W&L Law Prof. Michelle Drumbl Discusses IRS Sequester Cuts in Federal Times
A recent Freedom of Information act request from the “Federal Times” turned up an IRS planning document that predicts sequester-related budget cuts will result in billions of lost revenue.
The IRS predicts that the $600 million cut to the agency’s $11 billion budget will result in decreased enforcement and fraud detection, costing the government billions. In addition, the “Federal Times” reported that the planning document predicts reduced availability in both pre-filing taxpayer assistance and education services as well as “degraded” telephone service.
W&L Law professor and tax clinic director Michelle Drumbl told the paper that she is especially concerned about the decrease in tax payers services.
“If people can’t get answers before they file, that could lead to more complications that will cost more time for the IRS to resolve,” she said.
Many of the clients in the law school’s tax clinic are low-income parents who can’t afford to stay on hold on the telephone for an hour or more trying to get a question answered, Drumbl said.
