Fixing The IRS Will Require Much More Than Hiring Additional Staff

As usual, the politicians are missing the point: Success or failure of the IRS’s ambitious plan to spend $80 billion in new money won’t be measured by how many new staff it hires. Rather it will depend largely on the agency’s ability to hire the right people, upgrade and modernize its technology, and change its hidebound culture, management, and business practices.

At TPC ‘s annual Donald C. Lubick Symposium this week, a broad range of experts, including Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, former IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti, former IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, former senior Treasury official Natasha Sarin, and others broadly agreed: It will take much more than just increasing the IRS headcount to improve taxpayer experience and reduce non-compliance.