FY) 2011 to 90,322 on Feb. 7, 2015—a decline of 18,138, or 16.7 percent.

“These state-by-state job-loss numbers show that repeated budget cuts are taking a severe toll on the IRS’ ability to execute its mission in every state. Taxpayers across the country are suffering from the loss of assistance by IRS employees and communities are hurt by the loss of jobs,” NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley said.

Congress has slashed funding for the IRS by a total of $1.2 billion in the past five years. To cope, the IRS has instituted a multiyear hiring freeze.

Due to chronic personnel shortages, IRS employees are able to answer fewer than 40 percent of the taxpayer calls they receive.

Wait times are longer than ever before at Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) and getting longer. In a recent speech, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said his agency is providing an “abysmal” level of taxpayer service and blamed budget cuts.

Meanwhile, the number of taxpayers keeps growing as 7 million new filers were added between 2010 and the end of the current fiscal year. The IRS processes about 150 million returns a year. Call volume is also on the rise; the IRS gets about 100 million calls annually.

“It is counterintuitive and counterproductive to cut IRS staffing when the demand for the agency’s service continues to grow,” President Kelley said. “Enforcing the world’s most complex tax code is a massive undertaking. To do it right, the IRS requires an appropriate level of staffing. Instead of staffing up to serve the increasing number of taxpayers, Congress has been starving the IRS. We urge Congress to stop this trend.”

NTEU supports the administration’s $12.9 billion FY 2016 request for the IRS, an increase of more than $1.9 billion from the current level.

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

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Five states with the biggest percentage declines in their IRS workforces (2011-2015):

Montana: 33 percent

Hawaii: 31.8 percent

Wyoming: 30.8 percent

Nebraska: 30.7 percent

Mississippi: 30.4 percent

Five states with the biggest numerical declines in their IRS workforces (2011-2015):

California: 3,039

Georgia: 1,865

Texas: 1,363

Missouri: 1,274

New York: 1,165